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

TYRE COYER REPAIRING 43 pressure may cut a large hole both in the tube and cover. When the wire fits properly all round, tighten up the valve and replace spindle, etc., as before. Tyre repairing is a branch which may be undertaken very profitably by the rider, and a very considerable saving may be effected on the year’s expenditure if tyres are examined frequently and taken in hand as soon as any defect appears. A cover may often be saved from the scrap heap if, when a slight bulge appears, it is at once taken off and properly repaired from the inside, instead of waiting until it develops and finally bursts, making a somewhat lengthy job of what would have been a short one, besides making a nasty gash in the air tube. Tyre Repairing Outfit.—The repairs to be first de- scribed may all be undertaken and successfully accom- plished with the aid of ordinary rubber solution, patching rubber, and rubber-proof canvas or fabric. In purchasing rubber solution, get the best, in |-lb. or Hb. tins, and not in small collapsible tubes. It is much cheaper bought in the former way, and when there is a good quantity of it at hand one is not so apt to be sparing with the solution—a common error with amateurs. Many cyclists think it worth while to make their own rubber solution. Here is the method of preparing it. First obtain some pure unvulcanised rubber. (Vulcanised rubber, as from old tyres, etc., cannot be used for the pur- pose.) With a very sharp knife kept constantly wet, shred it and then place it in a bottle containing either carbon disulphide or benzene (coal-tar naphtha) ; the former solvent has an unpleasant odour. About 1 oz. of