1987 Schwinn Le Tour rebuild

[@WayneSmith-zx3tf]

As regards simply enjoyable, relaxing and fulfilling cycling, nothing beats vintage steel.

[@b.r.3232]

I still have one of those old bikes from the 80's! Nice build!

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks BR!

[@singletona082]

That 'Papa' nere the start. Seeing the bike finished compared to that short preview of the clearcoated bare metal? MMMMmmMMM. that's some good stuff.

[@BruceChastain]

Hey Andrew! Yeah thats my four year old, shes always checking in on what im doing.

[@singletona082]

@@BruceChastain Her'es hoping she takes to bikes, or at least learns to appreciate being able to bash what you have instead of having heart dead set on Shiny Thing.

[@pennyworth2]

Very very lovely build. Keep up the good work!

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you Penny!

[@aaronhopkins4518]

Man I liked it when you did it the first time . But now. You got one sharp looking bike.

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks a lot Aaron!

[@karlnorgaard6077]

Great video Bruce. I wish we could hang out. Haha, I know the story...you start raiding previous builds for parts, and after a while, your left with something that looks the junkers they start out as. I liked the "celeste" color, but bare steel is cool. I've sent you photos with close ups of the finish I achieved on a Kuwahara. On mine I started by sandblasting the frame, which left quite a coarse profile. This meant I had to sand and sand, using finer and finer grit, probably up to 1500 grit. In hindsight, I wish I'd kept polishing, woulda looked nicer like yours does. Anyway, once I was pleased with my bare steel finish, I hung frame and fork from a tree overnight. My goal was to let the frame just begin to rust from the dew in the air overnight. And it worked! There was a fine layer of oxidation. Several clear coats later, she was beautiful. A friend now owns it, and it's interesting how it's aging, several years later. The rusting is spreading, but is superficial. But I like your result. It's cool. As to wrapping one's bartape...I with you...the noble bicycle is no place for electrical tape. I too have had very little trouble wrapping in this method. When some types of bar tape get real old, wrapped "backward" like this, they will start to roll a bit, but its the tidiest way. I've actually been called out by a weenie bike mechanic on Instagram for starting at the top. Haha. Again, thanks for your content, and hopefully you read some of this. -->÷€- -->÷€-

[@BruceChastain]

thanks so much Karl! but where did you send the photos on, I don't think I've seen anything? You can tag me on IG if you want to post them there.

[@matthewlewis9356]

Well done 👍

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you 👍

[@peterbaskind9872]

I definitely vote “yes.” The raw look is great. Of course, I’m a big Ti fan, so... I wonder of you are going to find the 36T on the front to be enough on a road bike. On a recent flat bar gravel build, I have a 36T on an IXF crank. It spins out at about 24-25 mph. We’ll see if it works for you.

[@BruceChastain]

thanks Peter! Yeah I'm not sure about the 36t either, I might go for a 38t if needed. But I'm really not the guy that rides real fast and hard for long distance, I'm more of a cruiser or climber, so realistically I won't need to be riding at 25mph too much.

[@echomike8591]

I did the same with my 1985 chromoly steel bike, it was lit. Great job! One suggestion though, it will look smoother if you buff the surface thoroughly or use a rubbing compound to make it shine.

[@BruceChastain]

thanks Mike!

[@franzkappel6206]

Bruce, we’ll done! Good lookin bike.

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks 👍

[@guandasin3099]

Beuatiful rebuild Bruce! Ever since I saw the Top to Bottom Wrao for the bar tape without needing to tape at the top, I never went back. Looks better and you dont need anything else but to just wrap everything

[@BruceChastain]

100% man. and thank you!

[@25inspector]

Great looking bike. Enjoy the ride.

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks Cowtown!

[@saidimon]

She was wonderful back then, and now she still marvelous in raw steel 😻!! I think I will do the same with my aluminum one 😹🤓

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks a lot Luiz! I’d love to see how it turns out.

[@jed7644]

I painted my ‘90 LeTour w/ Rustoleum Hammered Metal. It took 3 attempts at laying it down not-too-thick, but I like it. That’s the bike that gets up to 150 road miles per week, so a high standard of glossy just wasn’t working out.

[@komoonkh]

Pretty sick bike! Better than before, I really like it!

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks a lot Komoonkh!

[@robrot5460]

Great job Bruce!

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you Rob!

[@elmarko9051]

Those Tektro calipers look really good. I just got a set of Tektro RX6 mini V-Brakes for a tandem in need of a light restoration/upgrade. Way better than the original cantilevers.

[@BruceChastain]

Yeah I’m really impressed with them so far, only thing is when I bought them I pain around $55 I think, now I see they’re listed at $73.

[@TheLastMinuteSurvivalist]

Love it man, great job with everything! Not a flaw one.

[@BruceChastain]

I appreciate it!

[@brianmaldonado3723]

I have used a Shimano Zee rear derailleur. These late model derailleurs use an 'axle bracket' where old school derailleurs' fix bolt would be.

