Bicycle Mechanics - shwinn world sport, unknown year

well i've had the bike for a long time, its a red shwinn world sport (duh lol). mainly i just do a lot of city riding, but i haven't rode in a good 3 years. so i got to checking my bike out and decided i want to fix it back up and make it ridable again, because i literally haven't rode it in 3 years, and i miss the fun and excersize. the reason i put it on the rack about 3 years ago was because i crashed it pretty good and it broke the derailer. i'll get a few pics and post them in a little bit. but anyway, everything on it looks to be pretty good other than the derailer issue.

the derailer is a shimano rd - z501. the part of the derailer that broke is the ear that holds it, that uses the axle bolt to mount . mainly what i wanted to know as far as rear derailers go is if i can't find a z501, what other models would work, and what would i have to change to get a different derailer to work? i also have another shwinn, its a varsity, but the derailer is very different/mounts a little different comparing the 2.












the wheels could probably use a trueing up as they're a little "wobbly" when they spin, not too bad tho. the rims seem to have surface rust (very little) i've read some where you can re polish them?

other than adressing those issues i'm about to take it apart and repaint it and put new decals on it. what else should i make sure to check out and fix before riding it again?

Just about any rear derailleur will work. I prefer Suntour, but that is just a personal choice. I really can't tell much from your picture.

The time and expense of a repaint on a bike of this grade is not worth it financially. Do a search on clean up, there has been a lot of success with some basic cleanup, polishing, and touch up paint.

If you are going to ride this bike much, do yourself a favor and take some of the money you save by not painting the bike and buy yourself a set of wheels with aluminum rims. Night and day improvement in the bike, and if you ever upgrade, you can swap the old wheels back on if and when you sell the bike.

I routinely see used sets of wheels (but I look every day) in the $20 to $30 a set price range.

If the only thing broken is the claw that mounts under the axle bolt, you can find replacements of that. But your picture also shows a jockey wheel missing, and a derailleur taking a hit like yours is likely bent.

You can buy a brand new lower end Shimano derailleur on line for around $10. Check out Niagara Cycle and others.

thanks a lot for the reply. i was going to fix it back up to keep not to sell if it matters any, always seemed like a good bike, seemed like it rode nice before it got put up when the derailer broke. basically, where the rear derailer mounts on the drop out, the part of the derailer where the axle bolt goes through snapped off of the derailer body. the picture is of that specific part. anyway since any old derailer will work i guess its not important. the drop outs/ every part of the frame/ forks is good. i got the jocky wheel out on the bench i just brought the derailer in to snap a couple pics.

are the jocky wheel normally plastic? theres probably a topic on adjusting the derailer/ chain, i'm guessing if i get a new derailer a few things will probably need adjusting? wasn't trying to make a topic about something thats been posted a million times/ blow the forum up, but when i tried a couple searches the amount of pages had my eyes rolling lol. what all is involved in putting in a new derailer, and does what speed the bike is matter? i'll have to ckeck that out a little more.