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

OVERHAULING A BICYCLE U tight thread. The job takes longer, but the extra time is well spent. The correct tension to put on wheel spokes is only found by practice and experience, varying with the gauge of spokes used and the design and make of the rim. A good idea may be obtained by carefully examining a wheel on a new cycle of guaranteed make. It is, of course, possible to overdo it in the matter of tension, and when a wheel is very highly strung, the tendency to go out of truth is often greater than with a moderately tensioned wheel, more especially if the tension on all the spokes is not equal. Occasionally a wheel that has been recently trued will buckle up without apparent cause. The trouble may be attributed to a weak rim which has previously been buckled, or to unskilful truing up. It will be advisable to fit a new rim, and, when re-building, to take care to get the tension on gradually and equally. Cycle Out of Track.—If the back wheel is itself true and is fixed truly in the back forks, and the two wheels are then out of track (that is, the rear one does not follow in the track of the front one), either the main frame is bent out of truth or the front fork is bent. See that both wheels are true and truly fixed in their respective forks. Test the front wheel by placing a straightedge against the edge (side) of the rim, and see whether the fork tube is true with this. If it is, then the back frame must be at fault, and must be pulled straight. This may be done cold by placing a long bar down the seat tube and another down the fork tube, using these as levers to pull the frame which- ever way is necessary.