There is a big hole, almost like a pipe inside the fork, below where the fork meets the handle bar stem. Standard front mud guards on mountain bikes basically have a plug which mounts into that hollow hole of the fork. The plug expands as the bolt holding the mud guard is tightened, squeezing itself against the wall of the hole and grips.
The plug should be available at some hardware stores, or one can use something like cork or rubber or even plastic to create one. Two offset pieces of material can expand and grip to the walls of the hole when bolted together. The same bolt can be used to hold the mud guard at the same time.
I would just stop by a welding shop and have them weld the pedal arm on. You can buy another whole bike for what it costs to get a helicoil like that done. If it's the left hand thread, impossible.
If the thread on the crank arms that hold the pedals are stripped, you will need a new set of cranks. That is definitely a job for the bike shop. Make sure the pedals are snug in the arm, Right side pedal has right-hand thread, left side (looking down when you are on the bike) has a left-hand (reverse!) thread.
You can use the 6 speed rear derailleur with no problems. The 5-spd shifter does not need to be disabled, as it will work just fine.
The shifter controls the rear derailleur, telling it how far to move. The rear derailluer just follows what is dictated, so there is no real difference mechanically between the 5spd and 6spd derailleurs, only in the shifter.
If you wanted to make the bike 6spd, you would have to change the shifter and gears along with the derailleur.
first thing is to check the cable itself.set the chain onto the small sprocket.now check to see if the cable has play.should feel like a guitar string.if not unloosen the cable at the front derailier.retighten using a pair of pliers to pull the cable tight as you tighten the screw back up.hope this helps
The pedal should not be able to reach the front tire. Sometimes one gets their toes to overlap the front wheel on a racing bike but that's because they have intentionally short wheel base and a steep for angle. Which way is the fork on your bike pointing? It should be angled or curved forward.
Look at the bike icon on this posting for an example.
Go to parktool.com/repair for information on bike assembly, disassembly, repair and tuning. The assembly of any bike is more or less the exact same as any other, so this website will give adequate instruction for your bike.
If you can see where it gets caught up at then you can take it to your nearest dealer or shop where they can fix it.
It is probably a simple bend in a sprocket or warp of some type, even may be a manufacturer defect!
Try this site with pictures:http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=117 Also have a look here:http://www.sram.com/en/service/sram/view.php?catID=1&subcatID=1
This should help you:http://sheldonbrown.com/gearing/index.html. Also try here:http://www.parktool.com/repair/byregion.asp?catid=4 Hope these sites help. Good explanations and pictures.
The plug should be available at some hardware stores, or one can use something like cork or rubber or even plastic to create one. Two offset pieces of material can expand and grip to the walls of the hole when bolted together. The same bolt can be used to hold the mud guard at the same time.
