Rear wheel will not roll backwards - at all! (brand new bike)

[JohnV]

My reason for suggesting that you take it to a bike shop is that 1) its a new bike, and regardless of the price and that it was given to you, if you really mess it up it could end up costing you more than the value of the bike. 2) A new bike (even a free one) isn't the place I would want to start off learning bike building and repair.

I think that we have all been in your financial situation at one time or another, so here is a suggestion. Before I gave my brother my old bike, he would go to the dump and get discarded bicycles and bring them home. Between all the bikes he had, he was able to build himself a bike he could ride. It may not have been very pretty, but he was able to ride it. I don't mean to imply that you should replace your bike with a junker, but the junk bike serves two purposes: 1) it gives you a means of transportation that you don't currently have and 2) it gives you experience working on bikes. Once you get the experience to build one from junk parts, fix the bike that you were given and throw away the junker.

Next year, when I retire, I plan on getting junk bikes just to work on them so that I can learn bike repair without destroying my bikes. I would rather learn on a free junker, how to change a cassette or crankset, than on a very expensive road bike.