# Schwinn 7th avenue



## Rastete17 (Jun 27, 2017)

Hello there!
I'm a new member and want to let you know that I just got a bike
Schwinn Seven Avenue (almost new condition) for $135. I did a couple 
rides and looks great. I plan to use it as commuter for 2 or 3 times for week. Please let me know your opinions in this type the bike.

Thanks a lot for any input.

Rastete17


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## No Time Toulouse (Sep 7, 2016)

Oh, boy....another troll.....


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## blackfrancois (Jul 6, 2016)

Rastete17 said:


> Please let me know your opinions in this type the bike.


ok. 

got photos of the bike or a link to a similar model?


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## No Time Toulouse (Sep 7, 2016)

blackfrancois said:


> ok.
> 
> got photos of the bike or a link to a similar model?


Just go to the Wal-Mart bike page, and you'll get all the info you need. They retail for about $169 at Wal-Mart, a hybrid-style piece of Chinese junk, haphazardly assembled by some teenager....

It's a troll post. You know the type; somebody PROUDLY announcing that their new el-cheapo Wally-World lead-sled is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and is willing to argue with anybody who besmirches it. ALWAYS by a brand-new poster (probably the same attention-***** over and over again). Seen it dozens of times.

Either that, or somebody couldn't find bikeforums..........


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## Fredrico (Jun 15, 2002)

IOW, Rastete17, you just threw away 135 bucks on a toy, a piece of junk. 

But don't worry. :nono: 

Ride the crap out of it, get the legs trained up. Then, I guarantee, lust will drive you to save up your coin and buy a real bike from a bike store. Hey, ya gotta start somewhere! 

Heck, if you were smart, you'd a gone and spent that 135 on a used Trek or Specialized! :ihih:


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## Rastete17 (Jun 27, 2017)

Thanks guys for the true and "lovely" opinions. This is the beginning and I'll keep learning from you guys. 

Frederico, of course I'm going to do that.


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## indianajo (Apr 18, 2017)

Enjoy your purchase.
In a flat area, seven speeds could be quite adequate. I found 3 speeds a tremendous improvement over one in Houston, in the sixties. 
The majority here are facinated by 10 and more speed derailleurs. i find even shifting seven speed with an index shifter is causing tendonitis behind my thumb. The >9 speed derailleurs tend to wear out chains, which my 5 speed Shimano never did. Just the middle sprocket. The 7 speed hubs tend to unscrew the race and drop balls, which is annoying miles from home. Wethepeople makes a one piece shaft for the shimano 7 speed derailleur which will not unscrew, or break the shaft. 
The majority here prefer bending forward to minimize wind resistance, and bending their neck at an extreme angle. Ergonomic textbooks warn against that. I've never ridden like that, and I knock off over 2000 miles a year on a bike.I've had relative pop a neck disk and the pain could be constant and irrepairable as hers was. 
BTW I ride a bike on roads. The market had decided a "road bike" has drop handlebars, raised seat and 10 or more speeds on the rear hub. Apparently "road riders" don't believe in stop signs or traffic lights. I disagree. If you're of the age where constant fiddling with the thumb might risk injury, ask about some interesting discoveries I've made about rear hubs shifted with twist handles. Which I found on a bike parts vendor website and an electric bike site, not here. You can actually have five, eight, or infinite speeds without flicking the thumb four or five times every stop sign, without going to an electric motor. Look up "IGH" on niagara-cycle,com or for the infinite nuvinci 380 at modernbike.com . There are problems ordering a complete kit with spokes of right size, rear sprocket, spare axle nuts, chain breaker, shifter cable coil cover, suitable handgrip. I'm still struggling to install the the Sturmey-Archer S80 IGH, ordering the 3rd box of parts today and there will be a fourth. I feel like I'm ordering spaceship parts. 
Have fun.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

> The majority here prefer bending forward to minimize wind resistance, and bending their neck at an extreme angle. Ergonomic textbooks warn against that. I've never ridden like that, and I knock off over 2000 miles a year on a bike.I've had relative pop a neck disk and the pain could be constant and irrepairable as hers was.


