Want to fix this ol girl up.. was wondering if I could get some suggestions for wheels, chain, etc? (I’m very new to bikes/fixing up)

Got it from my grandparents, don’t know much about it. I’d probably keep the paint, but looking for a place to get some decent (affordable) wheels, a new chain and am welcome to other suggestions for fix ups. Thanks!

Edit: I’ve done some looking around, but not sure what sizes? If anyone knows I would appreciate it!

This isn’t very old. It a pretty low quality Walmart schwinn from like 2000 at the earliest. Pretty low quality parts from the looks. Weird bars, grip shifts, weird saddle. If you want to make it cool go to r/xbiking for inspiration, but just know you’re probably going to dump atleast $100 into it for quality parts so it shifts and brakes right, but then it’s still not worth what you put into it. It’s probably really heavy too, so if you’re commuting it’s gonna be a lot of work.

If all you have to do is put air in the tires, on the side of the rubber there will be a size. Tires look fine, just buy new inner tubes and inflate.

Front wheel is in backwards.

Front wheel is on backwards – maybe it’s just the skewer thought. That quick release handle should be on the opposite side of the bike, just like the one on the rear wheel.

New tires (probably) – easy enough to find for about $20 each. When you said you want new decent affordable wheels, are you only talking about the tires (rubber)? If not just the tires, what’s wrong with the wheel? They look like 700c to me but I’m guessing (bigger than the 26″ wheel on the mountain bike behind it) – the tires will say 700c or 622/32 or 27″ or something like that, you’ll be able to easily figure that out just lookin on the side of the tires.

New tubes – the tires are old, so are the tubes and at $5 each it’s a wise, affordable buy now.

New brake pads – they’re often okay after a long time in storage, but $10 to replace all four pads is money well spent.

Chain and drive train (chainring in front, cassette in back, and rear derailleur) – might need to replace the chain simply because of rust ($10, get KMC with a quick link). The cassette and derailleur look like they’re covered in grease/dirt/crud. Spray with degreaser or household cleaner, scrub with tooth brush or sacrificial toilet bowl brush, scrape it off with toothpicks or something, scrub it again. Let everything dry well (just leave in the sun for a few hours and/or hit with leaf blower) then apply chain lube (not WD-40, not whatever oil you have laying around, but $5 bike chain lube, it’ll last you for years and just apply every month or every couple hundred miles). Lube the derailleur (anywhere there are two pieces that touch and/or move, really anything that moves) and chain, spin them and wipe them down.

Seat – personal choice, but replace that seat and not with the one in the cargo box. $15 on Amazon or Aliexpress will get you a very reasonably comfortable seat. Try the EC-90 or something similar.

Cables and cable housing – replace them. $20 for a generic housing and cable replacement set will be perfect.

Total: $110 = $20 (cables), $15 (seat), $10 (brake pads), $15 (chain and lube), $10 (tubes), $40 (tires)

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Now that you see it’ll likely take at least $110 to get this running smoothly (assuming there are not other issues like bottom bracket, headset, shifter), evaluate if that’s worth your money and time (I’d guess 2-5 hours for a novice learning on ParkTool videos).

I think it’s a nice looking bike and would be very useful. But look at what you can get on Craigslist for $150 and you may decide you’d prefer that.