Cycling & Motoring Notes

Horowhenua Chronicle, 27 January 1914, Page 4

Cycling & Motoring Notes

I <►- — — j From the Duniop llubber Uomj puny oi Australasia lor Ike ; week eliding .Litk January, j Ike cycle car section ol Ike exkibits at llie recent motor and cycle and cycle car show ai Uiympia, London, is remarkable, according to a well-known motorcycling expert, li only Lor two tilings tlie wide extremes ol me j cycle-cars shown, and the great strides wkick have been made in the skort time the "new motoring"'' kas been 111 vogue. In two years tke type has developed Iroin tke apparently wild ideals oi. a lew entkusiaslic motor cyclisis to tke perfect miniature motor cai witk almost tke same conilorts ami speed as tke average big un. Tkis development kas been tke means ol opening up new lields for tke motor manutacturer, and altkougli tke real pioneers of tke new movement are not. receiving their due in the beneftts whick liave accrued from j tkeir early efforts, since the ! greater market is not with the ' buyers they intended to reach, 1 they lose nothing by this impel us ! which the cycle car lias given to 1 the trade as their field the buyi ers of a motor vehicle around one I hundred pounds is still open to • them. The two types of buyers : are quite distinct, for the man ! who can well afford to buy a mini iature ear is more likely to invest I in a cheap American ear than in j a hybrid type of vehicle which is i neither a motor cycle nor a car. It can therefore be said thai llie miniature car type or cycle-car is a serious competitor of the lowpriced American proposition, while the simple type has the more expensive side-car combination to compete with. There is little doubt that tke belt-driven cyclecar is purchased by ex-motor-cyclists, and that the potential buyer of a low-priced car is not yet sufficiently convinced that the belt is reliable. In appearance, too, the belt-driven car is unorthodox, which is against it selling in large quantifies except to motor cyclists who are more familiar with its good points. it is therefore, almost to be regretted that the simple cycle-car has developed in the direction indicated by the exhibits at the Olympic this year 'for ft lie price has gone up accordingly, and m many cases are as high or higher than some of the miniature cars which follow car practice.