The ideal machine requires little adjustment. The less the screws, the nuts, and the bearings are wrenched, the more perfect is the machine, the more free from wear and dents and scratches. To apply a wrench is a serious responsibility that should not be undertaken lightly. It seems easy, and yet skilled men are employed just for that kind of work, for it is work requiring the precision of the trained mechanic.
PREPARING TO TURN THE BICYCLE OVER.
After purchasing a watch, the owner does not at once investigate the machinery; yet many, because the tools are at hand, are tempted to experiment on a bicycle. A bicycle, like a watch, should be ready to run, and only require winding up to keep it going. It should be adjusted; and if it needs regulating, this should be done by people who understand the machine and have the requisite knowledge and responsibility to do well what is to be done. Two rules may be laid down for one who does not study mechanical details—never to touch the bicycle except to ride it; and never to let any one else touch it who has not skill and experience.
This practice will prove satisfactory until some day, miles from home, the bicycle will not go; you carry it more miles to the nearest conveyance, and send it home. There you have it examined, and find that a touch sets it free; just as sometimes, when your watch will not go, you take it to a watchmaker, and he examines it, winds it up, and hands it back, telling you there is no charge. After learning to wheel a bicycle, therefore, the next step should be to learn to care for it. Unless somewhat familiar with machinery, it is bewildering to contemplate taking the thing apart and putting all those parts together again; even more bewildering is it, having taken the thing apart, not to be able to put it together. In such case, there is nothing to do but to gather the pieces of the puzzle, and send them to be set up. If in this extremity a friend who knows all about a bicycle should offer assistance, it is well to hear what he has to say before he undertakes the work. “I do not think your wheel is just like mine,” perhaps, or “Where do these things belong?” is enough for the wise. Better send to the shop for a machinist at once. All the parts of the bicycle are made to go together in one way, and any attempt at experiment may injure the mechanism.
When you undertake to investigate a bicycle for the first time, take an old one as a subject, and endeavor to put it in perfect running order. If an old bicycle cannot be had, proceed with much circumspection. Go where you will be undisturbed, where there is plenty of room, and where a key may be turned if there is possibility of interruption. There is sure to be some oil and grease spattered about, in spite of the utmost care, and it is well to remember this while making preparations. Have ready a pile of old newspapers, some cups, plates, and boxes, and a painting apron if you possess one; if not an old skirt and apron, and sleeves well rolled up. For tools, a monkey-wrench, two or three screw-drivers, large as well as small, a hammer, one or two pieces of wood, the bicycle kit, oil, graphite, a can of kerosene, some cheesecloth and canton flannel, and a large wooden box.
Take two newspapers folded in half, and put them on the floor for the saddle and handle-bars; then turn the bicycle upside down, and arrange the newspapers under the saddle and handles. If there is a bell, take it off, or place a block under the opposite end of the bar to balance it. Before turning the bicycle over, remove the lantern, if there is one on the bicycle, as the oil will be spilled out if the lamp is turned upside down.
TURNING THE BICYCLE OVER.
Begin by carefully removing all mud and grit from the bicycle. Wear old gloves, and remove mud with the hand when possible, finishing with a cheese-cloth duster and an old oily cloth. Go over all the joints where the wheels turn, and remove every particle of grit, then remove mud and dust.