Schwinn Rocket 3 mountain bike

[horsefarmer]

Picked this up at Oshkosh swap meet Saturday. believe its a 2005 model?
Posted it under mountain bikes yesterday, no comments, so I thought maybe it should really go under "fresh finds" so here it is.
Thought it was awesome for $5. It was sitting in the back of his stall looking sad so of course I had to ask....

Asked seller about it. he said it was his 1st mountain bike - had a lot of fun with it then somehow broke the spring retainer in the rear shock (retainer and shock mounting hardware MIA now)

After that he parked it and used it for parts.
Can I get the RST 22 parts, retainer (think it looks like a huge engine valve spring retainer) and the hardware to mount the shock anywhere?
Anyone have good luck buying used or new shocks online?

Not the traditional kinda stuff ya see here, but I would like to get it going again!

 

[horsefarmer]

Wow,you got a nice deal there!!

Thanks! It's just quite a bit different from any other bike I have owned.
When I get it sorted out it will be cool, but for now it's kind of a puzzle.
For example, no shifters, no brakes, no cables,front derailleur looks bent.
Front sprocket missing bolts, sprocket & guard. but frame looks good and rims spin true!
Kinda funny 2 reviews of the rear shock (RST22) @ mtbr.com from 8 years ago say the preload adjusting nut backs off and shock falls apart! no wonder the retainer is gone ! guess I better shop for an upgrade, LOL!

 

[deorman]

5 bucks=

 

[Loki182]

Nice score. Can't beat it for five bucks.

 

[horsefarmer]

Shimano Alivio 8 speed rear, any idea what shifters will work with it? am I limited to shimano only? Also can I swap other sprockets on the front? maybe just bolt the 32t back on? A few pieces missing there.....

 

[alistair clark]

Shimano Alivio 8 speed rear, any idea what shifters will work with it? am I limited to shimano only? Also can I swap other sprockets on the front? maybe just bolt the 32t back on? A few pieces missing there.....

I think the only choice will be the shimano shifter. Other company such as Sram has different indent points then shimano. But I think you will have a choice of either grip shift or rapid fire shift from shimano or a company that makes shifter that are compatible with your derailuer I think you can swap out other front sprockets as long as it is the same company as the front chainwheel(crankset). There should be another chainwheel (which you also mention)the bike is a 24 spd Mountain bike, meaning 3 sprockets in the front. With the missing a sprocket I think that's why you might think there should be a chain guard on it. I dont think the bike had one to start. Brakes are just missing the cables which you stated, the brake pads and brake levers. I think your front derailuer is ok.

 

[horsefarmer]

Alistair Clark, Looked over bike again, looks like the front derailleur is OK.
Thanks. Now I have an idea of what parts to look for.

 

[deorman]

Old friction shifters will work in a pinch.

 

[pedals]

Headache. I would personally take wheels,fork and seat off and scrap the rest. Put those parts to something else but that's me. I've got somewhere between 50 to 75 bike's, all off the curb but 1 and nothing missing as much as this bike. Just saying it's gonna get real pricy real fast on a bike that you could probably find in working order for10 or 15 bucks somewhere else. Unless that's just here in Appleton

 

[pedals]

Matter of fact if you make it my way sometime I will give you 2 or 3 curb bikes to play with, seriously I have to start getting rid of some. I donate to all the locals but now that half of the town I'm in is riding one of my bikes I can't find anyone to donate too.

 

[horsefarmer]

Matter of fact if you make it my way sometime I will give you 2 or 3 curb bikes to play with, seriously I have to start getting rid of some. I donate to all the locals but now that half of the town I'm in is riding one of my bikes I can't find anyone to donate too.

Pedals, I may take you up on that someday, but I'd have to do be real stealthy about it .
Actually, I'm gonna try it out with scrounged parts and see if it suits me first.

 

[alistair clark]

I agree with Pedals on this bike. If you have the parts or have friends that will give you parts ok. I have the feeling that this is a walmart schwinn. Which is about the same as a magma bike that walmart sold...

 

[horsefarmer]

Alistair, I think this is more of a lbs bike vs a big box store model. gonna try to get it operational with minimum expense and see if I like it. If its a go maybe do a build thread under mountain bikes - If not its parts.

 

[pedals]

Alistair, I think this is more of a lbs bike vs a big box store model. gonna try to get it operational with minimum expense and see if I like it. If its a go maybe do a build thread under mountain bikes - If not its parts.

I can agree with that now looking closer. It looks like you have quick release front and back rims, probably double wall, also the seat is higher quality, possibly newer design on how it attaches also. I have a ladies Diamondback and Giant that feature the same equipment.

 

[alistair clark]

Could be, could be. It's hard to find a lbs that sells schwinns here. They sell Trek, Specialized, Giant, and Diamondbacks but not schwinns. To bad too.

 

[horsefarmer]

I aired the tires up, wired the rear derailer to hold a gear, tied the loose chain sprocket in place, and put pedals on it - rode in around the block without the shock and no brakes! Rode good, gonna try to bring it back.

 

[pedals]

See if you can maneuver that frame a little different to your liking and use a piece of 1x1 square stock cut to length with holes drilled in each end to hold in place versus shock.I tried with boy version but didn't find a good look. Might be worth trying with girl bike

 

[alistair clark]

Your crankset says "Truvativ" in large print. What is the word under "Truvativ?

 

[horsefarmer]

"Iso-Flow" It is I believe mfg by SRAM.

 

[alistair clark]

I was on amazon this morning and found the bolt set you could use it came with the following parts.
8mm long bolts
9.5mm bolts
12.5mm long nuts.
price is 10.39 amazon price

I think the problem might be this I think you are going to need spacers between the 2 smaller chain rings. As of now we don't have their dimenstion.

You might be better off replacing the crankset with a new/used one.