STORING BICYCLES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 322, 21 December 1910, Page 2

STORING BICYCLES.

To the mind of the Parisian, there is no place quite so good as the national pawnshop, or Mont d:Piete, for storing a bicycle during the winter. A few years ago the idea was hit upon by one or two individuals with no room to spare at home, the thing caught on, and now the cycles pawned every winter, simply as the most convenient means of getting them cared for by somebody else, are counted by the thousand. It is in October that the pawning season sets in, and for some- weeks soes on at the rate of hundreds daily. The "borrower," to use an official 1 term which in the circumstances is rather a misnomer, first gets a machinist, who lias established himself handy for the purpose, to unscrew the pedals, and then to re-

fasten them in some way to the body of the machine ; then all is in order for the pawning. Although, however the Mont de Piete receives the machine, the appraisment is done by an independent valuer, and this often leads to curious scenes with depositors, who, with a view, of course, to the repayment with interest, frequently ask to receive merely nominal sums, such as 2/7 or 5/ for machines valued at as many pounds. But the department is obdurate. The officials perfectly understand the aim of their thrifty customer, and as it would be anything but good business to store a bicycle six months for the interest on 5/, he has to take the full amount awarded. To keep fully abreast with this now large and still growing trade, the Mont de Piete erected a large building for cyclf storage. This structure is a model of its kind, and everything about it down to the smallest fitting, was devised with a special view to the preservation of the machines in perfect condition. The storage racks arc of glass and iron, fireproof, and so arranged that a quite limited staff can keep everything in apple-pie order and get the machines in and out without confusion or derangement. The timcv for withdrawn! is Easter, and the numbers then withdrawn, at the central establishment alone, varies from hundred to a thousand in a fortnight.