Auo. 32, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
168 
The Celerette. 
The "celeripedes and "drasmes" on which the French- 
men of 1816 used to wheel a.re forcibly called to mind by 
a machine which is beginning to appear on the streets of 
Paris. According to the American Wheelman, 
"One of the latest sights in Paris is along string of men, 
each astride on a couple of wheels which they push along 
at a fairly rapid rate, with their feet on the ground. This 
centipede-looking instrument is an advertisement of the 
Celerette invented by M. Paul Leclerc, or perhaps it 
would be better to say resuscitated, for the machine is 
nothing but a modernized version of the old hobby horse. 
"It is made of a rhomboidal framework of wood nailed 
or bolted together, and running on two small wooden 
wheels, the steering wheel being carried by a head piece 
which is hinged on to the fame. A piece of wood is nailed 
across the top of the steering post, a leather saddle is fixed 
to the rear, and there you have the Celerette in the sim- 
plest form possible. Of course, the inventor does not think 
THE rBLERKTTK. 
that this is going to compete with the bicycle, but he 
claims that it will be found very useful for people learn- 
ing to ride, or to those who cannot go to the expense of 
buying an ordinary wheel. Moreover, the fact that it 
will enable anyone t?) cover long distances without tiring 
themselves and at almost infinitesimal cost makes the 
Celerette a practical instrument, even if it is hardly likely 
to be taken up by the general body of cyclists. 
"It may be used by workmen, children and others who 
do not mind about sacrificing a little dignity for the sake 
of the exercise or for going their daily rounds. The Cele- 
rette does not weigh more than about 51bs. and it can 
be pushed at the rate of eight or twelve miles an hour, 
which is a speed not to be despised by any means. 
"Its cost is less than $3, and if you want one fitted up 
with pneumatic tired wheels running on ball bearings you 
have to pay $17, while there are intermediate prices for 
ordinary rubber tires. Besides its cheapness and lightness 
the maker claims that it has certain advantages over the 
bicycle. He says that it is not so tiring as the bicycle, 
because the legs are not constantly at work, and in going 
down hill you lift the feet and "thus taste the joys of 
speed acquired without effort. " No doubt the experienced 
wheeler will smile at the claims held out for the Celerette, 
but undeniably it is a worthy invention, if only for the 
fact that everyone can now take exercise and travel at a 
pretty good speed at the coat of a dollar or two." 
BICYCLE QUALITY. 
New York, July 24:.~Editor Forest and Stream: In 
selecting a bicycle the question of price should always be 
of secondary consideration. Genuine bargains are ex- 
tremely rare, and an examination of many of the $39.99 or 
$49.49 kind of bicycles, which are described as being 
"strictly high-grade $100 bicycles," proves them to be of 
the most inferior quality. These wheels in most cases 
have been built to sell on their appearance, and as the 
better class of bicycle agencies, who value their reputa- 
tions, cannot be induced to handle them, they find their 
way into the hands of firms who deal solely in "bargain 
wheels," and who conduct their business on the principle 
that the crop of fools is perennial. 
Even among the bicycles with reputations, that hon- 
estly sell at catalogue prices, there are some that for one 
reason or another are little, if any, better than the bargain 
bicycles. Sometimes a new or even an old firm makes the 
fatal mistake of cheapening the cost of production as a 
means of increasing their profit;. As a case in point, a 
wheelman of my acquaintance exchanged his 1895 bicy- 
cle for a '96 model of a certain supposedly standard make, 
selling for $100. The '95 wheel had been eminently satis- 
factory and had carried the rider some thousands of miles 
without any repairs whatever. Within two weeks of or- 
dinary service, however, the new wheel broke down com- 
pletely. One spoke snapped, and on examination the 
agents who made the exchange acknowledged that there 
was not a sound spoke in either wheel. The bearings wore 
so that, to quote the owner, "you could stick a lead pencil 
in among them." And to cap the climax, an important 
part of the frame came unbrazed and the whole wheel 
seemed on the point of disintegration. The rider is a light 
man, weighing only ISOlbs., and though he covers a great 
deal of ground during the course of a week, his riding is 
all over smooth roads and his wheel is put to no unusual 
strain. 
