flip4eva83

My rear axle on my schwinn 700c tourist is bent, where can I order a new one from. My LBS doesnt deal schwinn items.

bobotech

You should be able to take apart the rear axle and remove the cones off and bring the bare axle to your LBS and they should be able to match it up. Its probably just a standard skewer hollow axle designed for a 130mm dropout spacing. My LBS will cut it down if its too long as well.

FastJake

+1

This is not a Schwinn item, but rather a generic (99% likely cup-and-cone) rear axle. Any decent LBS will have one in stock or be able to order one for a few bucks.

Let me guess, 7 speed freewheel?

flip4eva83

Awesome, thanks fellas. It's an 8 speed freewheel.

FBinNY 

You're in an area with a number of shops, and should consider giving your business to one that's interested in it.

While the cones in your hub may be hard to source, the axle itself is plain vanilla. The shop need only match the thread and length, and source an analog from just about any of his suppliers.

I suspect he blew you off, because he felt your $10.00 sale, (not counting labor, if any) wasn't worth the bother.

Scooby214

What are your symptoms? Does the freewheel wobble when the wheel is spinning? Is the rim not perpendicular to the axle?

Which LBS are you using? Even an authorized Schwinn dealer won't handle warranty work on the Tourist, as it is completely different from the Schwinn "Select Series" bikes sold at bike shops. Unless you are wanting warranty repair, your best bet may be to find a shop that can diagnose and/or repair the wheel.

The authorized Schwinn dealers in the OKC area are Bike One and Melonbike.

flip4eva83

I went to Als off of 89th and walker, he said I should probably talk to Bike 1 down in norman. Probably stop by there after class on monday.

bobotech

I love the guy at my local shop. Well its about 36 miles away from my house but I choose him over the other 10 that are closer. I even have 2 that are less than 2 miles from my house.

He doesn't turn anything away including all my nickle and dime wants and desires. I ask him for a pair of friction shifters, he finds a pair in his drawer and charges me 5 bux. I ask him to evaluate a rim that I got for cheap and he throws it on the truing stand and quickly trues it and pronounces it usable albeit with a hop that you might notice and he asked that if I decide to rebuild the rim, to have him order the rim (it is worth it apparently). I ask him for a cheap used 8 speed cassette and he gives me one free and clear that polished up quite nicely. I ask him to fix a stripped bottle holder screw and he taps it oversized for 5 dollars.

I do almost all the majority of my own mechanics for the big stuff, but he has no problem whatsoever with the small stuff that I can't do at home and only charging me 5-10 bux to do them.

HillRider

Are you certain it's a freewheel, not a cassette on a freehub? There are 8-speed freewheels but they are uncommon and not OEM on any bike I know of. One reason for their scarcity is their tendency to break axles due to the long unsupported length under the wider freewheel.

FastJake

x-mart bike, I believe it. Poking around those bikes I seem to remember seeing 8S freewheels but I could be mistaken.

In any case, good for the OP to know the difference and find out: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

wrk101

Walmart bike = some LBS will not bother. Just a matter of finding one that will work on it.

+ Only thing Schwinn on that bike are the decals. Everything else is generic, no need to find Schwinn parts.

fietsbob

People leave a bike bought at the Wally world type shops, abandoned,
when the cost to fix it , is half the purchase price,
so then shops are stuck with scrap to discard and eat the losses..

Offer to prepay for the repair, and the shop may be more willing..

Our new shoe Repair guy does that, you pay up front.

FBinNY 

Regardless of whether it's a freewheel or cassette hub, the axle is either a 10x1, 10x26tpi, or a 3/8x26tpi. Here's a link showing one common source for any of these. There's no need to drag the whole wheel to the shop, just bring the left cone with you to check against the axles and find the one it fits. You'll need to measure yours for length, but no precision is involved, just get it to within 2-3mm or so, or go by the dropout width of your frame, and add 10-11mm for a QR axle.

BTW- don't lose the cone, since these are harder to match perfectly than axles are.

flip4eva83

I don't know much about bikes, so you are probably right about it being a cassette and freehub. I was just going to take the axle and the lug nut looking thing in, they both looked pretty bad when I took it apart.

FBinNY 

That's the best way, so they can match it exactly. You might also buy a package of the balls, so if you drop and lose one, you won't lose another day. If you replace any of the balls, replace them all. Don't forget you'll also need some grease.

BTW- if you have some mechanical skill and want to save a trip, you can try to straighten the bent axle, testing by rolling it on a tabletop, and installing it reversed. This only works if there's enough thread on both sides, but works well as an emergency repair and can last a surprisingly long time.

Bill Kapaun

You might look at this link-
https://sheldonbrown.com/free-k7.html

As you can see, Free Wheels are very susceptible to bending. Actually, "kinking" might be more accurate!

bobotech

BTW I know for a fact that this biek has a freewheel. My son has the same bike. I bought it for 20 dollars from some guy and fixed it up for him. I'm going to be replacing the rear wheel with a Mavic Askim rim with a Sram 8speed cassette just because I don't care much for freewheels being as my son and I are both heavy.

flip4eva83

Awesome, thanks for the info. Pretty mechanical, been working on cars and motorcycles for awhile now, so this doesnt really scare me away, just want to make sure I do it right.

flip4eva83

So I took the rear wheel in and they confirmed what everyone here has said, so thanks. Bike One in Norman, OK now has my business. They did not question me in my thoughts, they listened and was able to get me what I needed. I walked out with a complete axle assembly for about 15dollars. When I am ready to buy my first legitimate commuter, road bike or cx, I will be buying from them. Again thanks for the input...happy cycling

bobotech

Honestly, the Schwinn Tourist really isn't that bad of a bike all things considered. I would recommend replacing the wheels with something better but thats up to you. I would recommend a 700c freehub rear wheel. My son loves his Tourist bike that I fixed up for him.

Scooby214

I purchased one of my three bikes from Bike One. Not a bad shop at all. Hope everything goes together nicely for you so you can put some miles on your Tourist!

flip4eva83

The next to change is the crankset, I pulled the left crank arm and the whole is wallowed out, I had to weld a bead to the actual crank. It works for now, but will be changing that in the next week or so. Not sure on the wheels yet, I dont want to cross that threshold of putting too much into a bike that isnt worth it. Know what I mean.

FastJake

Very wise indeed. If this bike does actually have an 8S freewheel hub you will continue to bend axles under serious use. I would look for a cheap used road wheel with a cassette freehub as bobotech suggested, or once you have the money just get a better bike. This one is not worth sticking a ton of money into, although it may work just fine with the right upgrades.

bobotech

When it came to my son's Tourist, I bought it knowing I was going to do a bunch of work on it. I only got it for 20 bux. I replaced the bottom bracket with a leftover spare cartridge bottom bracket. I replaced the pads with new ones from Kmart (don't laugh, they were only 12 dollars for all 4). I replaced the steel handlebar with a spare alloy bar I had in my spare parts. I'm going to be replacing the rear wheel with the Mavic that I mentioned about above. I got the wheel for 10 dollars. I got an 8speed cassette for 10 dollars from my LBS guy.

So yeah, I put a bunch of work into it and its overall a much nicer bike but I didn't put all that much money into it.


Agreed. I wouldn't go all out and put all new fancy parts into it but I upgraded ours easily enough with cheap decent leftover parts.

flip4eva83

Yeah, it is an 8s freewheel. I have read some not so good reviews on these wheels, I would like to replace them, but at the right price.