PEDAL-PUSHERS FADS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 184, 21 August 1937, Page 6

PEDAL-PUSHERS FADS

"Sissy" Styles in Cycling 1 HAIR-RAISING HANDLE-BARS Why does the young man of to-day prefer to ride with the handlebars of his bicycie turned down, by "which means such outlandish elfects are t'requently obtainedP Hastings being generally regarded 3s second ooly to Christchurch for its popular use of bicycles, it is not at all surprising that these freakish effects should be particularly noticeable here. - Speeding cyclists to-day do not ride upright. When the head is near the road, with the concrete fiying past, there is a stimulating sensation of speed. The young idea must needs copy the racing cyclist who has his bars turned low because of the greater purciiase obtained. But wkat excuse is there for turning the handlebars backsvards or downwards? Bicycie salesmen say that young custoiners refuse to consider machines vvith stereotyped handlebars. To the scliool boy the ortliodox bars proclaiiui the "sissy." Tlio ideal is the set that has been reversed on the outrigger and then turned downwards. The fortunate possesser of a racing macliine equipped vvith the so-called} "Major 'lajlor" handlebars is able to secure tbe most grotesque elfects by this method. Major Tayior, incidentally, is not the uiythetical figure one might imagine. He was a negro. Forty years ago he was the fastest cyclist in the world and the famous handlebars were presumably named after liim because he was the „first to use them. Last ceutury he raced in Christchurch during a brief tpur of the Dominion. With this type of bar the cyclist bends low and is enabled to pull hard, but bis chest is ' constricted and his back is bent, a position not conductive to, physical movement. The only parts of the body thus developed are the calves and thiglis. When the cyclist accepts conventional handlebars he sits upright and deveiops more muscles in other parts of-tbe body. Actually the bicycie is steered now more by the body than by the handlebars, althpugh the practice of riding without using the hands is frowned upon by the law. Careful distribution of weigkt, and art soon acquired, guides the maSphine. Thus the expert rolls cigarettes and takes off his coat while ' on the move. v On certain stretches of highway on the outskirts of Hastings some racing cyclists at night take coinmand of the road for training spins. With pinpricks of iights and inadequate retlectors they scare every motorist who finds himself looming upon them. Their habit of swinging lackadaisically across tlie section of . road considered their property causes tlie motorist to catcli his breatli. The newest innovation is the etreamlined macliine, an amazing cycle boasting front" forks tliat bend almost in a semi-cirele and back forks that taper backvvards and- downwards tyitii a grace that gives an a'ppearance of speed, even while stationary. The large seat features a b«ilt-in tool box. Streamlined figure mascots mounted on the extremity' of the front mudguard are now used to give that touch of luxury which they havo long given to the bonnets of expensive motorcars. Some cyclists go fartker in- their striving after luxury and equip their machines with speedometers, radio sets, and other gadgets. How important handlebars really are is best .realised when, at the football grounds, schools and tkeatres, bicycles are piled in' hundreds. The careless youth, possessor of a flashy, racing model, equipped with Major Tayior handlebars, in hauiing his machine out, brings several spokes out of his neiglibours wheel. The upright type 6iides into position well out of the way of the uext-door wlieels. One interesting effeet of the proposal to insist on bicycles being regis-. tered wjli be that it jviil make known for the first time just how many cycles are owned by residents of Hastings.