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CHAPTER XIV
MOTOR CYCLES
By the Editor of 'The Motor-Car Journal'
To those who can realise, by actual possession, the pleasures of the motor-car, this chapter will be of little interest. But there are many aspiring motorists to whom the original cost of a car, or its maintenance when purchased, is a barrier to ownership. Hence the favour with which motor cycles are regarded, and the growing importance they are attaining in the automobile movement. The familiar forms are the tricycle, quadricycle, and the bicycle, the latter having rapidly come to the front, to the apparent supersession of the more cumbersome type of motor cycle. With regard to the permanent popularity of either form nothing need be said, individual preference being left to settle the question. But it may be pointed out that the bicycle is more conveniently adapted for storing where space is limited, and that it is to this kind of motor cycle that the attention of makers is being mostly directed at the present time.
There is no doubt that the motor cycle will prove an effective educational medium in connection with automobilism, for the intending motorist will be able to learn all about petrol engines at a much less cost than is demanded by the purchase of a motor-car. The experience thus gained will be extremely useful should the motor cyclist ultimately become the owner of a larger vehicle, while those who begin with motor cycles will probably enter the ranks of motor-car owners after they have realised the pleasures and delights of automobilism