Jo, you're very opinionated, and you're entitled to your opinions, but you shouldn't spout such hogwash at new people looking for honest and helpful advice. You don't like riding in a forward position. Fine. Your choice. Some relative of yours suffered a spinal injury (somehow). Fine. None of those things prove or even remotely suggest that there's something dangerous about riding in a forward position. There are people here who have ridden hundreds of thousands of miles on bikes with drop bars, without back problems. I've been riding on the road for 45 years, and working at desk jobs (which tends to foster lower-back issues), and the only times I've ever had any back troubles were when I wasn't riding regularly. In other words, my experience is that riding a road bike _helps_ my back.

I don't know if I "believe in" stop signs and traffic lights, but I stop at them, unless there's no one around to be bothered.



> In a flat area, seven speeds could be quite adequate


In a flat area, seven speeds could be overkill. I do about half of my riding commuting on a flat route. I usually ride a fixed-gear. Very easy on the thumbs. ;-)

Happy riding, all.


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## Rastete17 (Jun 27, 2017)

Indianajo, Thanks for the information about the 7 speeds bike, very interesting, but the bike I was talking is the Schwinn 7th Avenue (see include link: http://www.about-bicycles.com/Bike-Reviews/schwinn-avenue-hybrid.html#.WZYruux97cs) which has 21
speeds, is just a regular bike, hybrid type.


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## indianajo (Apr 18, 2017)

I see from the link, you rastete17 prefer a more upright riding position. As I do. As do most riders in pictures from Europe & Oriental cities. I haven't seen a bike like this in any store here, although I don't shop at Wal-Mart because of the intense left turn traffic and my riding a bike everywhere. 
If your bike has a shimano seven speed rear hub, comments from my experience with them pertain. 21=7x3 just like my Pacific Quantum. I use all 21 speeds in my routes which vary from flat to 15% grade. The market seems to define these as "comfort" or "cruiser" bikes, which when I've got my heart rate from 96 to 168, I don't think pertains at all. I measure my bike by how many calories I burn and rest pulse afterwards, not my average speed. 
There is a lot of group think here. sorry you were submitted to it.


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## Fredrico (Jun 15, 2002)

indianajo said:


> I see from the link, you rastete17 prefer a more upright riding position. As I do. As do most riders in pictures from Europe & Oriental cities. I haven't seen a bike like this in any store here, although I don't shop at Wal-Mart because of the intense left turn traffic and my riding a bike everywhere.
> If your bike has a shimano seven speed rear hub, comments from my experience with them pertain. 21=7x3 just like my Pacific Quantum. I use all 21 speeds in my routes which vary from flat to 15% grade. The market seems to define these as "comfort" or "cruiser" bikes, which when I've got my heart rate from 96 to 168, I don't think pertains at all. I measure my bike by how many calories I burn and rest pulse afterwards, not my average speed.
> There is a lot of group think here. sorry you were submitted to it.


Yes, upright riding is how 99% of the world does it. The legs are the strongest muscles in the body. Man walks upright. But leaning forward not only is by degrees more aerodynamic than sitting bolt upright like on a beach cruiser, it does several other good things. 

At a certain intensity level rider has to recruit arms and upper body to steady the bike and assist in an even stroke, which saves energy as the miles add up. Leaning forward he can use his whole upper body, back, shoulders, arms, toning the back muscles which are holding the spine in place under isometric tension partially supported by the arms, as well as providing a stable platform off of which to work the pedals. 

The head is well supported by the back and neck muscles, very strong, a genetic inheritance from our four legged days. Rider is not reaching arms forward from an upright position relying on the back muscles to stay upright. So sitting in a forward posture takes weight bearing and balancing responsibility off the back muscles, and how about that, those pesky lower back pains eventually go away! The whole body is involved, cardio fitness is enhanced. One can go harder longer. 

Leaning forward is also necessary on short wheelbase racing bikes to keep center of gravity over the bottom bracket for excellent control. Upright riding bikes put the rear wheel further behind the saddle and the front wheel further forward, so sitting upright is still balanced between the two wheels. 

Riders generally agree finding a good fit is an evolutionary process. One gets started, finds his style, modifies equipment periodically that improves his pleasure, and discovers new things about the sport. A racing bike and flat handlebar hybrid is like comparing a sports car to an SUV. Different strokes for different folks. Its all good. 

Enjoy your bike, Rastete! I was being facetious above, trying to outdo toulouse.


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## biscut (Dec 15, 2016)

Tendonitis from gear changes on a <9 speed over 2k miles per year. Bullshit. 

Someone was the queen in the high school drama club.


