Classic & Vintage - Schwinn Le Tour III Stem size

Is it odd? I've read some Schwinn's need an .883 (?) quill diameter stem? Is this right? I need to get my bars up, will a 1" stem not work?

Oooh, also, I can't tell if the clamp diameter is 25.4 or 25.8. I think .8. Anyone know?

I've had three le tours, '82, '83, '84, and they all had the odd-sized stem/steerer. My '79 Schwinn Traveler also had the odd size. I'd say it's likely your le tour III has the .833" size too, but all you have to do is pull the stem out and check. It should have .833 stamped on it if it's the odd size.........As far as replacing the stem, the problem with putting a standard 1" stem on is that the inside diameter of the fork's steerer tube will also be .833", to match the stem. You could probably sand the quill of a standard-sized 1" stem and make it fit. I was lucky enough to find a very tall .833" stem on ebay a while back, when I wanted to get my handlebars up higher. I don't think the seller even knew the difference, but I could tell it was an .833" stem because I could see the distinctive ridge in the photo, near the top of the quill, that indicated the stem had been necked down to the smaller size during the manufacturing process. My guess is that all those SR stems started out the same, and the ones that were destined for Schwinns had one more step in the manufacturing process, which was to machine the lower portion of the quill down to .833", from the standard size of 22.2mm.........Assuming your bike does have the .833" size stem/steerer, the other item that will be that size is the lock nut on the top of the headset assembly. The threads on the nut and on the steerer tube are standard, but the inside diameter of the nut at the very top, where the stem goes through it and the nut fits closely around the stem, will match the .833" stem. I've put headsets from Schwinns on other bikes with standard 1" stems on them, and just sanded out the inside diameter of the nut to allow the slightly larger stem to fit.

Well biked is well informed. I've got two Travellers and two Le Tours. All their stems are .833.

Is it just me, or have there been a lot of Le Tours mentioned here lateley?

And has anyone noticed that they are selling on eBay for almost as much as they did new?

I have a personal connection that makes me want one specific Le Tour, but there are better bikes being sold for less.

I just gave away a Le Tour a couple weeks ago (rescued it from one neighbor, restored it, gave it to another neighbor) and it was 22.2. I've had several 80's vintage bikes with 21.1 pass through my hands (Nishiki, Schwinn-Twinn to name two). I once tried to grind down a 22.2 to fit a 21.1. Gave up.

Thanks for the info, well-biked.

Ahhhh, to be continually boned by old Schwinns... good times.


I just gave away a Le Tour a couple weeks ago (rescued it from one neighbor, restored it, gave it to another neighbor) and it was 22.2. I've had several 80's vintage bikes with 21.1 pass through my hands (Nishiki, Schwinn-Twinn to name two). I once tried to grind down a 22.2 to fit a 21.1. Gave up.

What are you referring to with those sizes? Clamp diameter?


btw- my bike is the pearl orange with just OK paint, and I've converted to a fixed gear using the wheels I got off an old motobecane super-mirage (the frame of which will be for sale soon). I'll be putting pictures up soon with a description of how riding the bike hurts my butt, shoulders, back AND neck. It's a quad-fecta.

What are you referring to with those sizes? Clamp diameter?

Those are the quill diameters in metric.

22.2mm is the most common size for road bikes.
22.0mm is the size used by some older French bikes
21.15mm is the .833" size that you are referring to.

BTW, I had an '85 Schwinn Traveler that took the standard 22.2mm stem quill.

BTW, I had an '85 Schwinn Traveler that took the standard 22.2mm stem quill.

