Shameless54

I snapped up a Schwinn Le Tour for a song. I love the Blue and White Paint Job. I am trying to determine the year of manufacture. The serial number is L7480XX. The X's are numbers.

The derailer sez Suntour as do the crank shafts. The wheels are Wienmann from Belgian.

What year was it built? Where? Prolly Japan

Here is a picture.

https://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn107/shameless54/CEF17CB6-F5F2-42D0-A1F8-ADB823C14F3A_zpspzdow04j.jpg

Thanks,

Shameless54

malcala622 

Metacortex

That looks like an '88 Le Tour. What is the 4-digit number stamped in the headbadge (which will indicate the date of bike assembly)?

Here is the catalog page and specs:

Jeff Wills

Since Meta identifies it as a 1987, it's a "Mississippi Schwinn", built in the fading days of the Schwinn company in Greenville, Mississippi.

Kdogbikes

Looks to be ready to ride. That is a cool color combo.

Shameless54

Wow! How cool is that. A rebel without a cause!

I was wondering why it had Belgium made rims and Suntour Components. It was an American Frame with cheaper foreign components to be competitive?

cb400bill

Don't think that Suntour components and Weinmann rims are cheap (inferior) components. They made wonderful equipment.

Jeff Wills

I agree. The parts were equivalent to similarly-priced Shimano of the same era. Among other things, the demise of Schwinn was brought about by the mountain-bike boom and high quality bikes from Taiwan. Some of that was from Giant, which gained a foothold in the U.S. thanks to... Schwinn. (I built a few of the Giant-made Schwinn World Sports back in my bike shop days.)

Metacortex

My bad, I had '87 on the brain however I believe it is an '88 (the catalog and spec. pages I posted were '88 all along).

Shameless54

Duh, there is a red decal Made in USA sticker on the seat post near the crank.

Wow!