Bent chain guard on schwinn le tour

[gdukeman]

I recently restored a 1980(?) Schwinn Le Tour. It looks good and rides good except for one thing. When in the large chainring, there is a grinding noise every pedal revolution. I've ruled out stiff links, bad front derailler, shifting problems, etc. This bike has a chain guard (an integral part of the chainring assembly), that is, a large disk just outside of the large chainring. It appears that the chainguard itself is bent so that a part of it bends in toward the large chainring and impinges upon the outside of the front derailler cage, enough to move the cage inward every revolution and rub against the chain. It's bent enough that an easy fix like adjusting the derailler isn't going to solve the problem.

I'm thinking that probably the best thing to do is to manually bend it back into shape. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? Anyone else have this experience? I'm scratching my head as to how the chainguard got out of alignment in the first place. If it helps, the part of the chainguard that is bent is made of steel.

thanks!

[GeorgeET]

Hi Here is a link to Schwinn catalogs.I was surprised that a chain guard plate was used on a Le Tour. But yes thats when Schwinn stopped the great Le Tours and the Super Le Tours made by Panasonic with Tange tubing frames and made them with the 1020 pipes. Later they used the Colombus Tenex tubes like Paramount.

It looks like the plate is removable so that would be my first choice. It is thin sheet metal so after removing you can straighten it or throw it away.

You can also try straightening it with pliers while still attached. No biggie.



http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1971_1980/1980_06.html

[gdukeman]

Thanks a bunch GeorgeET! I'll give your suggestions a try. Thanks for the link too!