Do Japanese Schwinn lightweights use Concord handlebar tape?

[acg_schwinn]

I had a rather pointed question from a gentleman in email overnight, showing me one of my own listings for Concord (Japanese) handlebar tape and asking me if I might have THAT tape (his emphasis) in Schwinn's light blue. (I assume he's thinking of Opaque Blue.)

I know that Schwinn's vinyl tapes are Hunt-Wilde Flexon and their cotton tapes are Velox Tressostar from France, but never thought about the lightweight models made in Japan or where their peripheral parts came from until I got to rummaging through my boxes this morning, and found more Concord tape in colors that seem like attempts to match Schwinn, especially Kool Orange and Kool Lemon. Could these Concord tapes be correct for Japanese-built Schwinn models, or is it just that anyone can crank out handlebar tape in popular colors? (I don't know of any reason why not...)

 

[daverup]

I don't know about the others, but my 78 Chrome Super Le Tour 12.2 came with black cloth bar tape.

 

[Quakertownrich]

I don't know about the others, but my 78 Chrome Super Le Tour 12.2 came with black cloth bar tape.

As did my Volare's, both '77s.

My '73 Opaque Blue World Voyageur and '76 Super Le Tour 12.2 both had black tape.

 

[detroitbike]

Japanese I'm sure .
When we we assembling the bikes back then (Traveler , LeTour , etc. ) the packing was different for the tape.
That pattern was used across several imported brands .
the Raleigh's used Gem tape ; smooth. My Fuji's used Cloth as did many other high end brands.

I still have all those tapes in stock for restorations ..

 

[acg_schwinn]

As did my Volare's, both '77s.

My '73 Opaque Blue World Voyageur and '76 Super Le Tour 12.2 both had black tape.

Okay, thanks all... I was assuming that the Japanese bikes used the same color-keyed tape as the Chicago bikes, but it does look like black cotton was the choice instead.

 

[Schwinn Sales West]

Japanese I'm sure .
When we we assembling the bikes back then (Traveler , LeTour , etc. ) the packing was different for the tape.
That pattern was used across several imported brands .
the Raleigh's used Gem tape ; smooth. My Fuji's used Cloth as did many other high end brands.

I still have all those tapes in stock for restorations ..

The 1970's was a pretty cool time period to be working at a Schwinn Dealership. Sales was brisk, lots of new things came out.

The dealers, and especially the Schwinn Dealer's Employees loved selling and building the Schwinn Approved bicycle models. Schwinn paid extra to have the bicycles "short packed" (front wheel off when packed in the box) at the manufacturer (National Bicycle) so they could "save ocean freight money" being able to put more of the smaller bicycle boxes into one shipping container. The store employees loved handling the Short Pack bicycle boxes compared to the Long Pack boxes they were used to coming from Chicago built models. As a dealer we still received the long pack boxes by railroad car shipment from Chicago. But no Chicago built models came in short pack, they all had the front wheels installed and the long boxes. It made handling harder and they took up more room to ship and store at the dealers.

Another reason for liking to work on the Approved Models was because they were shipped into the dealerships with the "handlebars built". They already had the brake levers mounted on the handlebar and the grips (either handlebar tape, or foam sleeves) depending on the model were already mounted on the handlebar. Just drop the stem into the fork, snug it up, adjust the handlebar angle, grease the brake cables and DONE. The Chicago built bicycle models still required the bike mechanic to build the handlebar, fight to get the pinched brake handle clamps over the end of the handlebar, install the bar foam, or handlebar tape, adjust the lever position to the CPSC gauge. The Chicago bikes simply cost more of the dealer's small profit to get it assembled and on the showroom floor.

Hunt-Wilde grips and tape were only original equipment on domestic built Schwinn models.

John