miamibeachcg

I found this (along with a 1987 GT Performer selling for 1/2 it's $19.95 price!) at my local thrift store - it was priced at $69, but all bikes were 1/2 price that day so I got it for $34.50 tax!

It is pristine - like it was never ridden. But it has some unusual components; "Schwinn Approved GT-400 Le Tour derailleur & "Schwinn Approved" brakes. The light blue pastel color is also unusual for a man's bike from the 70's or 80's - although I am from South Beach (Miami Beach) and the Art Deco District where all the old hotels are preserved & painted in pastel colors; I've never seen it on a Schwinn.

Does anyone know how old this bike is? What the components really are? Where the serial number is (it isn't on the bottom of the frame)? And how long did Schwinn make bikes in Japan? (I also have a Japanese made Schwinn Voyager).

I appreciate any help.

[IMG]AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 1AAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr[/IMG]

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 1BAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 2AAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 2AAC by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 3AAAB by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 4AAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 4AAB by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AA BICYCLE SCHWINN LE TOUR 6AAA by miamibeachcg, on Flickr

AlexCyclistRoch

Schwinn never "made bikes in Japan"; they BOUGHT bikes from a Japanese manufacturer, and put Schwinn badges on them.....

T-Mar

I'm not really into 1970s Schwinns but I'd say this is circa 1975. If the serial number is not on the bottom bracket shell, it may be on the headlug collar or the rear dropouts.

The rear derailleur is a rebadged Shimano Tourney. The front derailleur is a rebadged Shimano 50. The shift levers are rebadged Shimano Uni-Shift. The crankset is a rebadged Takagi Tourney. The brakes appear to be rebadged Dia-Compe.

oddjob2

Nice, worth about $100 more than you paid. FMV $125-$135.

miamibeachcg

Thank you all!

exxongraftek

These bikes are a fascinating look into the early days of Shimano, the company that started out trying to match Campagnolo and, through some innovation, either matched or exceeded them, depending on your opinion. The rear derailleur shares about as much with the Tourney as it does with the Crane, that became the somewhat iconic Dura-Ace shortly thereafter.

Gorgeous time capsule bike. I hope you preserve it instead of "upgrading" it.

T-Mar

...which is a lot. During this era, Shimano had three Servo-Panta derailleurs that used the same upper and lower pivot castings and geometry. The difference was in the construction and material of the parallelogram arms and the materials for the cage. The top of the line Crane used cast aluminum parallelogram arms with an aluminum cage. The middle Titlist used cast aluminum parallelogram arms but had a steel cage. The Tourney used formed steel parallelogram arms and a steel cage.

The Crane would also receive an revised upper pivot casting utilizing a pivoted, adjustable, barrel style cable stop to further differentiate from the integral stop used on the Titlist and Tourney. However, the early version of the Crane had the same integral cable stop and there was a definite resemblance between the Crane and first generation Tourney derailleurs. The performance was identical, with difference coming down to weight and cost, due to the higher amount of steel used in the Tourney. The weight difference was 75g but when you compensate for the weight of the claw adapter used on the Tourney, it is almost cut in half.