1981 Schwinn Le Tour Salvage Project

[kostnerave]

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beautiful job you have done with it.

cannot recall seeing previously a LeTour Tourist; what years were they offered?


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I believe they were in Schwinn's line up for '81 and '82. Colors offered were Spicy Chestnut and Sky Blue ( the Panasonic version). Here is my keeper.

 

[kostnerave]

It was pretty much "all different". The Le Tours were really nice Japanese National/Panasonic built bikes.

The Worlds started out at Giant "way before" they figured out how to build quality bicycles. Schwinn exported Frank Brilando their head engineer to live at Giant to teach them "how to build bicycles" to meet Schwinn quality standards.

The absolute worst ever was the Maroon Worlds that faded to the white primer coat while still in the Schwinn Dealer's front windows. We replaced hundreds of frames and forks.

As history will show, Giant figured it out and did a great job with quality. They built millions of bikes for Schwinn.

John

Wasn't Frank Brilando the same guy who invented the Stik-Shift? He must have been an amazing engineer.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Wasn't Frank Brilando the same guy who invented the Stik-Shift? He must have been an amazing engineer.

Frank Brilando was a Bicycle Racer in the MIdwest. He was a friend of my Uncle Bill Bina, they were both racers. Bill went to work for Santa FE Railroad and Frank went to work for Arnold, Schwinn. I qualified to ride at the 1963 Track Nationals in Northbrook, IL. representing Arizona. I placed an order for a new P14 Paramount Track Bike. My family was a Schwinn Dealer at the time. I received a message back through Schwinn order channels that my order was too late and could not be filled in time for the August Nationals. We made a call to Uncle Bill and said we could not make the trip to Chicago because we could not get the new bike built in time. He called his old riding buddy Frank Brilando and the bike was not only done in time, but he personally picked it up delivered it to the Northbrook track for me to practice on before the race weekend. His advice was to be very careful around the pinstriping because it was still wet.

Frank Brilando and Keith Kingbay used their status as key Schwinn employee's to support the ABL (amateur bicycle league of America). It was Frank and Keith that outfitted the American Pan Am, and Olympic trams with new bikes and riding gear long before the days of 7/11, Motorola, and U.S. Postal million-dollar sponsorships. They traveled to these international races on their Schwinn expense accounts.

Yes, Frank's name is on the Twinn/Single Stik shifter. He personally signed a blueprint copy for my SSW office wall. His contributions to the Schwinn Bicycle Company are priceless. He also identified future engineering talent and placed them under his wing. The best known is Mark Mueller, who in time headed up the Paramount cage. Mark Mueller later joined Richard Schwinn in running Waterford Precision Cycles building countless Paramount's and Waterford frame sets.

Good times.
John

 

[ventana]

Here are some pictures of my latest project, a 1981 Schwinn Le Tour Tourist in Blue. This bike was in pretty rough shape and became a bit of a challenge for me. It came to me with a poorly installed bent up bottle cage, which did quite a bit of paint damage to the seat tube. I found a cool Shimano decal which covered most of it. The front Bluemel fender was cracked with two broken struts. I trimmed off the damaged section and rerivited the brace. Both of the Cat Eye reflectors were broken, so I replaced them. Everything else was rebuilt including the pedals and rear derailleur. I installed new tires, tubes, rim strips, brake shoes, inner control cables and a nice pair of correct Schwinn cushion grips I had in my stash. I have to admit that the bike shifts smoothly and rides great! I'll probably put this on craigslist for 175.00, less than I have in it. I hope you enjoy the pictures. Thanks, Mike

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The Panasonic made LeTour Tourist is a fairly rare bicycle to see these days. I've been to a lot of bike shows and swap meets and yours is only the second I have ever seen. Yours is especially cool with undamaged looking Blumel fenders. You most often see the British plastic fenders beat to death. The owner and founder of (I can't include the last name and Japanese name of the company because the auto editing feature of this forum renders his name pointless) Electric/Panasonic/Bridgstone/JVC brands etc. in Japan) hired engineers that knew how to build a bicycle. Over the years they have built some superb examples. In my opinion some of the best Schwinn Lightweight frames (with a few small exceptions) were built in Japan. My very first Schwinn Lightweight was a beat up, rusted out 1974 LeTour. I brought it back to life and it has been through many iterations of wheels, gears and shifters but remains one of my favorite bicycles to ride and that includes a 1974 P15.
I hope the person that purchases your LeTour understands what they are buying. Best of luck with the sale. Thanks for posting this jewel.
Have Fun;
Ventana

 

[Tim s]

Are there swap meets out there that are primarily for 10 speeds/ road bikes? I think the day is coming that the 10 speed Schwinns will be shown some respect for being well made survivors for the everyday person during their time. Some of them may not have been the lightest bikes but they did what we needed them to do and then some.

