ciclista_pazza

Thanks! I'm interested in buying the Suburban, but since I contacted the ebay seller last week with a question, they haven't responded and have seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. If they get back to me and can schedule a time to meet, I'll swoop in on that bike as it sounds like a great deal!

madpogue 

Ha, there's even a "Make offer" button. If I were you, since the BIN is down to $30, I'd send an offer of $25, just to see what she does.

ciclista_pazza

Great idea, thanks! Maybe this will spur them to respond. I'm guessing the price is so low, they don't really care, but then why list it? Here's hoping that works!

Vintage Schwinn

There is a good chance that (SEE POST #35 of 2-17-24) dddd 's suggestion of the simple oil can tune up might have that Blue Traveler up and running decently.

It is a great suggestion and certainly would be the first step that I would take if I was evaluating the condition (the current state of tune or how close to being right on or just how outta wack it might be).

Look at it this way, IF YOU ARE ABLE TO DRIP A FEW DROPS of any fresh automobile motor oil OFF OF A GOLF TEE, MATCH STICK, OR JUST A TINY TWIG STICK THAT YOU FIND ON THE GROUND IN THE BACKYARD-----------------Drip a few drops of MOTOR OIL into ALL OF THE BICYCLE CABLES where the raw bare stranded cable ENTERS or EXITS the CABLE SHEATH-------------------------------------You will need to temporarily prop the bicycle up or hold the bicycle up at various angles, etc in order to accomplish this---------Use a tree or a fence to help you prop the bike at various angles so that YOU CAN DRIP THE OIL AND GRAVITY THEN DOES ITS THING.
**********This will certainly help make the cables move as the should when YOU RIDE THE BIKE AND SELECT THE GEARS and SQUEEZE THE BRAKE LEVERS************************
Unless your cables are completely frozen-stuck in their sheaths (cable housings) WHICH I HIGHLY DOUBT THAT THEY ARE, then the cables will be functional.

You don't need any particular brand or any particular weight of MOTOR OIL. Anything WILL BE PERFECT FOR THE JOB! You can certainly mix various empty can remnants.
What I mean by this is for example if you have a neighbor who changes his car's oil in the driveway, there is always some oil remaining in the empty can.............just like the ketchup bottle or the gallon of milk in you refrigerator. If you were to hold an empty gallon container of milk directly over your head for about 20 seconds with cap off and open just above your head, you will find that a very small amount of milk pour on to you. That is what I call the remnants that typically gets thrown away because it takes too long to pour out and most people won't hold the bottle for 20 seconds to get the last drops out.
You get the picture don't you? You don't need very much MOTOR OIL at all. You could probably get all that you'd need for zero by standing near the outside trash receptacle in the parking lot of most any auto parts store, where owners of older Chevrolet and Ford pickup trucks and any Detroit domestic manufactured vehicle that is more than eight to ten years old, routinely buy oil and top off their Exxon Valdez like oil leaking hunks of junk. Yeah, they get about 16 miles to a gallon of gas and they need to add a quart of oil about every 800 miles on a half decent one, and some of the more raggedy ones use a quart or leak a quart of oil about every 400 miles. There will be no shortage of Empties being thrown away after the owner of said vehicle tops off the oil in the parking lot. No joke, you will probably have enough "remnants" left in any one empty can to do what you need to do, but you may want to grab at least two empties to make sure. Again, it does not really matter what brand or particular weight, or if you combine the remnants of different weights from different brands.....-------as long as it is fresh motor oil, it will be fine. That is not to say that if you see empties of Mobil 1 (synthetic oil), or Valvoline Synthetic or any other synthetic motor oil, grab them.
.........................Flip the empty container upside down with its screw on cap in place.............Let it sit like that for for at least one hour, so that the "remnant" oil moves by gravity to the cap. If the empty container does not have its cap but you see that it was recently tossed in the trash receptacle and you can see some pristine clean remaining "remnants" grab it and don't worry about trying to find its cap that probably fell farther down in the trash can........................you can use a cut in half empty Coke or Beer can (aluminum 12 oz can).....use that and then flip the empty oil container upside down so that gravity feeds the remnant oil drips into the cut in half empty Coke can.