[@BruceChastain]

thanks for the info

[@fergusonto-2032]

Wow this is just an awesome video, Thankyou for posting , I’ve got a few bikes I need to work on & this information helps a lot.

[@BruceChastain]

Glad it was helpful!

[@WheelersAtLarge]

Very nice build 👍

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks WAL!

[@karlnorgaard6077]

Another thing you are right about...no matter how much you spend on spray paint quality clear coat, the result will always be disappointing. I'm looking at my daily rider, mid 80's Miyata singlespeed conversion. It's lovely. I spent a few years getting all the perfect bits together to build it up, tested it out mechanically then disassembled for paint. I chose gloss black with a subtle rainbow mettalic. I thought, "This is gonna be so rad"! And, it worked out, though the clear coat didn't give as much of a "lens" effect as I'd hoped for, and the mettalic shimmer was only evident under direct sunlight. Like all bikes, it got dirty, and just washing the bike dulled the already disappointing finish. It now looks like a boring black bike, and I'm considering sanding down to paint again. So, avoid this. If I include sandpaper, tack cloth, acetone, primer, paint and clear coat, probably close to $200. I'm also gonna address that gloss black is maybe best avoided for the home workshop set.

[@BruceChastain]

maybe consider sending the frame off to powder coating, I want to give that a try one day. I've seen some guys offering to do bike frames for $100.

[@glennpettersson9002]

Stunning.

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you Glenn!

[@brianmaldonado3723]

Very nice. Ty. May I ask your thoughts on the Tektro brakes?

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks Brian! I haven't used it a lot yet, but so far I'm very impressed.

[@PRH123]

Looks great, at first glance you would think it’s a TI frame…

[@ah1f39]

Looks great. Why did you keep the down tube shifters? Why not upgrade to newer brake/shifter levers?

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks ah1! Good question, I guess multiple reasons. Firstly I didn’t want to spend anymore money and I already of course had the DT shifters. Secondly, this isn’t really a top performance bike, it’s not particularly light weight, it’s only running a 9 speed rear cassette, it’s just an 80s bike, so for me the style of the DT shifters are more fitting for a old steel frame. All that said, if I did come across a nice deal on an set of STI shifters, I might try it.

[@jed7644]

Mine’s a 23” & it’s no longer a daily but nearly. I bought a Wahoo Kickr a few months ago, so now if the weather’s sloppy I ride inside. If not for that, the LeTour would still be a daily ride. The LeTour is heavy, & strong. At 220 lbs I’m not a small guy. I do have lighter bikes, but the LeTour’s less likely to fatigue over time. … & then there’s the part where something like a Paramount or an even lighter CF road racer feels like it weighs nothing after training on the LeTour. _That’s_ fun. Another fun thing about vintage steel, it’s hard telling what all you’ll do with that frame over a lifetime. Whatever you want, right?

[@RodrigoSilvaRocha]

Absolutely love the results, but i couldn't be bothered to remove every little bit of paint ever again after doing it to an italian Atala tandem. I only had to do it because there was rust under the paint since the previous owner left it outside unprotected for a looong time and i needed to assess the damage.

[@BruceChastain]

Whoa a tandem, even more sanding lol!

[@carlosriosmunoz2328]

Ola , como as hecho para dar brillo a los Frenos, Plato y de más Piezas 😮???

[@BryanMoreno_]

What is the wheel spacing? I have old Schwinn I might want to look for used carbon wheelset

[@BruceChastain]

Sorry I'm not sure. I think it's 135 now, but I don't really remember if I had to open this one up some or not, maybe it was 130 to start with.

[@remenschenfresser]

I assume you built it some time ago? How the frame is holding up under the clearcoat? No rust spots developed?

[@BruceChastain]

No I just finished about a week ago, so we’ll see how it holds up, I’ll post updates here.

[@timothy7768]

Very nicely done. Question does the clear coat keep the bike from tarnishing after polishing the metal?

[@BruceChastain]

Hey Timothy, glad to see ya in here :) Actually this will be a bit of a experiment. I've heard a lot of different things about doing this, so we'll see.

[@buster.keaton]

It's been a year since the video was posted... How has the clear coat held-up? Any signs of rust? Ironically, I just got done stripping a 1987 Schwinn Super Sport frame and would like to keep the rear triangle raw steel. I keep reading that steel will rust under the clear coat and eventually look bad, but I'm hoping that 2K clear might be more moisture resistant than standard clear coats?

[@BruceChastain]

check out one of my latest videos, I answer that very question.

[@kaiserpuppydog7174]

I remember you mentioned possibly powder-coating a frame someday. Did you get any estimates on what that would cost?

[@BruceChastain]

I did ask around, seemed like $125 to $150 including the fork

[@lauriebarr2623]

Awesome build, looks amazing! Restoring a Le Tour Elite, as well as recently completing another Schwinn rebuild myself. Most importantly is it good to ride?

