My old Schwinn

first real ride on my old schwinn 3.5 miles round trip and im beat. im in horrible shape. selling my truck and getting this old bike in proper order is probly one of the best choices i will ever make. anywy i left my home and got on the highway turned off the highway at the gas station and bought a bottle of water, continued down knappa dock road and went to the dock, than i made the return trip with a slight detour to check out an old bridge that i havent been to in awhile. heres a pic from where i sat on the dock.

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If you do not find a reasonably GOOD, used Shimano REAR DERAILLEUR for $10-or-less when you visit your local bike shop, then go to eBay and either buy a new Shimano ACERA-or-ALTUS rear derailleur (about $20 +/-, shipped) OR a used XT (about $30) ...

• the chain which you already bought may-or-may-not limit the derailleur choice because of the width of the pulley cage ...
  
• this is a DIY project -- if you need assistance, then check www.parktool.com or YouTube
  

FYI. The problem with the rear derailleur MAY be the cable OR the cable housing ...

• if you disconnect the cable ...
  
• AND, if you can move the rear derailleur's parallelogram laterally while the wheel is off the ground AND someone is turning the crank ...
  
• then, the problem MAY only be with the cable and/or it's housing ...
  

Simply LUBING the current housing may resolve the problem ...

• if the rear derailleur is rusted, 3-in-1 type oil may facilitate making the rear derailleur functional -- seep some oil on the pivots ... wait 12-to-24 hours ... test ... repeat, as necessary ...
  

BTW. If your step-dad or the other people who want you to get another bike are willing to pony up for the cost difference of making your bike fully functional (it should cost you no more than $35 on your part for a rear derailleur and/or cable + short piece of housing), then tell them to put-up-or-shut-up.

thanks for the advice,im fairly sure its the cable / housing now. im going to buy a new cable and a pice of cable housing when i go to bikes and beyond later today and see if that fixes the issue, if not than ill go back for a new derailer. the chain i bought is preety narrow.

-Currently im into the project for $62 not bad for a decent bike. i expect to be into for about $150 when all is said and done, the catalog i looked at said new in 1978 the bike was $165.

Any Advice on converting the front to disc breaks? i live in the middle of nowhere right now so i can take my sweet time stoppin' but when i move to portland short stopping distances are going to be important and i can't think of a better upgrade to my stopping than disc breaks... other than a brick wall. LOL

If the end of the rear derailleur cable isn't frayed, then a temporary "fix" which you may want to try to save yourself an immediate trip to your bike shop is to simply remove the cable housing & lube it ...

Again, you can use a few of drops of 3-in-1 oil to "flush" it out ...

• add a few drops of oil & let it sit for a few hours ...
  
• "rinse" & repeat
  
• if you don't want to wait until the oil runs (almost) clear, after "flushing" the housing out a few times, then PACK it with some light grease (petroleum jelly will do) & re-insert the cable & attach to your rear derailleur
  

Of course, when you have the time, get a new piece of housing and/or cable for your bike ...

• I prefer to use coiled BRAKE CABLE HOUSING for my derailleur cables & I strongly recommend that you choose that over the parallel stranded cable housing which was abandoned in the 70s, but subsequently resurrected (¿by Shimano?) shortly thereafter because the stiffer housing does not droop when exiting the Shimano STI shifters ...
  
• also, the coiled housing is easier to work with -- it is easier to cut-and-trim & does not require ferrules on its ends
  

Remember to grease/lube the 'new' housing when you re-install the rear derailleur cable.

BTW. You can lube your existing housing even if the end of the cable is frayed ...

• if the end of the rear derailleur cable has ANY fraying, then do not remove it completely from the housing ... seep a few drops of oil in from one end & slide the housing to-and-fro on the cable ([FONT= arial]essentially, you will be scrubbing the rust from the inside of the housing[/FONT]) ... wipe the rusty oil off, repeat ...
  

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Zerosven [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

Any Advice on converting the front to disc breaks? i live in the middle of nowhere right now so i can take my sweet time stoppin' but when i move to portland short stopping distances are going to be important and i can't think of a better upgrade to my stopping than disc breaks... other than a brick wall. LOL

You cannot realistically convert your bike to use front disc brakes without going to a frame builder & having him/her replace the head tube with one which can use a fork with a 1 1/8" steerer ...

