Ladies Schwinn 5 Speed Commuter

Hello, This weeks project is a ladies Schwinn Suburban 5 speed commuter bike. This bike has the Shimano Intiger F.F. System. This is my second Shimano Intiger project. So I`m not flying blind this time (which is always nice) The first was a Men`s Suburban 10 speed. I should mention just what a Shimano Intiger system is.Basically the free wheel is in the crankset instead of the cassette/free wheel. So what you have is a fixed 5 gear group in the back. And a free-wheeling crank in the front. If you are wondering why this was ever built in the first place. From what I have read and been told. The advantage was being able to shift gears while coasting.They never really caught on (in a big way) and just kind of faded away. Ok so on with the show!



I ordered Kenda 27 x 1 1/4 Gum Wall Tires for this one in advance so it is already going quicker than usual. As you can see I stripped it. And I also de greased the threaded headset stuff(cartridge bearings, cups and races, washers etc) ahead of time. So Saturday I got a good start rebuilding the head-set and cleaning-up and truing the rear wheel. I managed to get the head set done and mount the new tire on the rear wheel. Sunday ( 9-6 ) I got the front wheel done and the tire mounted on the wheel and the wheel on the bike. Also cleaned up the rear derailleur and got it hooked up. And cleaned up the front stem mounted shifter. The derailleur appears to be working fine. But with no crank installed I could not check it for adjustment. Then it was time to work on the Crank-Set. I had placed all the crank bearings, nuts and spacers in the de greaser earlier. Cleaning up the one piece crank was a little work. The chrome arms had some surface rust which I used the Turtle-Wax Chrome Polish & Rust Remover. They also required some brass brushing. As for the sprockets I did the same treatment. Now for the F.F.(front freewheel)unit, I used "White Lightning Clean Streak" The inner-bearings (of the freewheel unit) are exposed (when crank is off) so the White-lightning worked great. The outer bearings (if there are any) are sealed. So I just sprayed around the outer ring. Once it was all cleaned and polished it looks pretty good. I`ll take a few pics of the unit today. (see above) If you have never seen one it`s pretty cool. I think I have brought you up to speed on this project. Ride Safe and please remember to always RESCUE-RESTORE&RECYCLE. Cheers,Hugh