Not that anything to do with '80's Schwinns ever seems logical or clearcut, but since your '85 Traveler had a 22.2 mm stem, and my '84 le tour has the 21.15mm (.833"), it would seem that maybe '85 was the year they did away with the odd size.........Of course, just as sure as I say that, someone is sure to report they've got some sort of '85 or later Schwinn with an .833" stem. :D

Not that anything to do with '80's Schwinns ever seems logical or clearcut, but since your '85 Traveler had a 22.2 mm stem, and my '84 le tour has the 21.15mm (.833"), it would seem that maybe '85 was the year they did away with the odd size.........Of course, just as sure as I say that, someone is sure to report they've got some sort of '85 or later Schwinn with an .833" stem. :D

Yes, it will be interesting to see if anyone reports an '85 or later road bike with the .833" stem. The lower level bikes may have retained this dimension which started in 1966 when Schwinn decided they needed to make the steerer tube walls thicker for more strength. I would imagine that with the use of better steels in the road bikes, they finally decided that it was ok to return to the standard dimensions, but as you say, I would hate to assume anything.

I found out last night the similar-era Nishiki Kokusai I picked up takes a .833 stem too. I searched all over the mighty internets and found BMX and low-rider stems in that size and that's it.

Is there anyone out there who's done something to make a 1" stem fit?

This blows.

I have a Le Tour that I converted to SS not long ago. I came upon the same problem as I was going through my rebuild. What I ended up doing was buying a 1" quill stem adaptor so I could use a threadless stem. But of course as we know 1" quill will not fit in the steerer tube. I had to have the adaptor milled down 1mm on a lathe. I was lucky enough to have some guys in my machine shop do this. So if you have access to a machine shop and lathe, that could be your solution. Good luck.

I have access to nothing!

I was thinking it'd be really hard to get a stem on a lathe but I guess an adapter would be a lot easier. I should check into what that would cost.

Well wait, you're in the porn capital of the world, that's the valley, right? What would it run at your shop or are you a commercial shop?

I found out last night the similar-era Nishiki Kokusai I picked up takes a .833 stem too. I searched all over the mighty internets and found BMX and low-rider stems in that size and that's it.

Is there anyone out there who's done something to make a 1" stem fit?

This blows.

That's interesting about the Nishiki having the .833" stem, too. I remember seeing someone in the Mechanics forum talking about an early '80's Nishiki with the odd size. I guess Schwinns weren't the only ones...........As for getting a normal-sized 1" stem to fit, I've sanded a couple of tenths of a millimeter off of wrong-sized aluminum seatposts before, but I guess with over a full millimeter needing to come off the stem, it wouldn't be practical to do it with hand sanding. I would think a machine shop could enlarge the inside diameter of the steerer tube fairly easily, though. I believe 22.2mm is exactly 7/8", so they ought to have the right size bit to make it work.

I am indeed in the valley. The machine shop at my office is not a commercial shop. We use it to build jigs for an completely seperate industry. I actually work upstairs in the customer service part. Where are you located? I may be able to have the guys downstairs trim another adaptor down for me.

as for enlarging the inside diameter, I recomend against it. I was thinking the same thing, but after all the measurements I took of all the parts, it did not seem like a very good idea. The steerer tube really isn't thick enough to remove that much material.

I'm in LA, West Hollywood to be precise.

If that were possible that'd be really cool, if not I at least know it can be done and could find a shop to do it, I'm sure. I'd want to get a couple done since I've got 2 bikes with that funky size.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to bore out the steering tube. I suppose another option would be to get a different fork if all else fails.

I don't know enough about what most machine shops have at their disposal to say for sure that they could make a clean, even bore of a steerer tube. But if you take a standard-sized 1" threaded Tange fork and compare it to one of these Tange forks with the .833" bore, there's absolutely no difference in the dimensions of the forks except that one is bored out to 22.2mm, the other 21.15mm. The outside diameter of the steerer is the same, threads are the same, etc. So assuming a shop could bore it out evenly, and that may or may not be a reasonable assumption, I don't know, but if they could, it would end up no different than a standard fork, with the same tubing thickness on the steerer tube, etc..........But a different fork, sized for a standard sized stem and with the same length blades and steerer tube might be the most realistic option. Good luck with it- :)