Another man, who took his trial trip on Eiverside Drive 
on a wheel he had bought at a bargain price, learned the 
quality of his mount when eight spokes in the front wheel 
suddenly snapped, and becoming entangled with the fork 
brought him to a sudden stop. Fortunately for his neck, 
the rider was going along very slowly on level ground. 
Had he been going down hill or with any speed nothing 
could have saved him from a bad header. 
But the two bicycles just mentioned are not representa- 
tive of the majority of wheels ridden by American 
cyclists. Poor wheels, except at very low prices, are the 
exception, else the sport would never have gained its uni- 
versal popularity. A good wheel, if properly cared for, 
will run thousands of miles without once going to the re- 
pair shops, and the essential parts of such bicycles are 
practically indestructible. Even in the case of accident 
these wheels, by reason of their all-round honesty and ex- 
cellence of constuction, frequently escape without 
damage. Recently a friend of mine weighing 2401ba., 
wbo, by the way, was just learning to ride, lost control of 
his bicycle on a hill, at the bottom of which, while going 
at a tremendous gait, he came in contact with a pile of 
Belgian paving blocks. 
As luck would have it, the rider was not seriously in- 
jured, but judging from the force of the impact he im- 
agined his wheel would be smashed into its thousand and 
one original component parts. When he came to examine 
it, however, he was unable to find that any part was 
broken. The front wheel was bent backward till it 
touched the rear wheel, but when the fork was put in a 
vise and straightened into position the bicycle seemed in 
as good condition as ever. 
A subsequent examination by an expert proved that not 
a part was broken— a spoke or bearing — and the only sug- 
gestion he could offer was the substitution of a new fork, 
though he said this was not absolutely essential. 
All the incidents quoted are actual facts from the per- 
sonal experience of the writer, who is of the opinion that 
a good wheel is worth the price asked, while anything 
else is dear as a gift. There is as much difference in 
quality between a good bicycle and a poor one built to 
imitate it as there is between a brass filled case premium 
offer watch and a $100 Waltham, or as there is between a 
cheap imported rattletrap gun and a Smith, a Parker or 
a Lefever. The bargain bicycle stores are in the habit of 
giving premiums to help sell their wheels, but they have 
failed to hit on the most appropriate, which would be a 
life insurance policy. 
Quality tells, and the smash in prices this year is the 
best possible indication of the process that is going on of 
separating the good wheels from the bad. If you want to 
buy a bicycle, ask some one in whom you have confidence 
to name half a dozen of the best makes, and then make 
your selection from these. Let your personal inclination 
guide you as to the details of construction, but never buy 
a wheel that an experienced man will not recommend. 
J. A. C. 
NOTES. 
Mk, J. L, Davison, who goes plover shooting with a 
bicycle, finds the new way vastly better than the old. 
He rides seven miles over a poor road, changes his clothes, 
and shoots five plover, all in less than an hour. We think 
this is a record — at least for men who are beyond the sixty 
year mark. 
If Mr. Davison had been on foot when he saw the plover 
in all probability he would never have taken the trouble to 
go back home for his gun. As it was the plover suffered. 
The bicycle is only another link in the chain of nine- 
teenth century improvements that is threatening our game 
with extinction. 
The game is brought closer to the shooter — or the 
shooter to the game, whichever way you choose to put it — 
and the result is bound to be a lessening of the supply. 
One of the notable figures at the annual meets of the 
Western Massachusetts Fox Club is Benjamin Babb, of 
Southfield, who for a number of years haa hunted foxes 
with a bicycle. 
How he manages to get his wheel over the rough 
mountain roads and through woodland and swamp is a 
mystery, but nothing seems to stop him, and when the 
fox has distanced everything else he frequently finds Mr. 
Babb and his repeating shotgun waiting for him. 
The manner of carrying a gun on a bicycle varies. 
Mr. Davison says he straps his gun "on the wheel be- 
tween saddle and pedals," but he does not say whether 
the gun is in the case or put together, though he probably 
means the latter. Babb carries his Winchester shotgun 
strapped to the frame between his legs, with the barrel 
projecting ahead of his wheel like the bowsprit of a boat. 
