Come home to Papa

[Tour De Luxe]

I just added another Schwinn LeTour to my garage. This one is a Mixte, and a return. I bought it new in 1984 as a pair for my first wife and I, when we lived in Eau Claire, WI. We had baby seats on the Le Tours and rode them to the park frequently that summer. Then we had a third child, moved to Minneapolis and that sort of killed the bike outings.

My wife probably put less than 200 miles on this bike in the 24 years we had it. In 2008, I replaced the tires, tubes, brakes and serviced all the bearings and gave it to my son’s girlfriend (now his wife) to use at medical school. I can tell she never used it much as the K35 tires still had nubs on the strip down the middle.

So now, I have it back since she hasn’t ridden in in about 10 years. I put some Vittoria Zaffiros on it today and rode it about 10 miles, even though it’s too small for me. It’s a sweet riding bike. I never paid attention that the rear derailleur is a Exage 400EX (Shimano), but the front is a Suntour. It still uses the elegant top mount down tube shifters.

My current wife doesn’t want it since it has drop handlebars. Thinking about converting it to traditional flared touring bars like on some of the Continentals. Hate to get rid of it, because I can’t imagine anyone would appreciate this design.

 

[Oilit]

I just added another Schwinn LeTour to my garage. This one is a Mixte, and a return. I bought it new in 1984 as a pair for my first wife and I, when we lived in Eau Claire, WI. We had baby seats on the Le Tours and rode them to the park frequently that summer. Then we had a third child, moved to Minneapolis and that sort of killed the bike outings.

My wife probably put less than 200 miles on this bike in the 24 years we had it. In 2008, I replaced the tires, tubes, brakes and serviced all the bearings and gave it to my son’s girlfriend (now his wife) to use at medical school. I can tell she never used it much as the K35 tires still had nubs on the strip down the middle.

So now, I have it back since she hasn’t ridden in in about 10 years. I put some Vittoria Zaffiros on it today and rode it about 10 miles, even though it’s too small for me. It’s a sweet riding bike. I never paid attention that the rear derailleur is a Exage 400EX (Shimano), but the front is a Suntour. It still uses the elegant top mount down tube shifters.

My current wife doesn’t want it since it has drop handlebars. Thinking about converting it to traditional flared touring bars like on some of the Continentals. Hate to get rid of it, because I can’t imagine anyone would appreciate this design.

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I can't fault your wife's logic. Drop bars may be the ticket for a racer, but I'm going to leave them to Lance.

 

[Tour De Luxe]

Here’s the 1984 Le Tour Mixte with new “Touring” handlebars from Sunlite and a modern cushy Schwinn saddle. Weight before was 27.8# and after is 28.2# using the bathroom scale.

 

[Allrounderco]

Yeah - that was worth doing. LeTour was a nice bike, and one good hand position beats four ok hand positions if the rider isn't going to be putting mega miles on it.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

they made WAY too many bikes with the drop bars and 75% of the people never use the drops

 

[Tour De Luxe]

Yeah, agree with you on the drop bars. I’m a pretty serious roadie, so I have a couple of bikes with drop bars, incl. my 1984 Le Tour Luxe and a 2008 Cannondale flat-bar hybrid that I converted to drop bars because my hands would get numb on long rides (20-60 miles) with the flat bars.

So, I got my current wife to ride the Mixte Le Tour on the greenway in Charlotte yesterday instead of her Giant Cypress with twist shifters and springer fork. The Giant weighs 34#, even though it’s Aluminum. The Le Tour is only 28#. She thought she wouldn’t like the Schwinn ahead of the ride, thinking it would ride rough on the gravel sections and be hard to shift with the downtube shifters. But, after riding it for 10 miles, she loves the old steelie! Her Giant made her hands numb, but the touring bars I put on have great ergonomics, more like a beach cruiser. Says it will be her new go to bike.

 

[Goldenrod]

It is the bike to grow old with-- easy to mount and ride. Join a bike club and get some exercise.

 

[49autocycledeluxe]

Yeah, agree with you on the drop bars. I’m a pretty serious roadie, so I have a couple of bikes with.....

I was a serious roadie, now I am seriously old. even mountain bike has taller bars and a much shorter (reach wise) stem. no clipped pedals, fancy shoes or even toe straps on anything. converted my first nice roadbike into a nice old man bike a couple years back. even my 19 lb LeMond even has a shorter stem and Nitto Mustache bars. just don't bend that way anymore