Schwinn Super LeTour
 

Hey all. I ordinarily ride a Fuji fixed-gear Frankenstein of sorts with fenders and risers. While I generally know bikes, I could always use some advice.

Anyway, today I saw a white Chicago Schwinn Super Le Tour with a Blue Mels fenders and a rack and pump (obviously added more recently). It was at the thrift store and they wanted $24.95 I think. It was a smallish frame, definitely a bit small for me, but I could use it or save it for someone else. The sticker said it was made of 1020, and while it wasn't incredibly light, it wasn't heavy for a steel touring bike. i don't remember the serial number. I could easily get it going with some new cables, possibly new tires, a truing job on the front wheel, some lube, and some tweaking.

Would you go for it?

For $24.95, you can hardly go wrong. It sounds like it's from the early '80's. Look on the headbadge, try and find four small numbers stamped on it. This is the date code showing when the bike was assembled. The first three numbers represent the numerical day of the year, the last digit is the last number in the year. Example: 1422 would indicate it was assembled on the 142nd day of 1982, assuming it's an '80's bike........... I'm not sure the Super Le Tour model name came along until the very early '80's (it might have first appeared in the late '70's, I'm not sure). But if it's 1020 steel, it's definitely pre-'83 (in '83 they began building them from chromoly steel). It was more than likely made in Japan (look for labeling on the upper seat tube to indicate this). There was at least one, maybe two, years that some versions of the le tour were made in Chicago, but the vast majority were either made in Japan by Panasonic or into the '80's they were made in Greenville, Mississippi. The "Chicago" headbadge doesn't by any means indicate it was built in Chicago........Like I said, for that price, I say go for it- :)

Well, we'll see if I get paid today. In any case, the components are good and usable.

Funny, I am about to go look at a Super Le Tour that the guy wants $150 for. I was thinking about offering him $100. I guess I'll go a little lower now.

if it really is a Chicago-built frame, grab it. It's a collector's item of sorts (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/chicago-schwinns.html)

I don't think "collector's item" is the way to describe a le tour, no matter where it was made. And no le tours were "electro-forged", as per the Sheldon Brown link, they were all lugged construction, from the earliest (from the early '70's) to the ones made in the early nineties. The electro forged Schwinns are the Varsities, Continentals, etc............My understanding of the year or two that le tours were made in Chicago (very late '70's or very early '80's) is that they brought production to Chicago because the cost of labor in Japan had spiked quite a bit. Don't get me wrong, I really like Schwinn le tours, I ride one almost daily..........but a collector's item? Nope.

Cool. I'm better informed and happily corrected :beer:

Heck,
The fenders, rack and pump is worth the $25........ Grab it