tollboothman

I'm looking to fix up an old cruiser bike. Its a wreck, the ballbearings are broken on the back tire, anyone know how to replace them? do i need an entire new tire?

Bikewer

Learning to do your own work can be both fun and rewarding, but you're starting from scratch on a fairly major project.
I would suggest getting a decent book, if only from the library. Zinn is good, as is Bicycling Magazine's book on bike maintenance.

If the hub bearings are shot, (quite likely on an older bike) you will most likely be able to rebuild it without springing for a new wheel. You should familiarize yourself with the correct terminology as well, it makes it easier for forum guys to give good advice.
The tire is the rubber thing on the rim. The rim is attached to the hub by spokes (usually ). Inside the hub are an axle, ball bearings, cones, and various spacers and seals. In order to dissasemble/reassemble the hub you will need to buy some "cone wrenches", very thin wrenches to hold/adjust the bearing cones.

There are also excellent online resources for all these things, including the fine Park Tool site.

Good luck!

geo8rge

sheldonbrown.com parktool ect for some free help on the net.

To open up the hubs you need a tool called a cone wrench (usually comes in 4 sizes). You might buy one of those home mechanic tool sets. Different for front and back. BB is a more complicated problem, I suggest you consider a new sealed BB.

Michigander

I restored a 40's columbia cruiser. What I did was throw out everything but the frame and buy all new and vastly lighter components. If you have the money, its the way to go. If cost is an issue and you want to ride this thing a lot, I would still reccomend new wheels at least because old steel wheels are god aweful heavy. Its always nice when your bike loses 5-8 pounds, and at a couple hundred bucks or so, I'd definitley say its worth it.