It is not necessary just now to point out the defects of this picture, sketched and held up; the most serious defect was that it was untrue to fact. There was, however, a rush to get into “the swim” while there was time. People without capital, without experience, without mechanical training, without even any knowledge of the materials of which bicycles are constructed, hastened to advertise themselves as bicycle makers, and for a full year the news columns went on announcing the building of new factories. Thus the bargain counter got its supplies, and the natural reaction followed, the news columns soon having items of quite another character.
It must not be supposed, however, that recent reductions in price mean simply relinquishment of former profit margins, whether those were large or small; some of the decline in price does mean a lower rate of profit, partly atoned for by larger sales, but a great deal is covered by economies in handling and marketing, and notably by reduced costs of production, which are made possible by various means as above suggested, one of the chief of these being automatic machinery. The disturbed condition of the bicycle market has been adjusting itself and will continue to do so—all the sooner and better for all concerned if volunteer assistants will remember that “it is better not to know so much than to know so much that isn’t so.”
CHAPTER IV.
FRAME AND FORK CONSTRUCTION.
THE KEATING.
It is a trite but true remark that the modern bicycle is a marvel of mechanical construction, and certainly no part of it has received more attention during the past decade than the frame. The frame, with its braces, rods, diagonal struts, chords and ties, is really a bridge on wheels built to carry man over the ground. The frame usually consists of eight pieces of tubing, brazed to either drop-forged or sheet steel connections; but the latest fads of up-to-date construction vary even this rule by making the rear forks and also the back stays of a continuous one-piece construction, these, however, being connected to the frame by short lugs projecting from the crank-hanger bracket and seat-pillar bracket. This style, here illustrated, is used by the makers of the Manson, Iroquois, Hudson, Globe, Colton, and is known as the three-crown construction. This style of frame has become very popular.