Bca "rocky" bike from 15 years ago, what to do with it?

I had an ok bike for riding around town. It was a Schwinn hybrid that got stolen. Found out my mom had a bike stashed in her basement that she had apparently not ridden more than a few times. I'd guess she got it in the late 90's? It is a blue BCA bike "Rocky" America. The seat tube has a sticker that says Unilite 1430 CR-MO. Has other stickers such as USA. I've started riding it, but not in love with the knobby mountain bike tires. I'd prefer the smoother tires like on hybrids. I had the brakes adjusted and they work, but seem harder to stop than I'd like. I don't know if I can raise the handlebars to have a slightly more upright position. I rented a Marin Kentfield and am considering buying one, but wondering if this bike will do and can/should I just try modifying it a bit? I don't know if it has any collectible value. It is in great shape. Still has the identification number sticker and bike shop sticker on it. The original tires which are not worn. I could store it, sell it, or ride it. Any thoughts?

 

Well that's kind of a low end bike. The brake pads may have dried a bit but the top will wear off and the braking will probably get a little easier.

There are smooth, narrow tires available for your wheel size but they will look both narrow and small in your frame. Hybrids usually have a larger rim diameter.

You could get larger tires that were smooth or had a street tread.

Your tires probably say 26x1.75 or 26x1.95 and 45-559 or 55-559. Any tire that says 559 should fit your rims. The metric number is the one to go by because there are several different rim sizes called 26.

The other number is the width. You can get anything narrower but don't go too much wider or they won't fit in your frame. Anything bigger than a 60-559 probably won't fit.

biketiresdirect.com, performancebike.com, or a host of other online retailers should be able to have a wide range of choices. The online ads should picture the tire and enable you to pick a tread you like.

The hybrid size tires are a 37-622 or thereabouts. There are plenty of tires in the 37-559 range, but like I said, they will look small in your bike.

It is possible to change an mtb-size bike to take hybrid size tires instead of just using narrower mtb-diameter tires but that involves buying new wheels. Those are available from Nashbar, performancebike.com, niagaracycle, but there's a host of issues with rear hub compatibility, plus that bike isn't really worth spending too much money on.

 

For riding around town the BCA will be fine. Go over it with a fine tooth comb. Lubricate and check the tires out carefully for dry rot. Don't put much money into it and save for that Marin! Good luck.

 

Oops, it's been a long time since I thought about this stuff. By "metric" I mean the ISO size which is probably ISO 50-559. It's the tire width and rim diameter in millimeters.

To raise the bar you could buy a new, taller stem and a set of northroad bars. There are also cruiser bars for a completely upright position. I believe they should be available in the same diameters in the middle where the bars attach to the bike (to the stem,) and at the ends where they have to fit your grips and brake levers. They should be 25.4mm and 22.2mm. Niagaracycle.com used to have a lot of that stuff but it seems they are adding a lot of modern stuff lately.