Training & Nutrition - schwinn johnny g spinning bike in bad condition. need advice

schwinn johnny g spinning bike in bad condition. need advice.

okay, i'm an idiot. i blindly bought a schwinn johnny g spinning bike on craigslist from a guy who seemed fully honest. he said the bike had some issues with the paint but worked "flawlessly."

he was charging 170.00. he brought the bike to my house at night, i rode it for 3 minutes (STUPID!), paid him, and he left.
when i woke up, i was dismayed to see the bike was covered in rust. i tried to get some of the rust off and succeeded a bit. there is rust on the pedals, the flywheel, the brake cable/springs, the floor levelers, underneath the handlebar plastic coating, and on all the bolts. it's BAD.

to make matters worse, when sitting on the bike, the ride is reasonably smooth but noisy with clicking noises.
however, when standing, it CLUNKS with each revolution.

any suggestions on what to do? i'm miserable and could kick myself for trusting the seller.
i live in san mateo county (near san francisco).
thanks,
amy

Why not see if you can get a free estimate from a Schwinn dealer?

I don't know what the deal is with California business laws, but around here, the buyer has the duty to inspect the merchandise upon delivery and making payment is automatically considered acceptance. It "might" be different if there was some deeper, undistinguishable problem that an average person could not recognize at the time of the sale.

However, according to your post, you were dismayed that the bike was pretty much completely covered in rust. It doesn't make sense that you didn't see the extent of the rust upon delivery and take the time to do a better inspection. Did it not make any noises when you rode it? My guess is that it did and that you probably rushed or felt rushed and were so excited to get the new bike that you may have distorted the reality that there appeared to be something wrong with it. Or maybe you wanted the sale to work out really bad or were intimidated by the seller. I don't know. Sometimes, it's a hard lesson learned.

There is hope. I can tell you that $170 for a JG Spinner is an awesome deal and I would expect there to be some rust and issues with it. Those bikes go for $3,000 new and @ $1500 used. I own a used one from a health club. It too, makes noises and had alot of rust. I sanded it down and repainted it. Still somewhat looks like "doo doo", but it works wonderfully. Cranking up the tunes really helps with the noises :D

If you can talk to the guy and he is rational - go for it. Otherwise, I am confident that you can get your $$ back (even make some) with the bike as it is. Maybe Schwinn can identify the "clunk" and make recommendations. Meanwhile, use it, love it, and know that you are not an "idiot"; you can always turn around and sell it for $500 to one, though :p

schwinn johnny g spinning bike in bad condition. need advice.

okay, i'm an idiot. i blindly bought a schwinn johnny g spinning bike on craigslist from a guy who seemed fully honest. he said the bike had some issues with the paint but worked "flawlessly."

he was charging 170.00. he brought the bike to my house at night, i rode it for 3 minutes (STUPID!), paid him, and he left.
when i woke up, i was dismayed to see the bike was covered in rust. i tried to get some of the rust off and succeeded a bit. there is rust on the pedals, the flywheel, the brake cable/springs, the floor levelers, underneath the handlebar plastic coating, and on all the bolts. it's BAD.

to make matters worse, when sitting on the bike, the ride is reasonably smooth but noisy with clicking noises.
however, when standing, it CLUNKS with each revolution.

any suggestions on what to do? i'm miserable and could kick myself for trusting the seller.
i live in san mateo county (near san francisco).
thanks,
amy

The rust is to be expected if people dont wipe off the sweat. As for the clunking, could be a few things, perhaps the right crank is hitting the chain gaurd. It takes a bit of mechanical fiddling to get that to line up correctly. Also could be caused by a bad BB or chain. Not sure what a Johnney is, but some of the newer ones really fail miserably. I've seen crank fail on 10% of the red (schwinn spinners I think) delivered to the local YWCA. I have a 9000 and it works great. My buddy fixes the things he's got several for sale at $200 for non-clutch freewheel and 300 for the newer, knee saving clutch type. THey are expensive to ship.

Take the thing outside and waste a can of wd40 on it then wipe it off with rags. There is a silicone spray for the flywheel/ pads. Dont use the wd40 on the flywheel. You can spin the flywheel and use medium steel wool to shine that up. You can buy new levelers if the wd40 isn't enough.

I asked the friend who repairs these and he said right away that it is probably a stiff link. You'd have to remove the chain gaurd and locate the link, flex it back and forth and lube. Or just replace the chain. Hope this helps it is a common problem.

I'm researching to find the right spinning bike for me - one that will allow me to ride hard enough to raise my heart rate sufficiently and that is easy on the knees. I see Slagdog referring to "clutch-type" spinners being knee saving. Can someone explain what that means and why? I'm about to buy a refurbished old commercial Schwinn Johnny G (which I don't think has the clutch), but seeing this remark I'm hesitating. I thought is was just he weight of the flywheel that eased the knees?
THanks!