Other sportsmen carry their guns in the cases hung 
from the shoulder. What is the best way to carry a gun 
on a bicycle ? 
Down on Long Island they used to hunt deer on horse- 
back, just as they hunt foxes in other parts of the coun- 
try. The sportsman carried his gun and endeavored to 
head the deer at well-known crossings, where he could 
get a close shot. 
Sometimes these chases covered a great many miles in 
the aggregate, and dogs and horses were completely 
fagged out before the deer was bagged. 
After two years of close season deer will be hunted 
again on Long Island this fall. The roads through the 
deer country are fairly good and strategically distributed, 
and were it not for the number of hunters and the danger 
of being taken for a deer and shot, no doubt bicycles 
could be used to advantage, as the horses were in former 
days. 
A little incident will serve to explain to those not fam- 
iliar with the Long Island deer hunting conditions why it 
would not be safe to ride a bicycle through the deer 
country. 
Two years ago, just at sunrise, two deer were driven by 
the dogs around the base of a hiU on which were assem- 
bled thirty or forty hunters. A perfect cannonade en- 
sued; but the deer were too far off and it was too dark to 
shoot well, and they escaped the men on the hill, only to 
tall to the guns of some others, where they attempted to 
cross the main road a little beyond. 
Just as the smolie began to clear away, a hunter in a 
light colored shooting coat ran directly across the open- 
ing where the deer had passed a moment before. The 
effect was something like a deer bounding in and out 
among the scrub oaks, and one of the hunters on the hill 
evidently was deceived by the resemblance; for he raised 
his rifle, and before he could be stopped had fired several 
shots at the man, each one as carefully sighted as possible 
under the conditions. Fortunately homicide did not re- 
sult; but those who saw the incident took good care after 
that to move about as little as possible, and not one of 
them would have run to get a shot at the biggest buck on 
the island. 
The Forest and Stkeam is put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach us at the 
latest by Monday, and aa much earlier as practicable. 
r 
Works on Sunday 
As THE races for the America's Cup are at least nominally 
governed by the third deed of gift, it would naturally be 
supposed that the inventors of the wild rumors of impending 
challenges launched from time to lime would at least take 
the trouble to read that precious document and conform 
their stories to it. Such has not been the case, however, 
with two recent rumors, one to the effect that the Emperor 
William will challenge next year with Meteor II., and the 
other that Mr. .Tames Ross, commodore of the Koyal St. 
Lawrence Y. C, intends to build a yacht and challenge in 
the name of his club. As far as a challenge from the Em- 
peror is concerned, it would be possible only in one way, 
and that is practically an impossibility. In the last deed, as 
in the first and second, it is positively stated that the chal- 
lenging yacht must be constructed in the country to which 
the challenging club belongs, which makes it impossible for 
Meteor II. to sail as the representative of the Imperial Y. 0. 
of Germany, the chosen club of the Emperor. Of course he 
is also a member of the Squadron and other British clubs, 
and thus might legally secure one of them to back his chal- 
lenge, or the yacht might be transferred to the nominal 
ownership of the Earl of Lonsdale, or some other English 
yachtsman, for the same purpose. Such courses as these, 
however, are hardly within the bounds of probability; the 
whole effort of the Emperor has been to build up a system 
of yachting in Germany, whether for mere love of the sport or 
for the advantages which result to every great nation from a 
general love of water sports and sailing. To challenge in 
the name of a British club with a yacht of British design 
and build would be, in the event of winning, merely helping 
England to accomplish what she has so long failed in, and 
would in no way advance the interests of German yachting, 
as the Cup would necessarily go to England and not to Ger- 
many. We can hardly believe that the Emperor's love for 
his British cousins is so strong as such a course would 
imply. 
