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

A bicycle rack room should be light, with plenty of head room, and conveniently fitted with racks, shelves, and lockers. Each rack should have its corresponding shelf-room and pigeon-hole, either beside it or above and behind it. There is an infinite variety of racks to select from, from the two stakes driven into the ground or fastened to the floor, to the handsomely finished metal racks with joints to hold the frame at any angle.

If there is but one bicycle to care for, it is better to have its rack and shelf and cupboard together—the rack to hold the bicycle in a proper position, the shelf for sundry attachments, and the cupboard for the lamp and extras. Such a bicycle corner can be made very attractive to look at when everything is arranged and kept in perfect order. When several bicycles are to be cared for together, when neatly set up they make a very pretty showing. If possible, the rack-room should be separate, set apart for that purpose, and kept under lock and key; it should be dry and well lighted, free from frost, and not likely to be over-heated by direct sun-rays in summer. The frost is injurious to metal and enamel; and the sun or too much heat will spoil rubber, and possibly injure enamel as well.

An even temperature, not any special degree of temperature, is requisite; for changes of temperature cause different degrees of expansion and contraction in different materials; and as the steel frame, and the enamel it is covered with, do not expand and contract in quite the same degree, they will gradually work loose from each other, and the enamel will flake or split.

The rubber tire should be kept out of the sun, and the place where it stands should be kept very clean, and no oil allowed about; for oil is injurious to the rubber, and in case of punctures makes repairing very difficult, if not impossible. A rubber surface with even the slightest film of oil will not make a joint, as the oil prevents the rubber surface and that of the cement and the article to be repaired from uniting.

If the workshop is to be used by more than one person, each should have a tool-chest and a work-bench of his own, and each tool-chest provided with lock and key, and each person with a key to the outer door. Tools are but the continuation of the individual brain and will power. What one handles becomes, while in one’s hand, a part of one’s self, as it were. Tools, therefore, should be individual property always, just as scissors and thimble are, though of course extra tools may be provided for general work. Every one prefers a good pair of scissors to a poor pair, and the same preference is likely to be evinced in the case of other tools. If the tools are common property, the best will be always taken, and often not restored to their proper place.

A bicycle workshop is devoted to metal work, woodwork, and rubber work. The metal work should be kept by itself, and the tools used for metal work only.

The amateur can commence fitting a shop by setting up a small deal table and a vise. The table will do for a work-bench, and one vise will serve for a beginning; it should be of medium size, quite heavy, made of wrought iron or cast steel, and capable of holding a wrench in its jaws, though a less expensive one could be made to do. A cheap vise, however, is pretty sure to break if a strain is put upon it; and, while a good workman could get comparatively good work out of a poor vise, the poor tool in unskilled hands would be sure to show its weak place.

Have a notch cut in the edge of the table to let the vise back to where there is bearing surface; and it is well to have it as far in as convenient, for the weight will thus be supported more steadily. Get a plumber to cut a section of lead pipe about as long as the jaws of the vise, and have the piece of pipe split and flattened. You can do this yourself if you can handle a saw, and have one that is suitable for cutting metal; or a jig saw will do, and the lead can be flattened on a block with a mallet. Screw one of the flattened pieces of lead into the jaws of the vise, leaving about an inch to project above; hammer the projecting part over, and one side of the jaws will have a lead face that can be taken out. Do the same with the other piece of lead. Replace them both, and the vise is fitted with a pair of lead jaw faces, which will be found most useful.

The lead being soft, any small metal object may be held between the jaws without injury, while if the steel face of the vise came in direct contact with the metal, a screw for example, the thread might be bruised; or if the screw were harder than the vise, the face of the jaws would be marred.

With a work-table, a vise, and the bicycle kit, a very fair beginning may be made, and any refractory small part handled with ease. Even the spindle of the axles of one of the wheels may be screwed in, and the bearings removed, while held in this way. The vise will act as a clamp for holding pieces to be polished, and it is most useful in taking a pedal or other small parts down. Above the table should be a tool-rack, three feet of board ten or twelve inches wide, with a ledge or shelf nailed along the lower edge, and a strip of leather or some stiff and pliable material nailed on in loops to hold the tools. Under the table should be kept a couple of boxes—wooden boxes such as canned goods come in will do—one as a receptacle for oil-cans, kerosene, and cloths, and the other to use as a frame. The outfit should be completed by a little bench, and a wooden stool to sit on when working at the table; for much of the work about a bicycle may be done while seated comfortably, and it is always well to save strength when possible.