Hello, and welcome to my page!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was working on a bicycle to get it road worthy again. Of course, this is no ordinary bicycle, this is a Schwinn Stingray Chopper. As far as I could find out, these bikes were only made for a couple of years, at least the model that I have, 2004 and 2005. Apparently they're not really rare because they made a lot of them at that time. Still, it's not a bike you see every day. This is the bike that I have. I had it half apart to work on it, but I put it all back together for this picture. The only thing missing is the back tire, which was totally shot. ![DSCN3277.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/161ONyEd-DSCN3277.JPG) When I got the bike several years ago, the tire was still usable and I had ridden it a few times, but I remember it as being a bit hard to pedal because of how high geared it was. The back wheel has a single gear freewheel assembly on the hub with a 20 tooth gear. When I decided to start working on the bike to get it rideable again, I decided to replace the freewheel with a one with a larger sprocket. I found a new freewheel with a 22 tooth sprocket on ebay from a U.S. seller, which makes shipping faster and easier for me, so I ordered it. I had found a freewheel with a 24 tooth sprocket from a seller in China, but I didn't buy that one. The shipping time from China currently can be a couple of weeks, or a couple of months to the U.S. This is the back wheel with the new freewheel assembly next to the original on still mounted on the hub. The new one doesn't look much different from the old one, there's only 2 more teeth on the sprocket. ![DSCN3252.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/ScPUqi2o-DSCN3252.JPG) In order to swap out the assembly, I first had to remove the original one. With most multi-speed freewheel assemblies, there's a tool that is used to unscrew it from the wheel hub. The freewheel is set up with grooves to put the tool into so that you can use it to unscrew the freewheel. Unfortunately, a lot of single speed freewheels don't seem to have any provisions for a removal tool. The only way to get it off the hub is to take it apart, which is a pain in the butt. After a bit of research on the internet, I learned how to take the freewheel apart and unscrew it from the wheel hub. First, you have to remove the bearing cover from the freewheel assembly. There's a tool for that, but a pin punch and a hammer also works. The bearing cover unscrews from the assembly. ![DSCN3256.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/zRiwoUVw-DSCN3256.JPG) Once you get that part off, the sprocket and bearings are lifted off the base of the freewheel. You can see the 2 cogs that allow it to turn freely backwards, but catch when you pedal forward. ![DSCN3258.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/LGuVc7xo-DSCN3258.JPG) Here's the sprocket and bearings after removal. If you look closely, you can see the teeth that the cogs catch on so that you can pedal forward and turn the wheel, but pedal backwards freely. ![DSCN3257.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/PDm4uNtC-DSCN3257.JPG) Here's the hub with the freewheel removed. The new freewheel just screws onto the hub. In this case, I put the tip of a cold chisel in one of the cog slots,and tapped it with a hammer to unscrew the base of the freewheel from the hub. ![DSCN3259.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/8Sh3FLHy-DSCN3259.JPG) All that's left to do is to screw the new freewheel onto the hub of the wheel. I put a bit of anti-seize grease on the threads before I screwed it on, in case I want to get it off again. It's easy to screw on because it goes on in the same direction as you pedal, which actually makes it a bit tighter when you start using the bike. ![DSCN3263.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/nLqEUL0o-DSCN3263.JPG) The next thing to do was to put a tire and tube onto the wheel. The wheel takes a specific odd size tire, the rim is very wide for a bicycle. The tire is a 20 inch by 4-1/4 inch wide tire. They're not cheap to buy, but I found a good deal on the tire. I ordered the new tire and innertube, and I had the wheel ready when they came in the mail. ![DSCN3275.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/G69H7G41-DSCN3275.JPG) It's a bit tricky to get the tire to sit properly on the rim because of the way that it's made. You have to keep adjusting the bead on both sides of the tire as you put air in it to get it to fit on the rim properly. I did manage to get it mounted. ![DSCN3279.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/ljSQPlG3-DSCN3279.JPG) I got the wheel mounted back onto the bike and, of course, took a couple pictures of the bike. ![DSCN3280.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/i1Y8KhXI-DSCN3280.JPG) It really is a cool looking bicycle when it's all together! That seat is pulled out of the frame about as far as it will go and still be locked in place. ![DSCN3281.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/uFYYLeqh-DSCN3281.JPG) The next step is to test the bike, right? And, yes, I'm wearing flip flops... ![DSCN3284.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/aDWvtDwl-DSCN3284.JPG) As you can see, the bike is barely large enough for my knees to clear the handlebars. ![DSCN3285.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/aUkQocI1-DSCN3285.JPG) Another thing about these bikes, a lot of them came with only 1 brake, a caliper brake on the back wheel. When that brake is adjusted properly, it stops ok, but not great. There's no mounts on the front fork to install a brake system for the front wheel, which is a bit of a problem if you want 2 brakes. When I started working on the bike, I decided that I wanted to change out the front fork so that I could get one with brake mounts on it. I also decided that it would be cool to put a springer front fork on the bike. I found one that was set up the way I wanted, and available to order, and bought it. I got it in the mail today, so that will be the next part of this project, putting the new fork on the bike and getting everything working. Here's the new front fork. ![DSCN3309.JPG](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/3az5C6fJ-DSCN3309.JPG) I need to get a new handlebar mount for this fork, and if I can't swap the steering bearings from the old fork, I'll need to get new bearings. I have a 26 inch wheel with a drum brake to put onto this fork. If that doesn't work out well, there's a mounting bracket for a disk brake system on the fork. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get the front fork swapped out, but I'll write about it once I get it done. Stay tuned for part 2. 😀 That's all I have for this post, thanks for stopping by to check it out! ![amber_yooper.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/amberyooper/J3PZRBmO-amber_yooper.png)

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