Originally Posted by
Road Fan
I'd also strongly suggest overhauling the BB and headset and cleaning and renewing those bearings as needed. At the same time pull the stem and seat post and reassemble with grease and proper torque, to minimize slippage of these parts. You need to get home on this bike, don't tempt fate.
It sounds like it's never been overhauled. I might not overhaul it if it was mine and I was commuting, but a long tour is a different story. The older Schwinns were awesome bikes for robustness and longevity, but honestly their parts are about the same as the ones everybody knows about. They need maintenance or they can fail suddenly.
The back wheel hub was so loose it had actual play when I took it off of the wall. I took both wheels in to have the hubs greased. Also the bottom bracket sounded like gravel when we spun it, we greased that at school and it quieted down a lot. The old chain was way stretched too, I replaced that before it broke on me somewhere remote from home. And I just took delivery of a Bike Nashbar Mountain Bike crankset and bottom bracket to fit. They will probably go on this coming week.
Only part not looked at yet is the headset, but I'm taking a week long class at the end of the month where we tear town and rebuild. Pretty much the headset is getting to be the only part left to look at when I do take that class
Thanks for your response,
Mike