Later years have Le Tour branded saddles and cranks. Its my only bike with model specific derailleurs. The 1974 has Le Tour branded derailleurs and seat post, plus lots of other Schwinn and Shimano branding. What I love about these bikes is all the great branding. It was also quite a bit lighter than any of the cheaper Schwinn models. 1974 Schwinn Le Tour Kool Lemonīased on pricing it was 3 rd in the Schwinn lineup behind the Paramount and Sports Tourer with a suggested retail price of $159.95. How cool is that? Everybody should want to own one of these. So, it’s branded by USA Schwinn, made by Japan Panasonic, and it’s got a French name. The Le Tour was made in Japan by Panasonic, with Schwinn approved branding. Schwinn started offering the Le Tour in 1974, and it was a little different for the iconic Chicago based bicycle company. Take a look at these great bikes: 1974 Le Tour Both had alloy rims, downtube shifters, chromoly frames, and similar weights. By 1985 the Le Tour and Super had gotten very close in quality, so I believe that is likely why they stopped the Super. It started as an upgraded Le Tour with aluminum rims, downtube shifters, and only 26.5 lbs. The Super was definitely the most popular of the variations and ran from 1976-1985. It has had many variations during its long run including the Super Le Tour, Le Tour Luxe, and Le Tour Tourist. It must have been a pretty good seller as they go on to offer it through 1992 and brought it back off and on through 2011. They are still cautious as it’s Schwinn approved rather than just a Schwinn, but it has lots of great Schwinn and Le Tour branding. This experiment must have gone well because in 1974 they introduce the Schwinn approved Le Tour, an affordable lugged frame bike that’s about 30lbs. Very nice bikes from Japan, but they barely have a reference to Schwinn on them and are not in the catalog. They were very cautious about an import Schwinn because the first two bikes are the World Traveler and World Voyageur in 19. To get into the affordable lightweight market they decided to import from Japan like many of the competition. Chicago was already very busy making their current models, and they didn’t make lugged frame bikes. Paramounts are made in Waterford Wisconsin and that facility certainly doesn’t have the capacity to start making budget road bikes. The Varsity and Continental are close to 40lbs, but they still sell well. They have the Paramount, but it’s a very expensive bike. Lightweight road bikes are becoming very popular, and Schwinn doesn’t have one that’s more affordable. It’s the early 1970s and bicycles are booming.
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