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## No Time Toulouse (Sep 7, 2016)

indianajo said:


> Enjoy your purchase.
> .. The >9 speed derailleurs tend to wear out chains, which my 5 speed Shimano never did. Just the middle sprocket.


This means that you don't know how to shift, unless you live on a bone-flat prairie (which earlier you said that you did not).



indianajo said:


> The 7 speed hubs tend to unscrew the race and drop balls, which is annoying miles from home. ....


One of 2 things is happening here; either you are buying junk (which I think we've already ascertained) or you just don't know how to torque the lock nut down onto the cone. In 45 years of wrenching bikes, I have NEVER had a race unscrew and drop balls on the road. Has ANYBODY else have this happen?



indianajo said:


> ..... The market had decided a "road bike" has drop handlebars, raised seat and 10 or more speeds on the rear hub. ...


No, actually COMPETITION has decided this, probably about 90 years ago (look at TdF pics from the 1920's...). You came to ROADbikereview to post about a HYBRID. Go over to bikeforums if you want a hybrid forum. Over here, you are just trolling.



indianajo said:


> I'm still struggling to install the the Sturmey-Archer S80 IGH, ordering the 3rd box of parts today and there will be a fourth. I feel like I'm ordering spaceship parts.
> Have fun.


As I said before, with a cheap aluminum frame set at 126mm dropouts, the 135mm spread required for the Sturmey Archer 8-speed hub *WILL NOT WORK. *Your mechanical ignorance and ineptitude has gotten you into a place where failure is the only outcome; either failure on your part to make your ill-concieved idea to work, or the failure of your chainstays about 100 miles after you crowbar your dropouts apart.

I'm sorry, but unless you are just here to troll, you must truly be an idiot.


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## Fredrico (Jun 15, 2002)

biscut said:


> Tendonitis from gear changes on a <9 speed over 2k miles per year. Bullshit.
> 
> Someone was the queen in the high school drama club.


Unless...

Some of those grip shifters that come on cheap hybrids shift like crap. Used to encounter them all the time at the shop I worked at. I'd always think it was a crimp or loose fit along the housing stops, and was always surprised when it turned out to be the grip shifter itself. 

Rastete could check it out by detaching the cable from the derailleur and see if the grip shift suddenly works freely.


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## biscut (Dec 15, 2016)

Fredrico said:


> Unless...
> 
> Some of those grip shifters that come on cheap hybrids shift like crap. Used to encounter them all the time at the shop I worked at. I'd always think it was a crimp or loose fit along the housing stops, and was always surprised when it turned out to be the grip shifter itself.
> 
> Rastete could check it out by detaching the cable from the derailleur and see if the grip shift suddenly works freely.


Fredrico...

This guy is a Troll. The pixie dust isn't working.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

biscut said:


> Fredrico...
> 
> This guy is a Troll. The pixie dust isn't working.


Troll or not, it looks like Flamethrower No Time Toulouse has been banned.


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## biscut (Dec 15, 2016)

Lombard said:


> Troll or not, it looks like Flamethrower No Time Toulouse has been banned.


Ouch! Hope it's a short time ban.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

biscut said:


> Ouch! Hope it's a short time ban.


I have a feeling he got perma banned. If you look at his latest posts, he transformed from nasty to very, very mean and nasty.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Lombard said:


> I have a feeling he got perma banned. If you look at his latest posts, he transformed from nasty to very, very mean and nasty.


Yes, his attitude seems to have worsened of late. On the other hand, in his last post above, the SUBSTANCE of his responses to indianajo (apart from the nasty tone) was pretty much spot on.


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## blackfrancois (Jul 6, 2016)

good to know there are actually mods here.


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## Fredrico (Jun 15, 2002)

JCavilia said:


> Yes, his attitude seems to have worsened of late. On the other hand, in his last post above, the SUBSTANCE of his responses to indianajo (apart from the nasty tone) was pretty much spot on.


Not all riders have worked on their bikes and even know what Toulouse was talking about. His insulting tone was presumptive and arrogant. This turns readers off and they don't contribute to the discussions, and they go somewhere else. New posters deserve the benefit of the doubt before being branded trolls. That's ridiculous.

Balls falling out of hub on the street? In my 25 years of off and on bike shop mech, I ran into exactly this problem more than once. The metal on dime store bikes is so soft, lock nut came loose from torsional flex, unscrewed, the cone unscrewed, and the ball bearings fell out of the races. I'm not making this up.

