CHAPTER XIV
THE BICYCLE ON THE CONTINENT
A book on the cycle industry would hardly be complete without a chapter on the Continental type of machine and some reference to British cycles used on the Continent.
The French are, perhaps, the next largest users of the bicycle to the British. The pastime has made great strides there in the last ten or twelve years. Races are extremely popular with Parisian crowds and they throng weekly to both winter and summer tracks, the former being covered in to protect them and the spectators from the elements.
The average French cyclist is rather different from a British rider; he is seldom a tourist and appears to follow the pastime more for the sport of racing than riding from town to town on touring bent. The French bicycle is therefore, as may be expected, largely of the road racing type. It is more often minus brakes, mudguards and similar fittings, has light wood rims, small light tyres, and no free wheel. Some of the road machines used in the neighbourhood of Paris and other large cities are marvels of lightness. Their riders adopt a racing attitude, and so noticeable is the difference between French and British riders that the latter's nationality would be known at a glance by their more upright position in the saddle.
The free wheel and the three-speed hub had been in use for years in this country before French makers took any notice of either. The French mechanic is most ingenious and had designed and made many
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