steel23a

Hello, I picked up a Schwinn Super Le Tour in early October and love the bike. Its born on date( on the head tube badge) is June 14 of 1976! Great summer, I was 11 and Bruce Jenner, well he was still Bruce. I put over 500 miles on it so far, including one 87 mile ride. Been thinking of doing some touring on it next season, and have a few questions.

Is the whole frame, chain and seat stays as well, chro-moly on these? It's a Japan built bike with a the sticker that says top and down tube are double butted chrome. Are 39/52 on the chain ring and 14-28 on the freewheel low enough for New England hills?

I love the bike and am enjoying the crap out of it. Easy to work on( I've overhauled the head, B.B., and pedals. gotta do the hubs next) and bomb-proof. It's got some 27 x 1 3/8 Kenda 161's on it for commuting now that fit pretty nice under it. Getting racks and fenders soon.




Thanks

The Golden Boy 

Congratulations on the Schwinn Score!!!

Good question about the tubing.

Generally, if it's something good, the company will promote that. The Super Le Tour was marketed as an "ultra lightweight." The Le Tour was just a "lightweight," marketed as having "single butted" CrMo top and bottom tubes.

To me, if seat tube, and fork and stays were CrMo- they'd have been trumpeting that.

But I best to defer to the Schwinn Experts...
@Scooper


BTW- the international internet rule... "Pix or it didn't happen!"

mstateglfr 

Pretty sure not all tubes are chromoly, based on how the catalog is written. If they were, the write-up would mention, like it does in the bike just above in their lineup that year- the Superior.

As for gearing, I personally wouldn't go near hills with the stock gearing and a loaded bike. Getting a used triple crank with square taper, triple front derailleur, and a long rear derailleur will set you back probably $70 on eBay. That'll allow you to get down to at least a 1-1 ratio or close to it for hills. That still may be tough, but more doable than current gearing. A used or new 28 inner ring for the triple would be good.

oddjob2

Why is the nose of the saddle so high?

Bikedued

That does look a tad uncomfy. I'd be numb in a mile, if I could even ride it more than a block.,,,,BD

steel23a

Yah the saddle was moving around as the clamp wouldn't hold tight, its tacked in place for now, need a better saddle but at least it's level now!

pastorbobnlnh 

Steel,

Welcome to the forums and C&V specifically. What part of New England are you located in? We have some pretty active NE folk here on C&V. We're scattered around but I'm guessing at least one of us is within a short drive and could very well help you out with the conversion to lower gears for better climbing.

You mention the 52/39 chain rings. I took a look at the catalog page and I'm guessing the chain rings use the 130mm BCD sized chain rings. While you'd need to measure to make certain, this does provide an option.



The option is a triplizer which will replace your 39T chain ring and allow you to use this:

Willow 40T 130 Triplizer for about $30 off ebay.



If this will work you would then add a 74BCD granny chain ring of about 26-32 teeth. There are other considerations as well including the derailleurs and BB. But this should be a fun project. Again welcome to the forums.

steel23a

Thanks for the info regard the frame. Single butted tubes??? A fancy way of saying straight I guess. Well whether the chain stays are chrome moly or not I still love the bike.

The triplizer idea is interesting. So would you have to change out the crank get the chain rings in the proper position? It would have to be longer correct? And is a one to one ratio the norm for low touring gears?

I'm in south-eastern Mass. here. just started riding for commuting a few months ago and have gotten the bug!

Bill

Scooper

Single butted means only one end of the tube is butted, not straight gauge. Most seat tubes are single butted with the butted end at the BB shell.

The Columbus SL tubeset is typical. The top tube and down tube are double butted, and the seat tube is single butted.

steel23a

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense.

Bill

pastorbobnlnh 

So in the North Shore area? @ScottRyder is in your area in Beverly.

To install the triplizer you remove the crankset from the BB. Then remove the chainring bolts. In this case you'd replace the 39T original with the 40T triplizer. You'd then attach a 74BCD 28T-32T "granny" chainring for a low gear for hill climbing.

steel23a

Bob, would I have to worry about clearance between the granny ring and the BB?

pastorbobnlnh 

Probably, but not always. I converted an '80 Traveler (made by Panasonic like your LeTour) to a triple and did have to go to a larger BB. I don't use it anymore and still have that BB. If you want it, I'll be glad to send it your way.

