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Schwinn Loop Freewheel bad

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Schwinn Loop Freewheel bad

Old 10-16-17, 04:55 AM
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Schwinn Loop Freewheel bad

Just curious if anybody has had a problem with their gears. I've ridden my Loop about 300 miles. A few weeks
a go my smallest cog started slipping and 2 bike shops told me my chain had stretched. The bike just has 300 miles,
A week ago, I noticed that the smallest cog wouldn't engage at all it just slipped so I didn't go beyond the sixth gear and rode. This week, I looked at it closer and the smallest cog was gone. It must have cracked and fallen off.
The freewheel was an Epoch 13-28. How can a cog just fall off? Anybody have this problem?
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Old 10-16-17, 05:00 AM
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Originally Posted by yippee
Just curious if anybody has had a problem with their gears. I've ridden my Loop about 300 miles. A few weeks
a go my smallest cog started slipping and 2 bike shops told me my chain had stretched. The bike just has 300 miles,
A week ago, I noticed that the smallest cog wouldn't engage at all it just slipped so I didn't go beyond the sixth gear and rode. This week, I looked at it closer and the smallest cog was gone. It must have cracked and fallen off.
The freewheel was an Epoch 13-28. How can a cog just fall off? Anybody have this problem?
I've seen this before, cogs just breaking off. Normally the sign of a cheap part, but also, if you've ridden in the same gear constantly and put it under a lot of strain, that can do it as well. I'd get a new chain/freewheel fitted, branded parts and see how you go. Shouldn't cost a lot.
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Old 10-16-17, 07:51 AM
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I don't know about this specific part but know DNP do naff 10 speed freewheels which when used with a freewheel hub with slightly non-perfect threading (common) you get problems because of the tight spacing of gears with freewheel wobble. You see many cheap bikes with 8,9 or 10 gears and you assume at first it has a freehub and cassette and instead has a DNP freewheel and so you effectively have gearing less accurate and more problematic than even entry level Shimano freewheels. For this reason I suspect DNP are not a company that has much concern for product quality or reliability and it is best replaced with a Shimano freewheel or if you can stomach the extra money assuming 7 speed replace the rear wheel with a 20" freehub wheel, 7 speed cassette and spacer. Over here in the UK that would probably cost either £10 or £40 minimum but don't know the prices elsewhere. I'd assume your chain would be ok to re-use. I'd hope so after only 300 miles unless damaged.

Last edited by Bonzo Banana; 10-16-17 at 07:52 AM. Reason: spelling
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Old 10-16-17, 09:23 AM
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A job of the product management is to meet price point, if the price is low the parts selection is based on what is cheapest.

Now that its yours, spring for a fancier freewheel..
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Old 10-16-17, 03:01 PM
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Two bike shops told you your chain was worn out and you kept riding? Now you need a new chain and freewheel; get a Shimano freewheel and SRAM chain and they'll both last much longer.
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Old 10-16-17, 04:01 PM
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Chain worn out in 300 miles though. Is that possible. Seems incredibly short amount of cycling. I just wondered if that was mis-diagnosed and the issue was a failure in the freewheel which was slipping in the smallest cog before breaking apart completely. I wondered if it was a design that allowed for replacement of the smallest cog like some cassettes or perhaps had a different harder material just for that single cog just because of the increased wear rate especially as it only has 13 teeth. Isn't it common for freewheels to start at 14 teeth for the smallest cog and often an easy way to recognise a freewheel, at least a Shimano model as cassettes commonly start at 11 or 12 but Shimano freewheels start at 14. So when you see cassette and 14 teeth listed I often check to see visually what is fitted and its pretty much always a freewheel despite being described as a cassette.

If the chain really has stretched plus the freewheel has broken apart it is an appalling level of component quality on the Schwinn Loop. You wonder what else will fail shortly. Generally reviews seem good though with one of the first reviews on Amazon stating he prefers it to his Dahon.
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Old 10-17-17, 07:43 AM
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Thanks to all of you for your replies. I put in a Shimano 13-28 7 speed, that should do it. I didn't change the chain. Just can't see how a chain could stretch with such little use, but if I need to change it, no big deal. I got the bike on Craigslist with the idea of keeping it in my trunk and being able to ride it whenever. Actually, though, I've just been riding it on weekends and am very happy with it. I have a road bike that I haven't been on because of the Loop. This thing is just so much more comfortable, with its low stepover to get on and off, its maneuverability and fatter tires for road hazards, storm drains and trails.
For $200 bucks new, I can't figure out why there aren't millions of them on the road.
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Old 10-17-17, 08:29 AM
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I can. Had one earlier this year that I sold. My take:

--Folding hinges are cheap and fiddly. OK for occasional use, not OK if you're folding/unfolding several times a day for multimodal commuting.

--Parts quality is really low. You've already discovered this via the freewheel and possibly the chain. My biggest gripe was the awful V-brakes, which pretty much defied adjustment.

