Matching Pair of 1977 Schwinn Super Le Tour 12.2 Chrome
 

Apparently I cannot post pictures here on the forum due to only having 5 posts so I guess I will have the work on that, so please pardon the posting without the pics that really should be here, I have reviewed your archives and see that there is interest in the late 70s Japan-made lightweights, I just picked up a matching pair of 25 inch chrome 12.2s and what might be on interest here is that these are factory customs, based on the identical manner in which they are built and the obvious originality of the components I have no doubt they were built this way, these bikes are set up as sport touring machines, they are 10-speed but they have wide gearing for touring, TA Cyclo-tourist cranksets, 5-speed clusters with gearing p to 34 like the World Traveler, Brooks B-17 saddles on what appears to be alloy posts, "S" labelled GB stem with alloy rondo bars wrapped in black tressostar, Wienmann calipers, side pull in the front center pull in the rear actuated by Dia-Comp yellow levels with touring extension levers, Twin-Stick stem-mounted levers, Huret 250-GT Schwinn Approved FD and Le Tour 300GT (Crane GS) Schwinn Approved RD, Schwinn Approved "Deluxe" Normandy high flange hubs laced to Wienmann alloy rims shod in the original Schwinn Le Tour 27x1.25 gumwalls. Both bikes are fitted with Schwinn-Approved alloy racks with the built-in reflector and Esge alloy kickstands. Original federally-mandated reflectors intact In 1977 these would likely be 4th down in the pecking order, below Paramount, Superior, and Volare. I have my P-15 now so if and when I get to the point where I can post these in the classified, they will be made available here if there is an interested party, Thanks, Todd

Welcome aboard, glad you found us. :thumb:

Many of us love chrome and Schwinn's.

Go around, say Hi AND comment on threads that interest you, may take another day as it's 5 per, then let er rip.

We gotta have pics, good ones and lots of em, or it didn't happen. ;)

Super LeTours are great bikes. I have a 76 12.2 in blue and a black 80. Yours sound pretty nice, especially in chrome. Looking forward to the pics.

thanks, when I get up to 10 posts I will add the pics

how'd you come across them, if you don't mind? they sound like real treats. i have an '85. a bit of a different animal than your earlier ones, but pretty nice and surprisingly light to me. i'm still sorting things out for preferences and fit, but it's on it's way

thanks for sharing!

Clean living and good fortune. ;)

Curious how close the serial numbers are?

Pic assist
 

It’s what I do.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dcc2de5230.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7032323685.jpg

If you become a paid forum member you can post them for sale in our Marketplace, and include pics.

why would there be a centerpull on the rear and sidepull on the front?

Huh. Interesting... it looks like someone transplanted the parts groups from an early '70's Sports Tourers onto a late '70's Super Le Tour 12.2 frames. The wheels, shifters, handlebars, stem, cranks, and pedals are definitely from the early '70's.

Ditto... but it fits into my theory that the bikes are a mashup of early parts on a later frame. The centerpull calipers from a Sports Tourer (ish) bike would be too long for a Super Le Tour 12.2 frame. However, the front centerpull caliper would be the right reach for the rear of the Super Le Tour. A Dia Compe G sidepull caliper would be a cheap, available alternative with the right reach.

right. i can see what you mean. i've run across old 70's frames wherein the centerpull brake's reach was shorter than the rear....being that the rear brake bridge was high up and all. i guess it took schwinn a couple few years to lower that brake bridge...haha

Wow, TA triple w/guard x 2. :love:

Thanks to a CABE person for posting the pics, the serial numbers are 3 away from each other, the cranks are double plateau, the reach front and rear are both 2 inches, I guess I could go through the parts one by one but I am pretty sure I would find the date codes consistent, I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I have worked on 70s bikes for a while and I am confident that there is no mashup going on here, the identical builds, the level of patina, etc all leads me to believe this is how the bikes started life, that's my story and I am gonna stick to it, Todd

My bad, seeing triple. :twitchy:

You can stick to your story, but I can guarantee the factory would never mix brakes without some serious special order power and even then I doubt they would do it on these. The shop on the other hand could have changed them out and fitted the cranks as well.

You are disregarding some very serious C+V firepower here and I will tell you from experience that they are rarely wrong.

None of it really matters that much, these are cool as heck and may be worth a bit but it's not like they are Paramount's so no gold mine here. ;)

Please, don't misunderstand me, I certainly appreciate the comments and far be it for me to disregard the "firepower" here on the classic-vintage forum, to be fair in my own defense, when I say I have some experience with bikes from the 70s that's experience working on my own stuff since the 70s, my first "good" bike was a Jeunet (bike boom French) and after riding the wheels off it while in Junior High School my next bike in about 1974 or 1975 was a Raleigh Gran Sport, and there have been many lugged steel frame 70s era bikes since then, anyways, I appreciate your input and as stated, these will be moved along, not at Paramount prices but certainly reflective of the quality and usability of the builds, Todd

Just as a point of reference, here's a list of the current accumulation:

1972 PX10
1973 PX10
1974 Raleigh Gran Sport white with blue
1975 Schwinn Paramount P-15
1975 Raleigh Gran Sport blue with white
1975 Raleigh Super Tourer
1975 Raleigh Competition MkII (2 of them)
1977 Raleigh Professional MkV
1978-79 Raleigh Team Record European Issue
plus all the bi-catch in the garage

Well, my experience is as a Schwinn mechanic from 1979 to 1984. I'll tell you that those wheels are definitely from several model years before the Super Le Tour 12.2. The skip-tooth freewheel in particular was outmoded by 1977.

Jeff, I agree, these builds are certainly a mystery and not consistent with the specifications in the contemporary catalogs for the SL-5 and that's why I shared them here on the board hoping to find someone like yourself that actually worked on these bikes in the day. As you can see from my list I have not focused on the Panasonic and Bridgestone lightweights so my first hand experience with them is limited. When I visited Ray and Sons bike shop in Maynard, Massachusetts in the mid to late 70s the only Schwinns I drooled over were the Paramounts, particularly that chrome-plated P-10 (or P-13) that sat so regally on the top rack, I guess I just try to put myself back to 1977 and the first thing that come to mind is "Why would anybody take 2 brand new 12.2s and swap out so many major components with identical stuff? There has to be a good back story there somewhere. I wish I could tell you that I have taken one of these for a ride so that I can experience the ride quality but have not wanted to swap out the original Le Tour tires thinking that a collector would slap me hard for doing that, hopefully someone that appreciates this stuff will reach out to me and they will find a respectful new owner, Todd

BTW to anyone who might be seeing all of this, if there is a 24 inch 1976 through 1978 black Superior in my future that would be awesome!!!

If it were just one bike I'd guess a broken original frame that had been replaced with an upgrade, possibly for some extra money if Schwinn permitted that. Two makes that scenario unlikely but still possible. I had a Continental seat tube break clean through just above the bottom bracket but I only got another of the same.

If you find one, you'll love it. Here's my 78 that I bought new.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a55299917b.jpg

It would be very cool to have a glamour shot of that black one flanked by the 2 chrome ones. :love:

I bought a red 1977 Superior when I first started working at the bike shop in 1979. I changed parts on it as much as my budget allowed. When I sold it it was a 21-speed with a Shimano Deore triple crank- the original with the Dyna Drive pedals.

A couple years back I was revisiting my youth so I found a 1977 Superior and turned it into a resto-mod: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ohpv/a...57642470085394