Bicycling for Ladies / The Common Sense of Bicycling; with Hints as to the Art of Wheeling—Advice to Beginners—Dress—Care of the Bicycle—Mechanics—Training—Exercise, etc., etc.

by Maria E. Ward

Begin serious work on a pedal, which is small and easily handled. If the pedal is a removable one, take it off. If the spindle is stationary, take off the movable parts, first the nuts or screws, then loosen the cones, having a box placed underneath to catch the balls if any should fall out. Support the box well up under the pedal, as the balls bounce and jump about. Even if you have had the pedals off before, and know how it is done, it is well to have something to catch the balls, as otherwise you must atone for any mistake by a scramble. Place the balls in a separate dish of kerosene, and carefully count them. Wipe the movable parts of the pedals with a cloth wet in kerosene, and finish with a dry cloth.

In taking a pedal down, the place of each part should be carefully noted, so that it may be a simple matter to replace the parts. If, the first pedal being now apart, the novice is confused, there is the other pedal to afford comparison. Study that, then return the parts of the dismembered pedal to their proper places, and adjust them. The balls may prove troublesome; but a screw-driver dipped in vaseline will pick up any very small balls, and pliers can manage the larger ones. See that cones and washers are replaced, then add a few drops of oil, adjusting the pedal to spin easily without lateral play, and tighten cones and nuts. Spin the pedal for a final test, and then begin on the other pedal.

If after several hours’ work, but one pedal is finished, if that one pedal is in perfect order, there is much cause for congratulation. The other pedal may be done very much more easily and rapidly. Of course, it takes time to wipe all the balls and cones, and nuts and screws, and washers and spindles, and when the pedal is in your hand, a little time may be spent to give it an extra rub to brighten its polish. Wipe off any oil that may have shown in the joints of the bearings, and the pedals are finished.

The front wheel should next engage attention. Take a large wrench, and start the bearing cones, and take off the nuts at opposite sides of the ends of the forks. These nuts are screwed on the ends of the axle, and perhaps have metal washers under them. Place them in a box by themselves, and if the forks are notched, there will be nothing to do but to lift out the wheel. If the ends of the forks have only eyes, the forks must be sprung to take the wheel out.

When the wheel is in your hand, avoid letting any grease or oil touch the tire, for it will injure the rubber. Now proceed to work on the axles. Support the wheel on a large, empty wooden box. The axle is a spindle, and has cones to hold the balls in against the bearings. The cones must be removed and cleaned, and the socket of the hub made clean with an oily cloth followed by a clean one. The axle’s spindle should be replaced, and the balls and cones restored to their proper relative positions. Drop in a little oil, adjust and tighten the cones, then spring the wheel back between the forks, and true it; see that it runs even between the forks and that the cones are keyed up firm and even. Replace the nuts, and screw up firm. Wipe off any oil that may have worked out, and spin the wheel to try it. If it runs long and steadily, and has no lateral play, and everything is keyed up tight and true, this part of the work may be considered finished.

Some prefer to use a little pure graphite for the balls, and no oil; and again some bicycles are made without oil-cups. For the first work, oil is safer to handle; but remember that two or three drops are enough. Too much is worse than useless, for oil spreads over a large surface, and will cover all the surface of the bicycle with a thin film, which will need to be constantly wiped off.

The rear wheel may be removed without springing the frame. Unscrew the adjustment attachment, and the wheel will come out. Clean the rear wheel bearings in the same way you have cleaned those of the front wheel; replace the rear wheel, and put back the adjusting attachment.

Give the crank axle the same care and attention that the wheel axles have received. The pedal cranks are fastened on either end of the crank axle in such a way that the dead centre is avoided as much as possible. The large sprocket-wheel is on the crank axles, and sometimes not movable. The cranks are screwed or fastened with pins to the ends of the axles, and should not be disturbed. Take the large key-wrench from the kit, and start the bearing cones. If the crank must come off, see that the nut on the end of the crank-pin is flush with the end, and place a piece of wood on it before striking it with a hammer, as already explained, to start the bolt or pin. Or if you have some one to help, let a heavy hammer-head be held under the crank beside the bolt, at the other end; and the double shock and recoil from the heavy hammer as the blow is struck will jar the bolt loose.

Remove and clean the cones and balls, then replace and oil them, and adjust the cones tight, ready for adjustment when the cranks are in place. The only bearings left to attend to are those in the head of the frame. Take out the handle-bars, and wipe them and their socket very carefully; never allow any oil to remain there. The handles should never be immovably tight; yet grease, if any were introduced, would perhaps cause them to slip when they should remain in place. The crank axle-key usually fits the cone of the head of the frame, and that may be treated as any other set of ball bearings—loosened, removed, cleaned, replaced, oiled, adjusted, and tightened. Any dust may be removed from inside the frame-head while the bearings are off.

When the head bearings have been restored and the handle-bar replaced, put on the chain and adjust it. The rear wheel is arranged to move forward or back on the frame by the adjusting attachment. This allows the two sprocket-wheels to be placed nearer together or farther apart, and the chain may be stretched and held between them to any desired degree of rigidity or of slackness.