Oneder

I have a magna Great Divide 21 speed cruiser bicycle I got for 25 bucks a few months ago. Everything was fine until I got a flat on the rear wheel the other day. The old tire was completely bald and cracked which was probably the cause of the flat, so I got a bell tire and a scwynn tube and changed out the tire.

Everything seemed fine when I gave it a couple test rides around the block, however my track is built on a bit of a hilly area and when I went up the relatively steep area suddenly everything went to pot. There was a great deal of resistance to my pedaling, much more than simply going uphill would warrant. I turned around and went home but things still did not feel correct.

I am guessing I did something wrong on the tire change that messed up the gears but I have no idea what. an someone walk me through how to check out what's going on?

Ghrumpy

Most likely your wheel isn't straight in the frame, and either the brake is rubbing the rim or the tire is rubbing the frame. If the brake is rubbing the tire sidewall, that's even worse. You can wear through the tire in a very short time.

Andrew R Stewart 

Pick up one end of the bike and spin the lifted wheel. Repeat for the other wheel. Did either stop spinning quickly? If one did then that's likely the cause. With that wheel stopped, don't rotate it after spinning has stopped, look around the wheel/tire's circumference and see if the wheel/tire is contacting the frame or brake pads.


Check the rear axle's securement in the frame. Is the wheel installed on center? QR skewer or nuts tight? If you removed the wheel from the frame can you spin the axle with just your fingers? Andy

Leisesturm

Yep. 2 for 2 o.p. nothing (useful) to add.

Oneder

Very helpful guys, thank you. Would have been stuck thinking I messed up the gears if I didn't have your help.

For some reason putting the wheel all the way in the groove will not line things up properly. I also had super wobbly wheels so I got a spoke wrench and spent quite some time on straightening things out. Those two things in combo were just too much for the bike to deal with. Now it runs much smoother than it originally did, it was in worse shape than I realized.

Crankycrank

Also, since it sounds like you moved the wheel to a different part of the dropout ("groove") you'll want to check that the brake pads are clamping on the correct part of your rim sidewall. When you squeeze the brake lever check that the brake pads contact the sidewall of the rim right in the middle and not touching the tire or only partly contacting the rim.