***********BEFORE YOU DO ANY OILING, HOWEVER, I WOULD CLEAN UP THE DIRT/DEBRIS/ACCUMULATED GRIME SEDIMENT THAT HAS ACCUMULATED ON THE REAR DERAILLEUR, AND ON THE FRONT DERAILLEUR, AND ON THE FREEWHEEL COGS & THE FRONT CHAINRINGS. I WOULD ALSO PICK THE SPIDER WEBS AND ANY SMALL DIRT & GRIME SEDIMENT THAT IS READILY VISIBLE ON EITHER SIDE OF BOTH THE FRONT & REAR WHEEL AXLES..................pick that crud/crap with an ordinary tooth pick, and perhaps a Q-tip dampened with RONSON Lighter fluid ( small bottle of the stuff to fill old timey Zippo type lighters......you'll still find it in some grocery stores & Wallyworld nearest the checkouts and near the cigarette section if a store still sells tobacco products and cigarettes.
I must admit that I use Formula 87 for this purpose but I have more than a half century of experience building engines/disassembling engines and restoring and collecting classic cars as a hobby, so I know gasoline. I will tell you this though that exclusively when re-gripping golf clubs, I only use RONSON Lighter fluid and I never ever would consider using Formula 87 (gasoline) under any circumstances indoors. It is way way too dangerous and beyond stupid even if you do understand everything there is to know about it.
I would still only use the RONSON Lighter fluid outside/outdoors as a cleaning agent on the derailleurs, the chain, the front chainrings, the rear cogs' teeth, etc, and also to clean the bare exposed cables............wet a paper towel or old rag or old sock just a little bit and Wipe the exposed brake and shift cables (the bare stranded wires themselves) with Ronson lighter fluid.................this will remove a bunch of corrosion and accumulated crud...........................Do this repeatedly several times.
...................................Clean the rear derailleur gently but thoroughly with first an old toothbrush and tooth picks and Q-tips soaked in Ronson lighter fluid...............It is Okay to squirt Ronson lighter fluid on portions of the rear derailleur and portions of the front derailleur in order to clean it as best as you can to remove the caked on grimey crap and dirt.

I would then squirt the hell out of the chain (while it remains in place on the bicycle---DO NOT REMOVE THE CHAIN) with RONSON lighter fluid.
Then follow up with a Ronson lighter fluid wetted ragged sock and wipe the hell out of it to get it clean.
IMMEDIATELY AFTER DOING ALL OF THIS, YOU'RE GOING TO GO ALL THE WAY, Old School, AND YOU'RE GOING TO LIBERALLY OIL THE CHAIN WITH FRESH MOTOR OIL.
You will probably need more than just the remnants of a couple of empties for this.
Literally oil the chain until fresh motor oil is dripping off and it is oiled at least as much as FONZIE or BOWSER FROM SHA NA NA's hair was.
Once you've got every bit of the chain oil soaked, then and only then do you want to wipe off the excess with a clean sacrificial rag or old sock.

You need something to function as a stand-off.........something like a cardboard box, an old wooden pallet, a plastic bucket, or even something like a couple of flower pots....
YOU NEED THIS BECAUSE, YOU ARE GONNA LAY THE BIKE ON ITS SIDE (BOTH SIDES, though one side at a time, obviously...) AND YOU ARE GONNA drip oil into the axle bearings and the freewheel, and into the bottom bracket too. , you are gonna oil the rear derailleur too---all pivot points and the little sprockets etc.............................THEN YOU ARE GONNA SPIN THE HELL OUT OF EACH WHEEL, and THE WHEELS SHOULD SPIN AND SPIN LIKE A SPINNING TOP (folks younger than 60 won't know what a spinning top was)......For those that don't, well lets just say that the wheels should want to continue spinning on their own for a reasonably long time.
--You need something to use as a stand-off so that the wheels have an unobstructed ability to turn and spin (keeping them off of the ground and with no obstructions to letting them spin round and round for many revolutions.

..................Be careful when you do lay the drive side of the bike down on the ground (THIS IS THE SIDE WITH REAR DERAILLER AND FRONT CHAINRINGS etc).
Don't ever drop it down.......lay it down softly and gently where you have a flat piece of cardboard on the ground so as you do not lay it in the dirt or grass. You don't want dirt, grass, or pinestraw or other crud to get on to the rear derailleur and rear cogs etc that you painstakingly cleaned earlier.

I have seen some people that have successfully gotten oil to the Old Timey Bottom Brackets by removing the SEAT & SEAT POST temporarily just long enough to pour a liberal amount of fresh motor oil down the seat tube......probably as much as 2 tablespoons of fresh motor oil, you could do more or less (will not work on the sealed cartridge bottom brackets)
IF YOU DO THIS, DO IT ONLY OUTDOORS OVER NATURAL GROUND (dirt, grass etc) THAT YOU ARE OKAY WITH OIL DRIPPING ON TO.......................Do not do this on a paved driveway, or a brick driveway, or patio etc.........BECAUSE THE OIL IS GONNA LEAK OUT LIKE IT WOULD IF YOU HAD A Chevy Corvair or a Chevy Vega parked in your driveway.
............The idea is to sort of flood it in there and get things saturated with fresh oil, OF COURSE THE OIL IS GONNA FLOW & SEEP OUT OF EVERY CREVICE..............It may take a while riding or spinning and mopping up excess oil BEFORE YOU CAN SAFELY BRING SAID BIKE BACK INTO THE HOUSE WITHOUT PLACING AN ALUMINUM PIE PLATE OR PAN DIRECTLY UNDERNEATH THE BOTTOM BRACKET UNTIL IT NO LONGER DRIPS OIL LIKE AN OLD JUNKY CHEVROLET DOES.

