In spite of the laudatory notices of subsequent writers in the _Cyclist_, I am not disposed to treat this subject seriously. If not already consigned to oblivion, no doubt the ideas advanced in the foregoing quotation will be by the time this book reaches the reader; something must be said about it, however, since the importance of the question is now quite generally felt. To long cranks little objection can be made, but as to increased rake and large rear wheels, this is a thrust at the heart of all we have to admire in the Ordinary. We are willing to take the old mount with all its dangers, for the sake of its neat appearance and ease of running, but when we get back nearly off the large wheel; when we reach out to the end of a longer crank; when we get over and drag along after us a great ungainly rear wheel to wag about over the road; and lastly, when we strike at the life of easy steering, pray what have we left? Why not go back to the old bone-shaker, curl up like a sleeping chimpanzee and kick up in the air as we used to do, and be done with it? No! If we propose to stick to the old high perch, let us be men and take it as it has been perfected, neat and comfortable, with the rider upon the front wheel and within a reasonable distance of the point over his work. If not that, then let us gracefully accept our place down among the dogs, and take the Safety, depending upon having so little else to attend to that we can kick off the festive canines and take up the time we would otherwise spend in patching up our skin with sticking plaster, in wiping off the accumulated dust from our machines. No man can edit a journal without making mistakes, and I shall probably find that books cannot be written without incurring the same liability, but for all this we cannot excuse the _Rational_. The more generally correct an editor is the more keenly we feel his freaks; so let this be my defence in noticing this little idiosyncratic perturbation of Mr. Sturmey’s otherwise infallible intellect. CHAPTER XVIII. WORKMANSHIP IN CYCLES—ENGLISH AND AMERICAN MAKERS.