rustystrings61 

Friday I spent a whopping $15 on this poor neglected '89 LeTour -




- which I am planning to mothball until next year's Clunker Challenge, because I have already over-indulged in this year's edition. The tubing decal at first blush leads me to think this is built of plain-gauge True Temper 4130 -




- but it feels really, really light. I do understand, though, that a 26.6 mm seatpost in a seat tube with a 28.6 mm diameter means I'm looking at roughly a .9 mm wall thickness, and traditionally seat tubes are single-butted - but the stated 1989 catalog weight for this bike is 25 lbs stock. The 1989 catalog description is "True Temper Full 4130 Chrome-Moly Frame."

The 1990 catalog describes it as "True Temper Double Butted Chrome Moly," and also gives a weight of 25.1 lbs with a 26.6 mm seatpost.

So - are they the same frame? Are both '89 and '90 double-butted tubing? Please help me, this is what we call a "splinter of the mind," and it will quietly gnaw at me.

pastorbobnlnh 

Sorry I can't answer your tubing questions.

But egad! Look at the teeth on the top of the large chainring! Thank you for rescuing this poor, abused, neglected and dishonored Schwinn LeTour! My hat's off to you RS!

rustystrings61 

Yeah, looking at those teeth makes me suspect baby's seen more than her share of bar fights.

3speedslow

Set aside the frame comparison for a second and look at the components. If they are the same level then the frames could be of the same type butting.

Can you zoom in on the 90 cat. Pic and see just what the tube decal says? Market word play by Schwinn is a real thing.

Good save regardless, the Schwinn true temper frames are nice riding machines!

rustystrings61 

I may have figured it out, but I am not positive. Schwinn catalogs list 1020 frames through 1982. The 1983 catalog says 4130 chrome-moly and the 1984-85 catalogs list double-butted 4130 chrome-moly main tubes, chrome-moly stays, hi-tensile forks. The 1986 catalog specifies True Temper T1 double butted chrome-moly and a Tange hi-tensile fork, and the 1987 and 1988 catalogs list the same, but drops mention of the stainless dropout faces first listed in '84.

The 1989 catalog simply says True Temper Full 4130 Chrome-Moly Frame, but I suspect it's the same stuff as before. The fork goes from being a Japanese hi-tensile Tange to being a Taiwan-built Spinner chrome-moly unit, and it is the ONLY Spinner fork listed in the Schwinn spec sheet. The 1990 and 1991 catalogs revert to describing the tubing as True Temper double-butted chrome-moly, with an unnamed chrome-moly fork for '90 and a Schwinn-labeled chrome-moly fork for 1991.

Based on all that, and the consistent 26.6mm seat posts used from the 1986-91 switch to True Temper double-butted tubing listed for every other year, I think it's just badly labeled double-butted tubing.

3speedslow

I’m satisfied!

Nice detective work.

rccardr 

Suspect those are W Cut teeth to assist in shifting.

bikemike73 

GREAT SAVE !!!

First thing I would do is see if the seat post moves and take it out.

Then find some evap-o-rust and spray and soak it it.

Use PB Blaster for the chainrings and BB !!

Good Luck...the best 15.bucks you'll ever spend

rustystrings61 

It will be interesting to see if I can hold off on working on it until next year's Clunker Challenge - though I AM trickling Corrosion Block all around the seat post's entry to the frame to infiltrate and free it. It IS stuck. Fortunately the LBS has both a solid bench vise and burly guys who have freed a seat post for me before.

52telecaster

I've got one of those and it's currently making a very nice 650b conversion. I needed to dent the inside of the chain stays which I did with a 2" o.d. piece of pipe, a small sledge and an axle fastened in the rear dropouts. It came out beautifully and the bike makes a great conversion. Steering is very quick but you get used to it and as you say, it's quite light and in addition has plenty of braze ons.
BTW, mine was 25 bucks.

Bad pic but you get the idea. I am going to change the bars and levers and put a front rack on it.

daverup 

I think the 4130 Le Tour's are nice bikes. Not really light, but not the boat anchors that came prior.
Mine is an 83, a smooth ride on Panaracers.

52telecaster

nice looking!

daverup 

Thanks!
I put 15 more happy miles on it yesterday.

ShannonM

I had a '77 Super Le Tour 12.2 for about 10 years. Not a lightweight, especially with steel Wald North Road bars on it, but man did it ride sweet and look good... that blue is one of my all-time favorite bicycle colors.

I'd expect a full D/B cromoly version to ride just as well, and be a few pounds lighter. (The 12.2s were straight-gauge cromoly main tubes, 1020 everywhere else.)

--Shannon

denaffen

rustystrings61 I thought you might be interested, just as another data point, on the sticker on mine (the one that appears to be an 85)


I believe mine was made in the Greenville, MS plant. I think it closed in '88, so I think production reverted to Japan and that's where yours was made. I think.