Originally Posted by
JanMM
"Schwinn - Schwinn was for many years the largest American brand. All bicycles were made domestically until the late 80's." This is not entirely accurate. LeTour bikes were first made in Japan in the 70's.
It's not even close to accurate.
In the '70's, Schwinn le tours, Travelers, Voyageurs, and Volares (and maybe more that I'm forgetting) were made in Japan. I like older Schwinns, and I like the fact that I've got '83 and '84 Schwinn le tours that were made in America. But Schwinn was a company that embraced the idea of "outsourcing" production of some of their bikes overseas very early on, in the early-mid '70's. And it continued from that point forward. All through the '80's, there were many more Schwinn models built overseas (Japan, Taiwan, and China).