Restoring and modifying a Schwinn Le Tour III. Added a set of 2x7 Micronew shifters, Shimano Deore XT and 200GS derailleurs, Kenda tires, and much more. Custom soundtrack produced by me as well.
I have the same bike. I’m racing it in a time trial this weekend. I’ve removed all unnecessary parts and ordered some 700c clinchers. I plan to use it for Road races and triathlons all year.
Sweet vid thanks. I have this same Letour3, always get older bikers checking her out. To my surprise i got her in a local thrift store for $14.95. She was in great condition clean, mechanically sound and zero rust. I have seen the 3 to 6 thousand dollar road bikes..carbon fiber, lightweight exotic alloys, etc..to me they are way too fragile in comparison to the LeTour3. The weight of the LeTour just gives it that sweet feeling cruising on a nice smooth road..it will be around another 50 years after the ultra expensive carbon fiber, etc...bikes have deteriorated into dust..imho.
Thanks for the video. I used to have a Le Tour ii of the same color. It was a nice bike, very low miles in perfect condition. My introduction to California was when it got stolen out of my garage by my crackhead neighbors. I never saw it again.
I would lose the extension levers and the stem mount shifters. The levers don’t work as well s the main brake levers and downtube shifters won’t get knocked out of gear.
1. I liked the lofi beats. 2. I still have my (girl's) bicycle from 1978. The book and owner's manual that came with it are in mint condition. The bicicye is in great condition and the only alterations have been stickers form the Cheerios box I got as a kid. I hung onto it thinking I would use it for a basement decoration, maybe suspend it from the ceiling, but I'm ready to part with it. Where is the best place to list and how much should I ask for it?
The basic Schwinn le Tour's are usually $200 usd bikes, even nowadays if they're in good conditions. I'm not sure about bikes from '78 or earlier, or even what kind of bike you have. I'd go a little lower than $200 if it was in perfect condition, but definitely do some research and maybe talk around, find a collector or a rider who has more than a couple older bikes.
@@RideLooseBikes Yes why not! I can imagine this wasn't hyper expensive but made instead with parts that are readily available nowadays. Well done! Also, a Sensah-based restomod would really interest me at least 😊
classic looks niiice with classic pieces .. they make good conversation . And nothing more manly than down tube shiftin on a classic or vintage cutin in and out of traffic the way it was in good old days . from bike to car and so on classic / vintage it was built man tough . to change it up takes away the toughness .
Best advice I got from a bike restorer was to just let everything soak for a while. You’ll spend the same amount of time scrubbing. Might as well save the elbow grease.
Nice! I have the Letour II in the same color, a little more marred frame. One thing that caught my attention was your brifter setup. You seem to be running a 5-cog rear, is that a freewheel or cassette you have? Couldn't make out the wheels. I'm asking because I'm surprised you got a 7 speed brifter to work with a 5 cog setup, since I thought the spacing was different. Is the expected pull from the rear derailleur different from the shifter, so that it moves somehow just the right amount? You didn't show changing the dropout spacing, so I assume it's still 120 and not 126 or 130, otherwise I would guess you're using a 7 speed cassette with spacers and two cogs missing. This has me puzzled and I'm trying to figure out how you did it! Or maybe it's not shifting perfectly but just ok, and you have it tuned primarily to run in a small range of cogs. So many questions, but I must know! Haha, I have considered doing a similar conversion on other 10 speeds but don't want to mess with dropout spacing, hence my intrigue. I have considered getting rid of my classic Le Tour II, but it's just so pretty and feels like a classic American muscle car with the original chromed steel rims -- slow to speed up, but great at going fast and feeling momentous. The aesthetics with the orange paint make it a head-turner, for sure, I often get comments on it.
The previous owner of the bike had upgraded the rear wheel with a Claris hub with a 7 speed cassette. I’ve since sold the bike so I can’t confirm whether the rear wheel spacing has changed, but I imagine not. I’ve been able to upgrade a few old ten speeds with 7 speed free wheels (see my Raleigh Mixte video) without having to replace the rear wheel with a wider one. The bike shifts great. If you want to give it a try, buy a 7 speed free wheel and mount it to see if it fits. They are only $20 and you can return it if it doesn’t work, but at least you’ll know. Brifters are a must for me. I ride around too many hills to be constantly taking my hands off the bars. Thanks for watching!
Dude I found one of these on the side of the road in the bushes with no wheels/tires, in good condition. Are there any wheels you'd recommend in particular?
So the original front derailleur had a cable stop on the derailleur and the new one did not, I had to flip the sides that the derailleur cables ran down in order to make the front derailleur work, so I ended up running the rear derailleur cable in housing down the left side rather than the right and could no longer mount it to the cable stop on the chain stay. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for watching!
i was enjoyin the video until you swap the shifters .. Nothing more manly than down tube shiftin passin up a bus and a few cars on the road on a vintage .