.....................Oil is messy but it does what it does...........and lubrication is the name of the game........................and if you are not opening it up and taking things apart, then how in the heck are you gonna rejuvenate whatever old lubrication that remains inside..........................................Fresh motor oil will flow easily into where it needs to go. Heck, it leaks like the Exxon Valdez from automobiles with closer tolerances that are exponentionally tigher than anything ever seen on any bicycle.
This is the ultra simple, down and dirty , "Wrong-Way" approach that actually is practical and fundamentally decent enough as long as decent oil gets to where it needs to go and the oil provides enough lubrication.

As for inexpensive but decent quality complete replacement cable set, look no further than the BELL PITCREW 600 cable set that sells for about $12 online.
You will need a BRAKE CABLE CUTTER,,,,,.....bikesmiths as well as trailthis carry a $17 no-name, red colored handled tool that looks exactly like the much more expensive PEDRO's brand version, as well as looking a lot like the very expensive PARK Tool brand version.
Unless you're planning to replace cables on more than eighty to a hundred bicycles, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON TO SPEND MORE FOR THE PARKS TOOL.
The Pedro tool is essentially exactly the same with just PEDROS printed on it and a different color on the handle. The PARK TOOL version will stay sharper longer but unless you're gonna change cables on about a hundred bicycles, it is not gonna matter at all.
You can find those from bikesmiths and trailthis by going on Ebay and search all categories for: BICYCLE BRAKE CABLE CUTTER
You may also have other vendors that carry this red handled no-name version but both bikesmiths and trailthis are supremely reputable sellers. I doubt that you'd find another vendor that has it for more than $0.90 less than either bikesmiths or trailthis unless it is from a Shen Zhen or Shanghai China based vendor. Obviously, it is your call but unless they are rated at 99% or better with ten thousand ebay transactions, and offering at least a $3 discount in price to the USA vendors like bikesmiths and trailthis, I am not ordering from a China based vendor. It takes about 21 to 28 days to receive from China versus about 4 days from bikesmiths or trailthis.
Ace hardware online (not in the stores though) and Walmart online have carried the previously mentioned BELL PITCREW 600 CABLE SET.
Source it from whatever online source that gives you the best pricing......Amazon, Walmart, Ace, some other site.
This cable set is a fantastic price and is of reasonably decent quality.
Just so that you are aware, both types of cable ends are attached to the brake cables.........either the little mushroom bullet style & the round Aspirin tablet style...........so you cannot go wrong as they are applicable for most all bicycles..............................YOU SIMPLY CUT OFF THE STYLE THAT DOES NOT APPLY TO YOUR BICYCLE AND THAT BECOMES THE BARE CABLE END ONCE YOU DO THAT.

I hope that what I typed above does make sense enough for you to at least understand a little bit of it.

People here on bikeforums will tell ya what you need to know if you keep asking questions.
Very few people will ever be grumpy jerks and if they are, just don't ever let it bother you & don't ever let it stop you from posting and asking questions.

Somebody may have a link to some instructional detail about adjusting a particular derailleur, or may have a suggested youtube video link that they believe covers the detailed instruction about something that you may be considering tackling as a do-it-yourselfer.
There are hundreds of folks with the knowledge to save you considerable time and grief by guiding you to relevant and decent quality instructions and youtube videos related to whatever you would be trying to do. There are a number of people that are fixtures of the Classic & Vintage forum here on bikeforums that are quite active on the C.A.B.E. (classic antique bicycle exchange FORUM-----------------------------for that go to https://thecabe.com/forum
Those cats on the C.A.B.E. are dominated by simpletons that love two wheel coaster brake bikes made between 1899 and 1980 but there are few superb experts on derailleur bikes made between 1960 and 1990. Most of those experts are also here on bikeforums too.
You might find a lead on a particular vintage derailleur equipped bike from one of the cabers. Those cats literally go look at any and every batch, lot, or horde of old bicycles that some family is trying to get rid of because the patriarch collector died and none of the surviving adult children cares about having the 173 bicycles around. Two or maybe three bikes but not 173 bikes or 520 bikes as sometimes these old collectors sometimes have. Well the typical caber that likes only coaster brake bikes from the 1930's thru the 1960's, does not care anything about derailleur equipped multi speed bicycles. They also detest girls bikes. Girls bikes for them are simply bikes from which to cannibalize the better kept parts to restore a boys bike. Some of these hardcore cabers get or end up with derailleur equipped bikes as part of a take all or nothing haul, and they wish to get rid of the derailleur bike as soon as possible because "it isn't their thing" Sometimes, you just never know where a particular size & model bicycle that you are seeking may show up. It may be in Phylis Lombardy's basement, where it hasn't been ridden in the outdoor sunshine since 1999.

ciclista_pazza

Thanks so much for the detailed information! This is so helpful!