XXXV111 



RECREATION. 



•JT 



I 



WE ARE IN OUT OF THE WET, <* ARE YOU ? 



hainless Converts 



An able Tradesman Dis- 

 courses at some length on 

 the Subject. 



It there is anyone who can talk 

 bevel gears and chainless bicycles 

 better or more convincingly than J. 

 Elmer Pratt of the Grand Rapids 

 Cycle Company, he has not oc- 

 curred, at least, not to the knowledge 

 of the Bicycling World. Mr. Pratt 

 has an earnest manner that is all 

 his own and while a firm believer 

 himself he rather relies on the words 

 and experiences of others to tell the 

 story, more particularly on the 

 words of those who came to scoff 

 and remain to praise. 



¥ ¥ ¥ 



" When we took up the beveled 

 geared bicycle," said Mr. Pratt a 

 tew days since, 'I think I was 

 about the only man in our fac- 

 tory who had the slightest faith in 

 it. When our superintendent was 

 .'••.:' instructed to put one together, he 



I ' did everything in his power to dis- 



suade us ; he brought to bear all 

 the stock arguments against that 

 form of gear— the cost and impossi- 

 bility of its being cut true, the diffi- 

 culty of making the gears mesh 

 properly and keeping them in line, 

 the unpleasant experience that had 

 attended their use on machinery 

 and so on through the list. But he 

 was told to go ahead and in due 

 time the wheel made its appearance. 

 { At first, I was not impressed by it, 



but the more I rode it the better I 

 liked it and it was not long before the superintendent himself expressed a desire to give it a trial. He did so 

 and soon after he put up a second wheel. This he thought an improvement and wished me to exchange for the 

 old one, but I preferred to try the wheel at its worst and did so. The superintendent used the other one and his 

 remarks soon told me conviction was gradually being forced on him; he began to " hedge '' on his previous re- 

 marks concerning the wheel's impracticability and is now an out-an-out convert. Next our head repair man 

 began to exhibit interest and in due time he, too, wanted a wheel, and so the infection spread throughout the 

 factory ; even our president and our conservative and sure-footed general manager caught it after a while. Our 

 stock keeper was particularly strong against the chainless and when he became " infected " and desired one of 

 the wheels, it was refused him. We told him he was too strongly anti-chainless to do the wheel any good. We 

 kn?w the refusal would make him the more anxious to get one; and it did. He's riding one now and is as en- 

 thusiastic as anyone. A. B. Richmond, one of our stockholders, who is also one of the largest retail dealers in 

 Grand Rapids, and who, as you know, is one of the oldest and best posted men in the business, was another who 

 scoffed mightily at the bevel gear. But after he gave the wheel a fair trial he " came around '' and when I tell 

 you that not only is he now riding a full nickeled chainless exclusively — an enameled one would not satisfy him 

 — but that he urged our directors to turn out only $75.00 chainless bicycles for the 1899 season, you may judge 

 how thorough was his conversion and how great his faith in the wheel and its selling capacities. He was will- 

 ing, mind you, to throw over the chain bicycle entirely, so certain was he of the demand for the chainless at that 

 figure. 



" Of course you have found lots of people who told you that the public is not interested in chainless bicycles," 

 continued Mr. Pratt, " I have met them but I kaow something about that phase of the matter. We have 

 ' sounded ' and advertised in a manner calculated to settle the point and I can tell you that the results are quite 

 convincing. The interest is not only keen but wide spread; the heaviest day's mail we ever had — and it was 

 late in the season — related to our bevel-geared Clipper and we have some pretty heavy mails, too. You will 

 find also many people who have ridden the chainless and do not like it. But as a rule they are the ones who 

 have not ridden the wheel long enough to become used to it or whose wheels had not been properly adjusted. 

 Personally, I can recall no one who has ridden a chainless any length of time who would go back to the chain 

 driver. There may be exceptions but they can but prove the rule. I have ridden my wheel some 2000 miles ; it 

 was adjusted three times within the first 500 miles ; since then it has not been touched and it is an easier runner 

 to-dar than it was months ago — that's one good feature of the chainless, usually admitted by all, and it is not a 

 small one, either. 



" I have taken hills with ease that gave me trouble before, and time and again have I seen men on chainless 

 mount hills which to them were impossible on the chain wheel, so I am convinced it is the better hill climber ; in 

 addition there is a positiveness, a sense of energy well expended, a sense of security, a freedom from dirt and 

 grit and cracking and creaking, and an added ease of running and a charm that is undoubted. In a measure 

 it brings one back to the old high wheel ; the sensation is the same. 1 am not alone in remarking the fact. More 

 than this, let me tell you that not in the gear alone does the chainless's merits lie. In frame and general con- 

 struction it is a better and a stronger wheel and represents added value to the purchaser. Every manufacturer 

 who has tried it, if he is honest, will tell you that the frame as constructed for chain gearing will not do for the 

 bevel gear. Several have learned this to their cost and sorrow. For a chainless the frame must be and is 

 stronger and everything else about it must be and is proportioned and fitted to a nicety. Work that would pass 

 unquestioned for and on a chain wheel simply cannot be made to serve on the best beveled-geared machine. At 

 $75.00 the chainless is sure to make a great leap towards popularity, and, to my mind, both the trade and the 

 public will be benefited because of it." 



GRAND RAPIDS cycle Co., (Clipper People; lttlcl&, £ 