The report about Mr. Ross is even more absurd. The 
New York Y. 0. long ago decided most emphatically that it 
would receive no more challenges from Canada; in fact, the 
second deed of gift was made in 1883 mainly to stop all fur- 
ther attempts on the part of Canadians to win the Cup, and 
it has been thoroughly understood by them as such. The 
Royal St. Lawrence Y. C, like all the other Canadi&n clubs, 
is purely a fresh-water organization, and has no racing course 
on the sea or an arm of the sea, as called for by the second 
and third deeds, and is not qualified to issue a challenge for 
the America's Cup. The only way in which Mr. Ross could 
challenge would be by joining the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht 
Squadron and sailing as its representative. At the present 
time we can see no prospect whatever of a challenge for the 
Cup; in fact, the general circulation of such absurd stories 
as these two is in itself an indication that there is nothing 
more probable and reliable in the air. 
Talks business fe seven days in the 
week — a "Forest and Stream" Kennel 
f- Special advertisement. ^ 
YACHTS OF THE PACIFIC COAST. 
Apropos of the discussion over yachts and yachting about 
San Francisco, we clip the following from the San Francisco 
Ohronide of Aug. 1. It would seem to be pretty strong cor- 
roboration of the position of our correspondent, W. B. Col- 
lier, Jr. The attempt to modernize an old boat is one of the 
most useless ways of wasting money ever devised by yachts- 
men. For one thing alone, the old hull has, in nearly every 
case, a needlessly heavy construction, which is a fatal handi- 
cap to speed when opposed to modern craft, and this weight 
of constriiction is necessarily increased by the addition of 
misfit ends of extreme length. Such efforts as this to im- 
prove a fleet are likely to do much more harm th^n good to 
yachting. 
Interest is keen in yachting just now, as some of the prin- 
cipal regattas of the year are about to take place. The first 
will be the postponed race of the California Y. C. for the 
Wallace challenge trophy. The original race was declared 
void, as the yachts did not finish in the time prescribed by 
the deed gift, and another race had to be called for. The 
date set is Aug. 9. According to the deed of gift the race 
for 1896 must be sailed on an ebb tide. The start will be 
from the southerly side of the narrow-gauge mole, and thence 
around Presidio Shoal Buoy and back to the starting point. 
As the club has postponed another of its races, the past 
month or so has been used in cruising, giving the members a 
good chance to rest and get in shape for the regatta. 
'The event for the month of August will be the race between 
the Catherine and the Fawn for the San Francisco challenge 
cup. The Catherine represents the San Francisco Yacht 
Club, while the Fawn is the defender placed in the field by 
the Encinal Yacht Club, the holder of the cup. Both clubs 
have gone to a great deal of trouble getting their representa- 
tives in fine shape. The Catherine had an ovefhang bow 
and stern put on this spring and the good work she did led 
to the challenge. The addition at the bow is 1ft. 7-Jin. and 
the stern overhang is 5ft. 9^in. Up to a week or so ago she 
had the old ballast, but when the reports of the extensive 
changes that were being maqe in the Fawn reached Sausalito 
the oflicers of the San Francisco Club got together and de- 
cided that everything must be done to have the Catherine in 
the best possible shape. Therefore she was at once sent to 
Capt. Matthew Turner's yard at Benicia, where she has had 
all her ballast taken out and replaced by a lead keel weighing 
l,2201bs. Only enough will be carried inside to trim her. 
In place of the wooden centerboard she will carry one made 
of steel weighing 8751bs. While at the yard she has had the 
paint burnt off and the hull planed and sand-papered. Be- 
fore leaving a new set of spars will be placed on her, as the 
old ones were found to be too light. Her new measurements 
are 32ft. 7in. over all and 25ft. Sin, on the load waterline. 
The spars measure : Boom, 26ft. 9in. ; gaff, 15ft. 5in., and 
bowsprit, 6ft, outboard. The hoist of the mainsail is 19ft., 
and of the jib perpendicular, 20ft. 6in. The principal 
change in the sail area was bringing the jib inboard 1ft. 
On the Fawn there has been just as much changing as on 
the Catherine. The old sharp bow has been taken oft' and a 
modern spoon bow substituted. The old iron keel and inside 
ballast have been replaced by an iron shoe. The stern has 
been left with a small overhang. The sail plan was some- 
what changed, necessitating making a new suit of sails, 
which were bent on this week, and she was out for a spin to 
stretch them. The Fawn has always been a heavy weather 
boat, and as the course is noted for its fight winds, the odds 
are against the Euciuals. 
