Hello, I need to replace the rear wheel of a 26" GT Saddleback that I use as my indoor exerciser bike.
Can I use any 26" rear wheel? i have no idea anymore how to change out parts on bikes.
thanks a lot and happy holidays
Frank

You will either need the chain whip as well as appropriate cassette lockring tool, to get the cassette off the existing wheel and onto the new. Plus maybe some tire levers and a floor pump to re-inflate the tire.

Out of curiosity, what failed ?, and have you checked with a local bike shop to determine if whatever is the problem cannot easily be fixed ?, broken spokes, etc..... all repairable.

You just need a wheel that will fit the spacing in your dropouts and has the correct set up for your gears at the back. It will probably be either a S-group cassette or freewheel.

Your local shop can do all of the measurements and get you the right wheel or may have one.

In terms of using a bike on the trainer make sure you are regularly cleaning your bike especially any places where you are sweating and you are still lubricating your chain and inflating tires basically you should do the exact same normal maintenance everyone should be doing on their bike when ridden on the road except you should wipe down your bike more often sweat is quite corrosive.

We had a customer come in not that long ago and their handle bars where full of holes and covered in white powder because everything was so corroded.

HI...somehow the tire deflated at about 17mph and I heard a clicking sound. As soon as I smelled 'tire air' I got off and inspected.
About a .5" section of wheel edge, I call it the chrome. was bent and air was hissing out. I tried hammering it 'round' again to no avail.
I used a large cast iron C-clamp to give a steady squeeze and that didn't work.

I have the tire tools, patches, foot pump but don't know what a de-railer is. The tire shop by me should have a skull and crossbones as his company logo
I try to avoid that shop.
There is another shop in the next town but it is in a high crime area. So I avoid it.

Ill ask my son and his friend, both engineers and r DIY'ers if they. can fix it. His friend was on a Univ. racing club and is always tuning, fixing
his bike...me...hahahha.....the terms scare me. If it was a wooden bike I could fix it...hahaha
thanks in advance
Frank
after reading second post. All my tools hand and motor, car , appliances, Japanese knives Swiss made carving tools and my[ out door and inside back are always maintained. That is what my father did, that is what I do and that is what son does.
What I can't control is malfunction and obviously something did...second poster...thanks for the heads up . I appreciate all help. Even if it is bad help, none here yet, the person took the time to try ...I thank them also. take care.

A great source for cheap used parts and advice is a bike co-op if you have one nearby.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_cooperative

Another thought is Craigslist or FB marketplace for a used "donor" bike. Sometimes pick up a whole bike for the cost of a new wheel.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...7-33e15c60f480

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...7-33e15c60f480

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...type=top_picks

A tire shop is not usually set up for bicycles and many car people aren't knowledgable in bicycles or enough to be helpful in a situation like this. A bicycle shop will be set up for bicycles and there is probably at least one in your area if not multiples

In terms of derailleurs those are what allow you to move from one gear to another. If you search for derailleur you will find pictures.

In terms of friends they may or may not be skilled in working on bikes or getting the right parts. There are people out there who know their bikes but may not know others. A bike shop will be able to help you if these engineers can't.

In terms of a wooden bike they are not different from other bikes aside from frame materials. The frame material is immaterial in this particular case.

No need for the "bad help" comment.

It’s an old bike and old wheel and unless you see yourself doing a lot of maintanence down the road, I wouldn’t invest in the tools to do this. I would go to the shop that is in the sketchy neighborhood, I wonder if it’s as bad as you think, and have them source you a wheel, then swap the cassette and tire.

Changing wheels on bikes is harder than you might think. For starters, 26" wheels actually come in I believe three noticeably different rim sizes that are not compatible. You can tell one from the other with certainty only by their ISO numbers. Another important thing to check is the width of the new wheel from where it meets the frame on the left to where it hits the frame on the right. This is usually a semi-standard measurement such as 126mm, 130mm, or 135mm. Again - very important to get the right one. Less worrisome in my opinion is the width of the rim - some wheels are wider than others and may fit certain tires but not certain bikes.

Once you have the correct wheel, you will need special tools to change the gearing over.

If Google is any help, this looks like a 1997 bike, and is likely to have a 135mm rear QR and hub, which was the most common size of the era. Really doubt 126 or 130 which were older road sizes and not usually seen in 26” wheel sizes,

Does it look like this 1997 model? On the trainer I’d hope you have a non knobby tire. Otherwise you may have just worn out the tire. But from the description of Chrome thing sounds like the rim barge track failed. Anyhow if you can take the wheel off. Then take to a bike shop. Have them match the wheel size. New tire tube and rim strip.

Just speaking from my own experience. I have three old cast-off 90's style mountain bikes with 26" mountain wheels (ISO 559) that my son, my wife, and myself ride - a Schwinn, a Mongoose, and a Diamondback. None of the rear wheels on any of them are interchangeable because they have 126mm, 130mm, and 135mm rears. I can't find brand new rear wheels for them at all anymore except for the 135. Two of them are also bolt on axles.

There was a short period of time in which MTBs transitioned from older road dropout spacing to the more modern 135mm, but mostly on cheaper bikes from the late 80s/very early 90s that used freewheels. At this point you won't find a replacement for the two narrower spacings, I can recall having to stretch a couple of frames slightly when we could no longer buy MTB wheels in narrower spacing and had to make more modern wheels fit. Assuming 135 on a 90s GT MTB would be considered a safe bet.

This is a very solid answer. I would not have thought that our bikes were that old - one was my neighbor's daughter's bike when she was a teen. The other was from a priest at our church that left it behind a shed when he moved on. I have not tried the frame stretching route, but it sounds intriguing. I could probably get 70% of a centimeter bend out of a 35 year old steel bike with bar clamps. I've been going the wheel repair/rebuilding route instead, because hubs are readily available. The rims must be too, because you can still buy 26"/135mm wheels, I just haven't seen them.

It's a 26" mtb wheel.