Rensselaer Republican, Volume 26, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1894 — MADE HIS OWN WHEEL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

MADE HIS OWN WHEEL.

A Maryland Boy Who Was Not Balked for Want of Money. “They come high, but we must have ’em,” in what John Mayne, s Lainganore mountaineer, thought when he saw hundred’s of wheelmen riding over the smooth roads o Frederick county., Md., several months ago, John is only sixteen years old, but he thought he would be able to ride a bike. All that was necessary was to get the “bike,” and that he made up his mind to do. He soon learned that a wheel would cost him from SIOO to $l5O, and that was a little more than he felt able ta pay. His funds were a little low,

but he had made up his mind to have one, so he concluded that he would start to manufacture one. In his part of the country the roads are as smooth as concrete pavements, and John had often pictured himself passing along on his silent stead, leaving the fast horses in the rear. His cash did not increase in proportion to his desire for a wheel, and so out there on the farm in the mountainous country he went into his father’s shop and started to construct a racer. He worked early and late, until he had finished the construction of the wheel, and now he is seen on the road trying to keep pace with some of the riders of pneumatic-tired iron horses. The entire wheel, with the exception of an old iron tire from a carriage wheel, was made by the boy. The rear wheel was made of a solid piece of oak, while the handle bar and seat are made of lighter wood.

JOHN MAYSN[?] AND HIS WHEEL.