OR, you can theoretically have the frame builder replace the 1 1/8" steerer on a RIGID MTB or Tandem fork which has a disc brake mounts AND having him/her install a 1" steerer on it.

cable is frayed preety bad, i'm just going to replace it as i have the funds and i can get a ride with my sister she is going into town shortly.

So what your saying is, i can convert to disc, but its gonna be expensive and require a major frame modification. ok its on the list of things to do in the future. what would you suggest as a cheaper alternitive to improve stopping distance?

If you anticipate riding on wet roadways OR if you get caught in the rain, the technique involves anticipating when you are going to need to stop (i.e., slow down near intersections & parked cars where you can see someone sitting in the driver's seat) & SKIM any water off the rim FIRST by very lightly applying the brakes against the rim to create a "dry" surface which will then respond to the brakes in as close to a normal way as possible ...

• different brake pads respond differently in dry conditions ... so, it is often important to know how the pads on a given bike respond ...
  
• be sure that you are NOT using worn out pads which no longer have "wear" grooves because the grooves also facilitate draining water away from the contact surface ...
  

In the worst case (?) scenario, you may have to execute a skid stop where you lock the brakes to the front rim & 'drift' the back end forward to break the forward momentum ...

AFTER riding in the rain OR on wet roadways, check the brake pads for embedded debris ... if you do not remove embedded debris then you will score the rim's braking surface & thereby induce premature wear.

IF, by chance, your wheels have steel rims, then there are brake pads which have are made with an ABRASIVE compound (akin to using an "ink" eraser instead of a "plain" eraser) ... the abrasive pads are not recommended for aluminum rims, but they were not uncommon for some MTB riding conditions prior to the widespread use of disc brakes on MTBs.

got the rear derailer working almost right. heh i get 1,2,3,4 on the rear it wont shift onto 5th. just need to figure out the tuning on it i guess. the problem was the cable housing more than the cable itself it seems. i also went and got a can of spray paint, new handle bar tape and new fenders the bike is looking a lot better now.

The wheels are def not aluminum heh. they are heavy for the size.

once i finish painting the frame this afternoon ill post a new picture.

Once i get this bike looking good and working at 100% im gonna start training to go on an adventure.
Also got my first bike injury of the season... uggg i was using a pair of pliers to pull the old cable out and they slipped and i somehow caught my thumb :Shrug:

An old Schwinn Continental?

They are infinitely rebuildable and my local Craiglist is full of them for $25-$75.

just finished replacing the front brake cable and adjusting said front breaks, that should help a lot. also adjusted the new fenders so now nothing is rubbing. bike is coming along nicely i love these old schwinns.

weathers gotten half way decent probly gonna go for a ride here in a bit, gotta do a few things around the house first though.

gonna be fun to point at it next time i see my step-dad and say "told yah so" hehe tell me i can't fix somthing.

guess this has turned into a project journel, heres a picture of how it sits right now. i have not started the painting yet except for sanding the top bar on the frame where the rust was the worst and someone had scratched in there name i tossed some Plasti-kote black on it so that helps a bit. ill be fully repainting it soon. probly tomarrow or sunday if i feel up to it. i don't like sitting in my drive way for extended periods.

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tire blew out... no real idea why i heard this creaking noise looked around saw nothing out of place so i ignored a few minets later i heard a boom. looked at my bike and the rear tire was totally flat... weird.

to much pressure? bad rim tape? a combination? a faulty tube? i don't know... all i know is i plan on getting new wheels in the future anyway. and a new inner tube today.

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Old rotten tires will stretch and lift off the rim when inflated to max pressure, allowing the tube to blow out, literally. Good thing it happened in the garage, because on the road this can be hazardous to your health. I know you don't want to spend any money on this old clunker, but new tires and tubes would be a cheap investment in your safety.

tires and tubes are new. and im working restoring this old klunker. it may be a POS buts its my POS lol

repalced the blow innertube, adjusted the derailer so i now have acess to all ten speeds woot! next on the list is new wheels and better tires but that can wait id say the bike is now t 95% as far as functionality goes but it still looks like [censored] haha. ill take a wire wheel to the frame one of these days and repaint it right for now i just stripped the worst of the rust and rattle canned it so it doesnt look to pissy.

More pictures? I can't wait to see until you are finished working on that bike [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

i have some more work for the bike planned this afternoon once i get that done ill take a new picture to show the progress. im preety happy with how its coming along.