Originally Posted by
WilliamK1974
I'm starting to think it's a 1980 or later. Le Tour first shows up as a model in 1974. Changes came starting in '76, but any of them that had stem-mounted shifters didn't come in silver.
In 1980, the Le Tour came in Frosty Silver with 10-speeds, torch brazed lug 1020 steel, and stem mounted shifters. The catalog that year says it's "Schwinn-built," which makes me think it's a Chicago model rather than one of the Japanese-built frames.
The serial number on the dropout is SE045549, if that makes a difference.
The format and location of the serial number is not Japanese. This is a Schwinn built frame from 1980. Most of these where Le Tour of some sort.
http://thirtythree.org/projects-unco...n%20Frames.pdf
Schwinn Bulletin 23 describes serial number locations and formats for this time period.