Astute to catch OP riding in only the middle gear, but it doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't know how to shift. That gear is in his sweet spot for the terrain he's riding on, so he uses it all the time. I've seen it hundreds of times, like the guy who came in with a big ring that was so flat, the chain had no cogs to engage in and slipped off the top. His inner ring looked brand new. He never used it once. He also wore out his chain in 1000 miles. I asked him about that. The bike wasn't that old.

To racers, "road bikes" are the one's they race on. They have drop handlebars. To normal people, they're "racing bikes, road racing bikes." There are way more "cruisers" and "comfort bikes" on the roads than drop bar racing bikes. Hybrid bikes with flat handlebars and skinny tires are designed to be ridden on paved roads. Now we've got "gravel bikes" which sit upright about the same as flat bar bikes. So let's get off this snobbism about racing bikes being the only legitimate road bikes. Riders get their HRs just as high on hybrids and mountain bikes if they choose, and get the same fitness benefits.

I'll give Toulouse credit for cautioning against spreading aluminum dropouts from 126 to 135 mm, if 126 mm is actually what the spacing is. That's it. The rest of his rant is snooty BS.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

Fredrico said:


> Not all riders have worked on their bikes and even know what Toulouse was talking about. His insulting tone was presumptive and arrogant.


Combative is more like it. Thank you mods!



Fredrico said:


> So let's get off this snobbism about racing bikes being the only legitimate road bikes. Riders get their HRs just as high on hybrids and mountain bikes if they choose, and get the same fitness benefits.


Well put, Fredrico.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

> So let's get off this snobbism about racing bikes being the only legitimate road bikes. Riders get their HRs just as high on hybrids and mountain bikes if they choose, and get the same fitness benefits.


I couldn't agree more. I'm glad to see anyone riding any kind of bike (I even smile and wave at all of them). And even if they choose to noodle along at an easy pace and not get the heart rate up, that's cool, too.

Indianajo's rant was sort of the reverse of the road-bike snobbery -- he didn't just say that it's not necessary to ride a drop-bar road bike, he said it's downright harmful. that's what I reacted to.

Of course, nearly all this discussion is a bit off the original subject of the thread, since the OP bought a hybrid bike, and just wanted to know what people thought of it. Some of the answers were snobbish, not because it's not a "road bike," but because people dismissed it as poor quality. I find that kind of snobbery just as offensive. Rather than say, "You should have saved your money and bought X," why not give advice on making the inexpensive bike as safe and rideable as possible.


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## Lombard (May 8, 2014)

JCavilia said:


> I couldn't agree more. I'm glad to see anyone riding any kind of bike (I even smile and wave at all of them). And even if they choose to noodle along at an easy pace and not get the heart rate up, that's cool, too.
> 
> Indianajo's rant was sort of the reverse of the road-bike snobbery -- he didn't just say that it's not necessary to ride a drop-bar road bike, he said it's downright harmful. that's what I reacted to.
> 
> Of course, nearly all this discussion is a bit off the original subject of the thread, since the OP bought a hybrid bike, and just wanted to know what people thought of it. Some of the answers were snobbish, not because it's not a "road bike," but because people dismissed it as poor quality. I find that kind of snobbery just as offensive. Rather than say, "You should have saved your money and bought X," why not give advice on making the inexpensive bike as safe and rideable as possible.



I didn't (and I doubt anybody else) find your posts offensive or insulting. You gave generally sound advice and called out an extreme view and misinformation. You were not out of line.

As you rightly implied, there are much better ways at displaying criticism. Toulouse went far beyond criticism or even snobbery. He bashed the OP and his bike repeatedly calling it a (not the exact words) pitiful piece of junk. Furthermore, lately, he wasn't just attaching IndianaJo. He became very venomous in a few threads and stepping up the vitriol. It almost seemed like he was trying his hardest to get banned. He was becoming like someone we all know well who I won't mention here for fear of this thread being moved to P.O. if you get my drift.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

blackfrancois said:


> good to know there are actually mods here.


My thoughts exactly. They don't do much, but that was a good ban.


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## blackfrancois (Jul 6, 2016)

Lombard said:


> I have a feeling he got perma banned.


guess not. but maybe he'll change his tired, old tune.


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