--Not a fan of the paired-spoke arrangement when implemented like this. Paired spokes are too close together. If you're truing the wheel, you're constantly bumping into the partner spoke when turning the spoke wrench and need to reposition the wrench frequently. Took me twice as long to true a wheel on the Loop compared to a "normal" wheel.

I get that the Loop was built to a price point, and that for $200 you can't expect much. On a cheap folder, most of the $ goes into the frame and folding mechanism with very little left over for decent parts. Glad you're enjoying yours, but I can see why this folder didn't exactly take the world by storm.
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Old 10-17-17, 10:21 AM
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Originally Posted by yippee
A few weeks ago my smallest cog started slipping and 2 bike shops told me my chain had stretched.
Did they say *how* they knew it had "stretched"? If you know (or believe) that they measured the chain elongation, then you need a new chain. If you think they just winged it, you could check the chain elongation yourself (which, IMO, you should be doing anyway... chain check tools are cheap and easy to use).
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Old 10-17-17, 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by yippee
Thanks to all of you for your replies. I put in a Shimano 13-28 7 speed, that should do it. I didn't change the chain. Just can't see how a chain could stretch with such little use, but if I need to change it, no big deal. I got the bike on Craigslist with the idea of keeping it in my trunk and being able to ride it whenever. Actually, though, I've just been riding it on weekends and am very happy with it. I have a road bike that I haven't been on because of the Loop. This thing is just so much more comfortable, with its low stepover to get on and off, its maneuverability and fatter tires for road hazards, storm drains and trails.
For $200 bucks new, I can't figure out why there aren't millions of them on the road.
300 miles on a chain isn't much, but that's the cheapest possible chain they could find so it's quite likely that it's toast. I wouldn't assume two shops were wrong and keep plugging along with that stretched out mess, it's going to ruin your new freewheel. You need a decent chain.
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Old 10-17-17, 02:49 PM
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It's dead easy to measure the chain. Take an inches ruler and measure at 12". Each link is exactly 1", so at 12 links you can see chain wear. Anything over 1/8" longer than 12" and the chain is toast. I ditch chains at half that amount, 1/16" wear.
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Old 10-17-17, 06:39 PM
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I did the ruler on the chain measurement and think that it isn't stretched but I will get the tool to make sure the measurement was accurate. Probably should just change the chain, not a biggie.
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Old 10-18-17, 06:37 AM
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Originally Posted by yippee
Thanks to all of you for your replies. I put in a Shimano 13-28 7 speed, that should do it. I didn't change the chain. Just can't see how a chain could stretch with such little use, but if I need to change it, no big deal. I got the bike on Craigslist with the idea of keeping it in my trunk and being able to ride it whenever. Actually, though, I've just been riding it on weekends and am very happy with it. I have a road bike that I haven't been on because of the Loop. This thing is just so much more comfortable, with its low stepover to get on and off, its maneuverability and fatter tires for road hazards, storm drains and trails.
For $200 bucks new, I can't figure out why there aren't millions of them on the road.
Didn't realise you bought it from craigslist. I assumed you bought new when you stated just 300 miles. So could actually have done more miles before you got it and you put in the 300 miles? Unless of course the seller stated 300 miles but that may not represent the real distance it has been cycled. So maybe the freewheel wasn't so bad after all and it was just normal wear.

My mistake about the 13T on freewheels, seems common to see 14T freewheels instead on bikes over here in the UK with 13T less common. I mean starting at that cog size.
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Old 10-22-17, 09:02 AM
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Not a fan of the paired-spoke arrangement when implemented like this. Paired spokes are too close together. If you're truing the wheel, you're constantly bumping into the partner spoke when turning the spoke wrench and need to reposition the wrench frequently. Took me twice as long to true a wheel on the Loop compared to a "normal" wheel.
Schwinn must have used different rims on their Loops, because my spoke are not paired.
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Old 10-22-17, 09:22 AM
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Must be. Here's the one I sold.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg
loop1.jpg (1.79 MB, 52 views)
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Old 10-24-17, 07:26 PM
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Flying over the handlebars

Thanks for the photo bargainguy, my version of the Loop has different rims. I do want to mention something that happened to me on Saturday when I was riding on the fire road/trail between Piermont and Nyack, NY. I hit a root or a rock and the tire went left and I kept going straight. I did a flyover the handlebars. Turns out the hex nut securing the front tire (the one you can see when you fold the handlebar) was loose. I landed on my knees and right shoulder, not sure if the bike actually landed on top of me. The flying part is very clear, but the landing and everything else is sort of blurred. I did scrape my knees and landed hard on my right shoulder, but not too bad that I wasn't able to take the bike out again the following day. I made it to Nyack and the guys at Crankworks Cycles helped me to make sure the bike was ok. That hex nut I mentioned was really loose. I was very lucky it happened to me on a dirt trail and not going downhill in the street in another part of my ride where I normally hit 19 mph (per gps) For a guy in his 60's, I was VERY lucky.
Now I'm going to check that hex nut frequently.
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