Fixing the Wife's Bike

My wife inherited her bike, it's about a 10 year old Schwinn hybrid. It's the old school WSD: Two down tubes, no top tube.

Other than the obvious structural and aesthetic deficiencies this design presents I've been noticing other things: The rear brake cable is a mess: It bends around corners cables shouldn't bend around, especially not on a bike where they're exposed to dirt, mud, water, snow, etc.

It also features cantilever brakes with plastic housings for the pullback springs. Of course, one was cracked. That's okay though, the springs are too weak anyway: I'm going to try to find decent brakes to put on this bike. The frame and forks have mounts for caliper brakes, but I'm not sure if I can use them with the wheel it has.

The tires are rotten. Oops, shouldn't have bought tubes for them before looking at the tires!

The derailleurs were still well aligned though! And the chain was good as new, with only minor damage to one sprocket.

Oh, and the rear wheel isn't true. I guess I get to learn how to true wheels now. I figure by the time this bike is in good working order we'll be out about $150, probably a third of its original price. A lot of that would disappear if the brakes weren't ... below my expectations.

Oh well, can't complain about free, right?