[@BruceChastain]

well It's decent, but I want to change the front levers to something a little more wide in the hand and I think that will help. It has a bit of that very vintage feel. I don't think I'd want to do 100 miles in a day on it as it is. Let's see if I can get it a little better.

[@lauriebarr2623]

@@BruceChastain maybe a thicker set of handlebar wraps, some more modern levers with a longer hood area to rest you hands on may help for feel. Also a different rim/tyre combo can change the way the bike feels! Good luck man🚲

[@pascalbruyere7108]

Nice. Only the frame is original, right?

[@BruceChastain]

pretty much

[@marciooki5820]

Beautiful bike! Just a question,in the video the gear looks like almost touching the frame. No spacers need it?

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you! Do you mean the front gears? No I didn’t need any spacers.

[@marciooki5820]

@@BruceChastain 👍 thanks

[@KarlosEPM]

Hi ! Very sweet ride 😎. Regarding the rear derailleur, did you try playing with the B-screw on it? It increases/decreases clearance between jockey wheels and cassette cogs. Even so, some models just cannot cope with too big a large cog (industry term is "capacity"). Sorry if it's obvious, not trying to be a smarta$$. Thanks for the entertaining vids!

[@BruceChastain]

Thank you Carlos! I did work with the b-screw, even adding in a longer one, but no that didn’t help.

[@cosinus_square]

You must have a lot of time on your hands to scrape the paint off, also it will rust underneath the clearcoat in about a month, been there done that.

[@BruceChastain]

I’ve actually read some others saying that too, so we’re going to test that here!

[@maxrevell3830]

did you have stretch the rear to get an 8/9/10 speed wheel in there?

[@BruceChastain]

Being I already had a 9 speed on it from two years ago, I really don't remember if I had to or not. But I've done it before on other bikes, it's really pretty easy. I with some threaded rod, nuts and washers you can easily make a jig to do the job.

[@komoonkh]

Rj the bike guy has a great tutorial on that

[@BruceChastain]

@@komoonkh yeah I’ve learned from them.

[@gijsvanhirtum3447]

great vid!

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks Gijs

[@CarpeDiemTexas]

I saw in the first video it weighed 25lbs. Whats tge weight now?

[@jamiebryant7581]

Looks beautiful! I want to do the same to my old steel Schwinn. I was curious if you only used one can of clear and how many coats you applied? Also did you have to apply multiple coats of the paint remover to get the paint off fully?

[@BruceChastain]

yeah used the paint removed several times throughout the day. Even after that it took tons of sanding. As for the clear, I did four coats with 1 can, with about 30min to an hour between.

[@BruceChastain]

also thank you!

[@truthseeker8483]

I wrap my bartape backwards too mostly because everyone tells me to do it the other way....😁

[@BruceChastain]

haha, well I think people might be opening up to backwards wrap

[@fernglez60]

Is that an upgraded fork? Is it 1" threadless steerer tube?

[@BruceChastain]

check out this post I did on it awhile ago. hackandridebikes.blogspot.com/2020/10/updates-on-20-schwinn-restoration-1x9.html

[@swaewithme]

What fork/headset/stem combo is that?

[@BruceChastain]

the fork was from a 1999 Pinarello, but really you can find a lot of used carbon / ally forks out there.

[@kanenasithaki4669]

is it just varnish on metal? how it now standing?

[@BruceChastain]

No, it's a 2 part clear coat. Holding up perfectly so far.

[@denierlexiese]

Why didn't you add break STI levers?

[@BruceChastain]

I'm just so cheap! but I'm actually thinking about giving that a try soon.

[@denierlexiese]

@@BruceChastain I like cheap and I like bikes. I ride with a pretty competitive group. Everyone rides brand new expensive bikes and I ride downtube shifters on a 88 centurian ironman expert. I just miss the brake shifters. I'm going to try STI levers one of these days. You clearly have the handyman skillset to make it happen.

[@rolandovera5935]

Love it !

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks Ralando!

[@backtoids]

whatever happened to those carbon rims you had on here? cracked?

[@BruceChastain]

I still have them, they’re on another bike now. But this one I want to do some mountains with and I don’t trust the carbon rims for that.

[@anomaly3460]

I'm gonna be cheesy & say it came out "raw AF" which I guess is a compliment according to my cooler friend who complimented my car in the same manner 😎

[@BruceChastain]

haha thanks Anomaly

[@tongalizia3175]

super great built,,,,,Old steel bikes never die,,,,carbon on the other hand ,,,not so lucky…who makes those wheels…

[@BruceChastain]

thank you!

[@andreyrozodominguez8050]

Wow ❤

[@BruceChastain]

thanks for watching!

[@SW-qr8qe]

I like it

[@BruceChastain]

Thanks SW

[@pisto_run_cycling]

Bad ass.. now build a RoboCop bike.. lol..

[@BruceChastain]

Lol hmm have to think about that one!

[@kaiserpuppydog7174]

When it was light bluish-green I thought of it as the 'Miami Vice' bike.