I have an old Schwinn mountain bike from around 1988, and for the first time in its long, faithful life, I need to fix a few things on it. I'm not much with tools, but I thought all nuts & bolts were fairly standard. That is, either metric or conventional. Unfortunately, I can't get either set of wrenches to fit snugly.

I guess I could use an adjustable, but is this a problem often encountered? Does Schwinn make a set of custom sized combination wrenches (10.50mm? 5.25/16"? :) )?

Thanks,
Joseph

What you will need is some allen wrenches. You can pick up sets very cheap. At least from 1.5 to 8mm.

Also crescent wrenches seen everywhere. Buy metric. Say from an 8 to a 15mm

All other tools are specific.

Also a chain tool is a must!

I use an assortment of ring spanners, both metric and imperial. I can usually find one to fit, and ring spanners dont round bolts when the fit is lose.

Thanks for the suggestions, but the problem is the wrenches I tried, both metric and conventional, don't fit. It appears to be between a 10mm and 11mm, or between a 3/8" and 7/16", and as far as I know, they don't make in-bewteen sizes.

Michael, you must be British... I first learned what a "Spanner" was in Orwell's 1984; it sounds so much less vomitous and painful than "wrench" :) . Like I said, though, I'll just work with an adjustable.

Thanks!
Joseph

Its possible that the bolt/nut is rounded, but look around for a 13/32 SAE and give that a try.. or get a crescent wrench if your not working on a hub.

Metric is one of the few things that all bike makers agree on. Even old-time Chicago Schwinns had metric measurements - even though they were translated to SAE for the shop guys.

>>Metric is one of the few things that all bike makers agree on

Thats why we have headsets in 1" and 1 1/8" diameters and bottom bracket threads are 1.370" x 24 TPI .
Road bike sizes are often quoted with imperial seat tubes and metric top tube lengths.

Yes, of course. I was slightly dehydrated at the time of that post, and not in command of my senses.

What I should have said that I use metric crescents, allens and sockets when working on my bikes (from American to Brittish to Japanese to Italian). Drinks on me anyhow, ok?

That's British, isn't it?

Some sneaky UK company produced a QR skewer with an allen key fitting, but an imperial size. Hours of fun can be had watching metric bike thieves trying to undo them.