Cycle Repairing and Adjusting
With a Chapter on building a Bicycle from a Set of Parts

100 CYCLE REPAIRING Front Forks.—Drill the fork ends to fit the hub spindle or shoulders of the cones (if any), and cut to length with the same exactitude as the back forks. Set the ends, and try on the wheel for truth. When fitted on the wheel and the hub screwed up, the top ends should be the exact width to fit in the crown. If they require setting and the forks are stiff, do not set them in place, but remove from the hub spindle and bend in the vice, or the spindle may get bent. Clean out the crown hole for a 1-in. tube ; fit the tube and braze. Clean out the D-holes for the forks after brazing in the tube. Clean and fit the fork blades to the crown, try on the wheel again before drilling to see that the wheel rim is exactly central in the forks, and that the steering tube is true with the wheel. This can be tested with the straightedge placed alternately on each side of the rim, using several parts of the rim in case the wheel is not dead true. When this is all correct, drill and peg. Before pegging up, load the two blades with spelter and borax, as before mentioned. The amount of clearance between the under-side of the crown and the surface of the tyre will be the same as for the back part. In fitting the steering tube to the crown, fit it so that the slotted part comes exactly central with the back of the crown, and before brazing the blades to the crown test for truth, the blades being parallel with each other. The best way to do this is to place a straight rod through the spindle holes, and another on a straightedge on the front of the blades close up to the crown. The two should then be exactly parallel. If not, one blade will require pulling forwards or backwards. Or it sometimes happens, but