Sniph

Hello everyone! First of all, I'd like to qualify this post by saying I know very little about bikes!

The bike: Schwinn Varsity Road Bike 1970ish

The problem: Yesterday, I had a flat so I replaced the rear tube and tire. It was the first time I had done this on my own. After riding my bike to work today, I assumed I had performed the tire change just fine! Anyway, after work today, I unlocked my bike and started to ride home. 10 seconds into the ride, my rear wheel began to tighten, and eventually stopped spinning altogether. It felt as if I was braking... which I was not. I first checked to see if the tire was rubbing against the breaks or something else, it was not.

Since the bike would not move forward, I tried moving it backwards. As I did this, I could feel the back wheel loosening, and then it felt like it was spinning normally again... I tried riding once more, but the same thing occurred. The next few miles home was one miserable backwards bike-walk home...

On the walk home, I found that after walking it backwards for a while, I could walk it forward for a few minutes before it would tighten again. If I tried riding it forward, t would tighten and stop within 5 seconds.

Any idea what could be causing this? All opinions and advice is appreciated!

michaelscycles

Sounds like when you loosened the axle nut to remove the wheel, the axle turned and managed to loosen the cone on one side. It's an easy fix, but you need a cone wrench and depending on which side, the freewheel might need to be removed.

Hopefully when you tried to ride it and it tightened, it didn't damage the bearings, races, or cones. I would take it into your local shop and have it checked out.

BCRider

I'd have to say that Michael's thought sounds darn likely. Nothing else I can think of would have the same symptom.

NEXT time you change out the tire be sure to loosen the axle nut on the first side only about a quarter to third of a turn and then do the second side a quarter to third of a turn. Go back to the first and loosen a quarter to third of a turn, etc. That way the axle won't spin and cause the same issue again.

Oh, and I hate to say this but with the axles being threaded the way they are it'll be the cone and nut that is hiding under the freewheel that got messed up. You'll need to remove the non drive side fully to let the axle slide out the other side, tighten the cone to the locknut and then replace the axle and set the bearing preload correctly by playing with the non drive side cone and locknut to get just the right feel.

Sniph

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll give it a shot in the morning and let you know how it goes!

nhluhr

Perhaps you misunderstood BCRider. You will have to remove the freewheel from the hub to work on the bearing. I somehow doubt you have the tools/know-how to perform this if you just changed your first flat yesterday. Visit parktool.com for tips on how this works, visit your local bike shop to buy the appropriate tools (freewheel remover, cone wrenches), and then go for it. OR you could pay your bikeshop to work on it.

https://parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=48

BCRider

Maybe or maybe not. I've had a few axles that will slip out through the freewheel core. It just depends on the sizes of the freewheel's opening and the cone diameter. But I'd say that more than half needed to have the freewheel removed first.

huffynewport1

i was driving my huffy newport bicycle yesterday and i hit a bump pedal became very stiff to move forward its like i hit neutral no gears cant moove no were
i can pedal backwards and forward if i lift the rear tire but as soon as i put it on the ground pedal become stiff and wont turn the weel the chain is oil and clean 7 speed cruiser. the chain is not lock up its the pedals at the front one sprocket and 7 at the back derailleur still works but pedal are hard to turn foward chain will turn but not the wheel neutral feeling turn the pedals but not moving

3alarmer

.
...check the alignment position of youir rear wheel and make sure the tyre is not rubbing on one of the stays.

peugeot mongrel

Make sure that when you pedal forward it's not pulling the wheel to the left and binding the tire against the chain stay in the front. If the rear axle is a little loose it can do that. Rolling backwards would tend to pull it back just enough to roll.

Well I just answered the OP from 2010.

JanMM

Yep, this is a zombie thread. Sniph had the problem with his Varsity 7 years ago.
huffynewport posted about his huffy cruiser problem today. Not sure what to make of his issue.

3alarmer

...I guess he has another 7 years to figure it out.

woodcraft

Broken rear axle?