Hello All,
I am new here. I own a 1985 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe, bought it brand new in 80's. I was wondering how to figure out if its a Made in USA, or from Japan, model??? I know all of the Serial Numbers, and any other numbers scribes into the bike. Does anyone know the answer to this?? Thanks, Ray
I have the same year and model as yours, these are great bikes.
ReplyDeleteIn 85 Schwinn Le Tour Luxe used Tenax tubing from Columbus...the same tubing including dropouts they used in their (2nd from the top of line Voyager, the top of the line Voyager had an SP after the name) Voyager of the same year. The fork on the Luxe was a Tange fork, supposedly a slightly lower grade then either Voyager got, but the fork came with forged dropouts which only higher end bikes got back then. Forged dropouts were far stronger then standard stamped steel dropouts that were used on most bikes back then including the two previous years of Luxe's.
Then Schwinn used the same Suntour Mountech derailleur for the rear as the top of the line Voyager SP used and both the front and rear Suntour Mountech's were better then the lower end Voyager that used the Shimano system! The Mountech system was the best wide range friction derailleur system ever created and our Schwinns got them.
The wheels are a strange thing. I'm not sure what happen with those. According to factory specs both Voyagers and the Luxe got 40 spoked wheels on the rear and 36 on the front using straight gauge spokes. Mine for some reason came with both wheels having 40 spokes and using the better double butted spokes. I think maybe the factory ran out of straight gauge spokes and 36 hole rims and just slapped on a 40 on the front with upgraded spokes all the way around.
Schwinn used a slightly lower quality cantilever brakes then either Voyager got. These brakes can feel stiff, but if you replace the cables with modern teflon coated cables it will smooth them right out. But again these brakes are designed for stopping heavy loads coming down steep grades and even though they were 2nd model down from their top of the line Dia Compe they were still among the best touring brakes ever made back then.
As far as the manufacture of the bike, The frame was assembled by Panasonic in Japan. Panasonic made some really nice bikes, and the upper end of Schwinn models were great bikes.
Enjoy your bike, it was the only year that any of the 3 years that Le Tour luxe was made used such quality. For some reason in 1985 Schwinn did this, because even their Super Le Tour (race bike) was decked out superbly while all the other years were junk. The 1983 and 84 Le Tour Luxe's were glorified Travelers with poor quality components and frames.
I plan on using mine to take a trip across the USA soon. I've done some light touring with but nothing of the scope I will be doing.