Bicycle Mechanics - Not Sure How To Repair This

Hey everyone, so I just bought this used 1970 Schwinn Continental, its in decent shape I suppose and it needs a good cleaning, but I just noticed that the back wheel catches the brake pad when it spins, I'm not sure how I would go about repairing this and also how much it would cost me, but I included pictures so if anyone has a clue about how I could fix this I would really appreciate it.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/IggZ39/DSC_0874.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/IggZ39/DSC_0876.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/IggZ39/DSC_0879.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/IggZ39/DSC_0885.jpg

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb169/IggZ39/DSC_0887.jpg

It'll probably turn out to be a trivial problem and easy fix. If it rubs all the time, the wheel may simply not be centred in the rear dropouts, and you could loosen the rear quick release and try to shift it slightly. The rear wheel usually has some adjustability there. Or the brakes may need to be repositioned slightly. A bike store could do that when they replace the rubber pads which are pretty deteriorated and need to be replaced.

If the wheel only touches in one spot on the rim, it is slightly warped, or "out of true". Again this is easy to fix and a bike store could do it in 5 minutes by adjusting the tension of the spokes by twisting the "nipples" where the spokes attach to the rim. By adjusting the spoke tension on one side or the other, the rim gets pulled back into alignment.

cooker - Thanks for the advice, I was planning to head down to the bike shop soon to get new brake pads as soon as my paycheck comes in because I'm flat out of cash now but I'm happy to hear it won't be too hard to fix.

Iqor, try some garage sales or thrift shops and see if you can find another old, 27 rim bike with alloy rims/wheels. They're quite common. (Take a magnet with you). Replace those rims/wheels with the alloy rims/wheels and it will improve your, braking. If the alloy rims have hook bead or bulge bead, you can use higher pressure tires safely. I'll bet those old steel rims have flat bead, allowing the tire bead to slip if you use too much pressure. I'm into Classic and Vintage bikes. If I'm going to keep a bike with steel rims, the first thing I do is replace them with alloy. As a bonus, most alloy rims/wheels have a six speed freewheel that you can use with minimal adjustment because your bike has friction shifters. Good luck and welcome to Bike Forums.

Judging by the signs of rust on the axle areas you should probably be using this more as a strip down and maintanence learning project than as a riding bike at this point. It looks like it's pretty crusty overall and I'm pretty sure from the outside evidence that you'll find some brown caked rusty grease remnants in at least 1/2 of the bearings. Those being the wheel hubs, steering head and bottom bracket areas.

As a bonus you'll save money that you would have to pay to a mechanic. The downside is that you'll need to pay for a few bicycle specific tools to work on this stuff which will be a bit of an initial outlay that may be tough at this point if you're short of folding stuff.

As for the wheel jamming in the brakes look at your last picture. In that picture the wheel is firmly tight up against one of the chain stays (the lower rear tubes). It looks very strongly like your bike has semi horizontal dropouts (the part where the wheel goes). If so then the wheel may just be misalinged in the dropouts. If you loosen the axle skewer lever and align the tire between the chain stays where the tire goes just behind the bottom bracket then your brake rubbing problem MAY go away. Or at least it should reduce to a wheel wobble. A wheel wobble can usually be fixed with some spoke work to true up the wheel as mentioned above.

In other words it's highly likely that this bike has a wide ranging host of troubles that you'll want to look at. Some will be minor and obvious like the brake pads being crunchy with age and others may come from asking here for help with stuff that is obvious to a long time bike tinkerer but that won't be obvious to a new member to the club.

Oh, another hint. The tires LOOK to be in good shape at least wear wise. However if you see cracks in the rubber on the sidewalls or in the crevasses in the tread then they are old and perished and should be replaced. Similarly if there's no cracking but they seem hard slippery and plastic like rather than grippy and rubbery then they are aged to the point that I would recomend replacement very soon. When they are hard like that they tend to not grip on the road well and you're just looking for a sudden slide or skid. With age hardened tires such slips can happen with amazing quickness and at braking angles or turn leans where you just would not expect it to happen. Compare the feel of your tires to those on some other bikes out in the world that seem to be in a good state of repair. HIt up a shop with used bikes to see what I mean.

Hopefully this isn't too much bad news all at once.

is that a crack in the hub?

is that a crack in the hub?

Good spotting. I noticed that too but with all the other crud on there I assumed it was just a greasy hair or other marking. It would be well worth examining closely after cleaning up. If it is cracked then it's new wheel time I'm afraid.

I'd check the rims with a magnet. From the color in the one shot it seems too dull looking to be chromed steel so you may already have alloy rims. The "rust spot" may be just some grunge from something else.

I agree with roccobikes's advice.

Don't bother with the magnet, those are the original chrome steel rims.

Good luck truing those anyways. I'll wager half of those nipples are seized.

yeah does look like a bit of cloth or hair on the hub

would scrub the wheels with wire wool in hot soapy water..brillo pads if you get them there.

looks like chrome steel rims on large flange alloy hubs.
as said on other threads. soak the nipples at the rim end of the spokes in oil overnight.
then get a spoke key. there about £5 here. carefully tighten the spokes to pull the wheel into line.

think the hub has been messed with. as theres washers on the axle. instead of a thin lock nut

So, it's been a long time since I've visited these forums but after hearing all the potential problems with the bike I decided to give up on restoring this one, at least until I was able to put in the proper amount of time, work, and money required for it to run smoothly. I realize that at this point I might be better off simply replacing this bike but I really like the frame and I think it still has quite a bit of potential, if nothing else it will turn out to be a good starter project during the dog days of summer. Yesterday I went downstairs and took the whole thing apart so that I could give all the bits and pieces a good clean (which it desperately needed), and after having a good think I figured I would do my best to convert it into a single speed. I am sure I will run into my fair share of road blocks so I'll be utilizing the Bike Church in Philadelphia as well as these forums to help me along the way, I just wanted to say thanks for all the help (sorry that this post is about 2 years late).

One of the spokes could be broken. Sometimes they stay in place so you can't really tell.

Continentals and Varsities are definitely worth a bit of work if you like them. Everything on there is very rugged and will last if taken care of. They were good, low cost bikes rather than cheap bikes.