I saw this bike last Tuesday at the local bike non-profit I volunteer at (Dfrost does, too) in the "as is" section, where bikes are usually $50 or less. Not going to find any Colnagos in there, but the occasional gem shows up. All chrome, which had initially caught my eye. And a Schwinn (one of a few companies that did it). I had to wait until Saturday to scoop it up via car, but I was able to read the Julian year date stamp on the head badge and it was a 1977. Further Schwinn catalog scans (love pouring through those--priceless resource) revealed it was a Super Le Tour 12.2 as the name had been scratched/eroded off this original example. Chroming was a $50(!) option at the time.

$40 later she was mine, with full expectation of donating back and/or disposing of totally toast parts and doing massive amounts of work getting the surface rust off the chrome. Once home, I adjusted the saddle, aired up the tires, and put on a freewheel (13-19T Dura Ace...lol) and gave it a test ride. Provided the century wasn't demanding terrain-wise, this could ace it as it. But now, it is fully disassembled and being restored, destined for greatness and I am very happy with it (but not how laborious it's been--oh well, I will persevere).

As found:



RUST. Dang it. Conquerable, but it's not going to be easy.