Well, it turns out that the "Open Road" line of bicycles were sold in Montgomery Ward department stores, so, like most department store bikes, they just weren't very good quality.
However, that having been said, it seems that nowadays, since the Montgomery Ward company went out of business, they are actually considered to be a little bit of a collector's item, and there are a lot of message boards and chat websites online that discuss them, and how to fix them, and where to get parts, etc., etc., etc.
So, good luck, and click the link below to a directory of webpages that are about the Montgomery Ward Open Road bikes, and see what info you can glean there...