 

[Real1]

I think the first year of the LeTour('74), Panasonic made the frame. After that, they were mostly made in Taiwan. In the beginning of the Giant collaboration they were dealing with someone with an Americanized name like 'Mr.Jerry'. Interesting story if you dive down the rabbit hole far enough.

I have lots of miles/fun with my '74 LeTour. But next to the '80 Raleigh Competition GS I have, you can see where Schwinn was only 'trying' to get up to speed in production lightweights back in the day.

Kevin

 

[Real1]

Are there swap meets out there that are primarily for 10 speeds/ road bikes? I think the day is coming that the 10 speed Schwinns will be shown some respect for being well made survivors for the everyday person during their time. Some of them may not have been the lightest bikes but they did what we needed them to do and then some.

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Nice looking Super LeTour! Once I put alloy rims on my '74 and removed the kickstand, I didn't know if I would gain anything in sourcing a Super. I really like the gear shifters up on the headset. Be even better on the end of the handlebars, but I'm too cheap for that conversion.

Kevin

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

I think the first year of the LeTour('74), Panasonic made the frame. After that, they were mostly made in Taiwan. In the beginning of the Giant collaboration they were dealing with someone with an Americanized name like 'Mr.Jerry'. Interesting story if you dive down the rabbit hole far enough.

I have lots of miles/fun with my '74 LeTour. But next to the '80 Raleigh Competition GS I have, you can see where Schwinn was only 'trying' to get up to speed in production lightweights back in the day.

Kevin

@Real1 , please enlighten us.

If we are doing model Comparisions, let's make the Comparisions on like price point bikes and during the same production eras. A lot changed in the bicycle industry between 1974 and 1980. A Schwinn Le Tour was never designed to be much more than a lighter weight Varsity/Continental, it was a "all steel, $139.95 bike". The Le Tour model was sourced from several different factories over it's long production run. It started out life in Chicago being built by UAW workers, and finished it's production life after a ten year run at Schwinn's Greenville, MS. factory. It was also sourced from Panasonic/Japan and Giant/Tiawan.

John

 

[GTs58]

@Real1 , please enlighten us.

If we are doing model Comparisions, let's make the Comparisions on like price point bikes and during the same production eras. A lot changed in the bicycle industry between 1974 and 1980. A Schwinn Le Tour was never designed to be much more than a lighter weight Varsity/Continental, it was a "all steel, $139.95 bike". The Le Tour model was sourced from several different factories over it's long production run. It started out life in Chicago being built by UAW workers, and finished it's production life after a ten year run at Schwinn's Greenville, MS. factory. It was also sourced from Panasonic/Japan and Giant/Tiawan.

John

I believe the Le Tour was one of the first to be outsourced.

 

[Real1]

@Real1 , please enlighten us.

If we are doing model Comparisions, let's make the Comparisions on like price point bikes and during the same production eras. A lot changed in the bicycle industry between 1974 and 1980. A Schwinn Le Tour was never designed to be much more than a lighter weight Varsity/Continental, it was a "all steel, $139.95 bike". The Le Tour model was sourced from several different factories over it's long production run. It started out life in Chicago being built by UAW workers, and finished it's production life after a ten year run at Schwinn's Greenville, MS. factory. It was also sourced from Panasonic/Japan and Giant/Tiawan.

John

Not saying anything different than you are. The LeTour(in any form) was a production bike for the public. The Raleigh Competition GS was also a production bike for the public....but a lot more serious on a similar platform as Raleigh's Pro. I don't see any relation between the LeTour and the Paramount for example. So I thought I was comparing apples to apples; LeTours against the production Raleighs. Drop down a notch to the Raleigh SuperCourse if you wish or even the Grand Prix.

Kevin