CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 27, 31 January 1913, Page 2

CYCLE AND MOTOR NOTES.

With the advent of the cycle car into this country, it will be necessary for some provision to be made by the authorities whereby this type of vehicle can be registered. The motor car Acts in Australasia have been based on the English Act, which originally stipulated that all motor vehicles weighing over scwt had to be fitted with a reverse gear. When the cycle car bounded into popularity in England, the English Act was amended to read over 7cwt, thus legalising the use of “reverseless cycle cars on English roads. In Melbourne one unfortunate purchaser of a cycle car has already been refused because his vehicle weighs slightly over, and has no reverse. The matter is an important one, and should be taken up by the Automobile Club, with a view of having the local Act amended. The day is not far ahead when hundreds of cycle cars will be landed in this country ; hence the immediate need for following the example set by the English authorities. Many of the ninet.v odd English makers of these natty little vehicles claim that a reverse gear is unnecessary, for the cycle car is so light that it can easily be moved by hand, and no trouble has been axperienced in the thick London traffic by either the driver or regulators of traffic. Fitting a “reverse” means adding considerably to the weight and cost of the vehicle, and that it is not actually necessary is evidenced by the fact that the English authorities have

amended their Act to meet the new conditions that the cycle cars have brought along. The English definition of a cycle car is that the chassis must not weigh over 6cwt, and fitted complete with body, etc., 7cwt. When Don Kirkham, the Victorian road champion, a few weeks back reduced L. Meredith’s (Eng.) world’s unpaced out and home road record of 4 hours 52 minutes 50 4-5 seconds by no more than 1G minutes, the Dunlop Co. had particulars cabled to London. The feeling in England, according to “Cycling”. (London), is one of amazement, and they can hardly realise that such a ride as Kirkham’s was possible. They say that such a huge beating after the record had so long defied the efforts of Australian riders . —stimulated by the handsome prize of the Dunlop Co.—seems incredible, and they await further details with interest.