1979 Schwinn Super Le tour II

[Painkiller]

(09-30-2013, 10:43 AM)RBurrelli Wrote:  Nice "fluff and buff".

Thanks RBurrelli, Though I consider myself a leading authority on the "Art of Fluff & Buff", Ha. That is not the case here, It was in this condition and all that was done was wiped of with a moist rag. It was the first thing I asked the guy if anyone had polished it. He said no, he just wiped it off. He thought the black bars and foam grips and resin levers were stock. I had told him though not a Schwinn expert, I know of no Super Letour's with riser bars and levers like that combined with a stem like that, plus in that era it probably would not have come with a black bar ta boot. He thought it was an 1981 or so. Again to my knowledge which not much, I believed that the numbers on the headbadge "1159" represented 115th day of the decade 79' or 89' depending on the equippment. with that said the badge says Chicago and with the style of the Altus road derailleur I say the decade is the 70's. If I am wrong please correct me. The strangest thing I noticed right off the bat was almost a half inch of thread showing on the bottom bracket cup beyond the lockring. The crankset was loose and told him i will have to get into it and see what the deal was, something is wrong.
I discovered both the right and left caged bearings were installed backwards which explained the unusual amount of threads showing after the cup tightened and the lockring on. The bike hardly used at all ever, the owner dead for 15 yrs so we will never know if it was done during assembly or someone fiddled with it. I know of no reason why it would have needed BB service at all with the amount of no wear and tear on the bike, I think it was done during assembly and slipped thru the cracks. Of course the spindle was of the offset type so to be sure of proper alignment I checked it both ways to be sure before locking it down. The bike looks like a true time capsule for sure. But on the cheap for the guy I said the black steel Mtb bars got to go and roll with the alloy with the 100mm rise and it will look better and be comfortable