If you can, take a picture looking down at the top of your crankset towards the BB shell. What you are checking for is how much clearance there is between the existing 39T chainring and the chainstay. Then you try to imagine a third 30T or so chainring sitting between the 39T and the chainstay and BB shell.

Converting to a triple is a fun experience which teaches good skills. You will also need to sort through derailleur issues.

Where are you planning to go for hilly rides in NE? Looking at the 25" size of your frame and the saddle height I'm guessing you are about 6'1"-4" and probably weigh north of 200lbs. In which case, depending on your physical condition, you might benefit from a nice really low gear to spin up the steep and/or long hills we can encounter here in NE.



I'm 6'1" and about 230lbs and closing in on 58. My "regular" work does not help my physical condition. I live where there is no such thing as a "flat-ish" ride. So all my bikes are geared on the lower side. All but one have a triple. Most have a 30T granny and at least a 30T sprocket on the freewheel or cassette.

I recently re-built the drivetrain on a '88 ST400 Cannondale and went with a 26T granny and a 34T large sprocket. I have to say when I took it for a 20 mile spin yesterday and came to the steep sections I really liked this new low.

Glennfordx4

I also just picked up a 77 or 78 Super Le Tour 12.2 in full chrome, although it's rough the chrome is cleaning up nice as it had been painted silver in a lot of areas ( to hide rust instead of cleaning it! ).

Glenn

steel23a

I love the chrome ones

steel23a

Bob, spot on with the height and weight. I am in flat land down here but I know what your saying about the lack of level ground up north! We good to western Maine a bit. I may look into going the triple route. My chain ring in a 135 BCD if I measured right, and I saw a 39T triplizer on ebay in that size. Will the derailleur have enough throw? It is a friction shift set-up, as the age would tell you.

Thanks again for all the info,

Bill

wharlow

I'm new to this site, not a rider, and my post from earlier today was deleted because I violated a rule, apparently. Wasn't intentional, nor do I know what I did wrong exactly.

However, I need some experienced advice.

I have, what appears to be a Chicago built, Forest Green, 1982 Super Le Tour.

Where would you tell me I would find the serial number ?

Any advice and assistance is greatly appreciated.

jjames1452 

Great bike! Congratulations. I love my 12.2. I converted the drive train to Suntour Arx, Suntour sealed hubs w Open Pro rims.

The Golden Boy 

I don't see your other post... where did you post it? Generally, if your post is deleted, it won't show in your post totals, it's somewhere...

Anyway- Schwinn SNs are usually on the head tube- facing forward, under the headbadge. They'll also be on the left rear dropout. I suppose you'd look in all the regular SN locations on the BB shell and the seat tube behind the chainrings...

Metacortex

Le Tours were built in Chicago in 1979 and '80 only, if your bike is an '82 it was built in Japan. You can find the serial number on the underside of the bottom bracket housing. The serial number will tell you the month and year the frame was built, but a much more telling number is the tiny 4-digit number stamped into the headbadge, which will indicate the day and year the bike was built (dddY).

Scooper

From Schwinn Bulletin 23, "Schwinn Bicycle Identification Numbers":

Bicycles from Japan have a production month letter in either the first or second position and a production year number in the other (first or second) position. Examples J677123 = September, 1976, 6J77123 = September, 1976.


Le Tour (and Super Le Tour) numbers (1978-80 and 1982 on) include the letter “S” with a production month letter followed by a series on numbers, the first one telling the year of production (8-1978, 0-1980). Example SC94653-March, 1979.

A=January, B=February, C=March, D=April, E=May, F=June, G=July, H=August, I=Not Used, J=September, K=October, L=November, M=December

Metacortex

From what I've seen the Japanese (and Greenville) models did in fact use the letter "I" in the serial number: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...al-number.html

That is just one example, I've documented several more such as this Volare: https://plus.google.com/photos/+Skip...34042862157713

Scooper

Ah, thanks. Good to know.

top506

Southeastern MA makes you a prime candidate for the annual spring CCRT ride Patriot's Day weekend. I'll be posting the official invite in a couple of weeks.
There ARE hills in Western ME. Plenty of options to level them off a little bit. The good Pastor's is a good start. I'll bet ready money that your chainrings are, in fact, 130 BCD.

Top

CuttersRidge

Nice score, I'm bookmarking. I think a similar one is on sale near here.