Originally Posted by nwbikeman

See if anything is rubbing like deraileur rubbing spoke guard, front or rear. Take wheels off and see if the bearings are ok, bent or broken axle ect. Should spin as free as possible without and free play up and down or side to side and check the front wheel as well. Then check the cranks and all the nuts and bolts so you know every thing that is tight and is safe to ride till you figure out what is rubbing.

Originally Posted by FBinNY

Yes, you should have the wheel aligned, though I doubt the bearings are destroyed. You might need them disassembled, cleaned and greased, and it might make sense to do that while the wheel is at the shop for alignment.

The clean and lube is something you can do yourself, as it's a fairly straightforward job, though you'll need a few specialized tools.

But before you do anything though, do a quick easy diagnostic. Remove the wheel and spin it in your hands while holding the axle. Let the freewheel turn with it at first and see if you still hear the bearing noise, then put a finger against the freewheel to stop it and see if the noise happens. If you only hear it when the freewheel is stationary it's in the freewheel itself, but if you hear it all the time it's in the hub, though it could still be something as minor as a sell rubbing on the axle (common on older bikes).

If it turns out to be the freewheel you can either disregard it or flush the freewheel and run some oil into it through the gap in the 2 moving parts (you should remove it from the hub first, otherwise you'll make a mess as the oil spins out).

All in all, I doubt that you're facing anything major, but be careful because the cost of bringing old bikes back to life can sneak up on you a few dollars at a time. Kind of like death by a thousand cuts.