Road Cycling - What do you think of Schwin La Tours?

I'm a mountain biker who wants to get into road cycling. Right now, I have a Gary Fisher Whahoo, which I love. It is not, however, very good on the road.(Duh, right?)
I'm somewhat limited in terms of funds, and a friend has offered to sell me his early 90s LaTour. It's a Cro-Mo frame, has been tuned up recently and seems to ride well-to someone with my lack of road experience anyway. He's asking a little over $100 for it.
Has anyone here had experience with these bikes? If so, what do you think of them?
Thanks in advance.

I'm a mountain biker who wants to get into road cycling. Right now, I have a Gary Fisher Whahoo, which I love. It is not, however, very good on the road.(Duh, right?)
I'm somewhat limited in terms of funds, and a friend has offered to sell me his early 90s LaTour. It's a Cro-Mo frame, has been tuned up recently and seems to ride well-to someone with my lack of road experience anyway. He's asking a little over $100 for it.
Has anyone here had experience with these bikes? If so, what do you think of them?
Thanks in advance.

The Schwinn Le Tour bikes were made by Panasonic for Schwinn
and as such are a well made/repected Japanese bike. I've
seen them go for as little as $10 on e-bay but if the
one you want to buy is in good to very good condition then
you set the price. From what I understand Panasonic dropped
out of bicycles and parts could be an issue.

One other point.......
To buy a bike of the quality level of the Le Tour "new" it
would cost much, much more than $100 so you decide.

The Schwinn Le Tour bikes were made by Panasonic for Schwinn
and as such are a well made/repected Japanese bike. I've
seen them go for as little as $10 on e-bay but if the
one you want to buy is in good to very good condition then
you set the price. From what I understand Panasonic dropped
out of bicycles and parts could be an issue.

One other point.......
To buy a bike of the quality level of the Le Tour "new" it
would cost much, much more than $100 so you decide.
I just talked to the guy, and I was wrong on the model-it's called a Tiempo, or something like that. Apparently, it was a higher end bike than the La Tour.

I'm a mountain biker who wants to get into road cycling. Right now, I have a Gary Fisher Whahoo, which I love. It is not, however, very good on the road.(Duh, right?)
I'm somewhat limited in terms of funds, and a friend has offered to sell me his early 90s LaTour. It's a Cro-Mo frame, has been tuned up recently and seems to ride well-to someone with my lack of road experience anyway. He's asking a little over $100 for it.
Has anyone here had experience with these bikes? If so, what do you think of them?
Thanks in advance.


That brings back memories. The La Tour was my first real bike. I used to call it my Swine La Turd.

Not familar with the Tempo but the La Tour did not use Panasonic parts! Duh. The parts were mainly off the shelf stuff and the bike was a mix breed because Shwinn would get parts from whomever gave the cheapest price for that particular part; so you could have Sakae cranks, Dia Comp brakes, Shimano or Suntour transmission, Sun hubs etc, or they could be renamed Schiwnn but still the same mix bag.. Today replacement parts for the bike is easily as going down to your LBS and getting Shimano.

My grandfather and dad both had the schwinn le tour (dont remember the model) but when they got the bikes back in the late 80's early 90's they cost around $1700.
My grandfather rode his bike 50 miles a day, rain or shine without missing a day until he died, My dads bike tho not ridden as much is still in excellent shape and could be ridden a century with no problem other than the old school components. Tho the bikes are not Bianchi I think that they were pretty darn good bikes back in their day...

The components can always be changed, I imagine. I think I'm going to get it, as long as it rides as well as I remember.

Just because I'm becoming a roadie doesn't mean I'm shaving my legs, though....

Not familar with the Tempo but the La Tour did not use Panasonic parts! Duh. The parts were mainly off the shelf stuff and the bike was a mix breed because Shwinn would get parts from whomever gave the cheapest price for that particular part; so you could have Sakae cranks, Dia Comp brakes, Shimano or Suntour transmission, Sun hubs etc, or they could be renamed Schiwnn but still the same mix bag.. Today replacement parts for the bike is easily as going down to your LBS and getting Shimano.

Im pretty sure he meant the frame is Panasonic... obviously the components wouldn't be since Panasonic never made any components...

And its LE TOUR EVERYONE!!! Not La Tour!!!! :p

The components can always be changed, I imagine. I think I'm going to get it, as long as it rides as well as I remember.

Just because I'm becoming a roadie doesn't mean I'm shaving my legs, though....

The one thing I didn't mention because I was in a hurry, was that my brother in-law owns a mid 80's Le Tour and his is equipped with the components I mentioned in my first post with Suntour GT transmission and that was Suntour mid end stuff. Also his frame is Reynolds 531 dbl butted and lugged which was a mid end frame. He has about 35,000 miles on it and never had any issues with it. I "think" the Le Tour was Schwinn's mid end bike at the time. I called him to find out how much he paid for his and he said $900 but it was on a clearance sale marked down $200. Back in 85 a $1,100 or there abouts was considered a mid end bike. Schwinn still though just found the cheapest mid end parts they could get and that's why the bikes were "mutts".

I inherited an old Le Tour that I'm using as a commuter. It's a little heavy by today's standards but it rides nice and I really like it.

I picked the bike up over the weekend, and it is, in fact, called a Tempo. The guy insisted it's a higher-end bike than the Le Tour, and it seems like it was faily state of the art at the time it was made. Of course, the important thing is that it rides well. I don't have much road experience, but it feels pretty good to me. After years of mtn bikes, it's amazing how light and agile the road bike feels, and how quickly it accelerates when I lean into the pedals. Compared to the mountain bike, it's outrageously fast and smooth at speed. I have, however, noticed that drivers seem even more inclined to try to kill you on a road bike.
Of course, I'm not giving up the Gary Fisher-I still love trail riding. I do think I'm going to enjoy this road thing, though.

Lets see some pic's.

Tomorrow, if I remember.