I picked up an old Schwinn Crossfit to use for beating around the neighborhood. Can anyone say what this rack on the handlebars is for? It looks like it’s for a removable basket. There aren’t any manufacturer markings on it. — Dan

The tire tread is backwards. You need to flip the wheel around and correct it.

That’s the least of many issues the bike has. Not a big concern since I’m just using it for running around the neighborhood at the vacation house, a quick trip down to the store, etc. Will likely never ride this bike more than a few miles at a time. But, next time I have it off, I’ll reverse it. Actually, I did dismount both tires just to check the integrity of the tube…both were flat. When I remounted them, I did check for a rotation direction indicator on the sidewalls. There isn’t one. And honestly didn’t really take notice of the tread at first. They are pretty old Kenda tires, and I checked Kenda, and a few other sites for info regarding rotation. Mixed results. The Kenda site says to observe the indicator on the sidewall (which isn’t present). Other sites say (regarding Kenda tires) if there isn’t an indicator, rotation doesn’t matter. One site (not Kenda’s) did say that the “arrow” in the tread is the indicator. Anyway…

Dan

It is for crushing cables and causing shifting and braking issues. We had a customer who had that same sort of basket rack thing and he was always having issues and when we finally convinced him to remove it he came back a week later and was so happy no more issues.

Unless it has a good support so it holds up against the head tube or something so it doesn't hit the cables it will likely cause problems.

No issues with the cables…but thanks for the advice. FYI, the removable basket (if that’s what it’s for) didn’t come with the bike.

Dan

When loaded it can. Unladen usually not so much but when it moves back with weight it can take an effect.

Did, or didn't? If it did, post a pic of the basket too

didn’t. Thanks. Corrected.