The LeTours had tape on the bars if I remember and were close to final adjustment otherwise. They also had trued and tensioned wheels. I was paid piecework on my first mechanic job. The LeTours and Peugeots were steady money. The Chicago Schwinns could have very variable wheels, to the point of not even being tensioned. You could really bog down, needing to pull the wheel off, tension, dish and true it. Raleighs were like Crackerjacks, a surprise in every box, as were Windsors. Many Motobecanes had the forks off a bit, perhaps due to rough handling in flimsy boxes. Fujis and Nishikis were my favorite commodity bikes to build.
Joe Bender-Zanoni
Whitneyville, CT
>
\r?\n> They could have been switched during assembly as levers.Cables
\r?\n> and other small parts came packaged in a box contained in the larger
\r?\n> bike box.
\r?\n> Almost every dealer I called on was at least a 500 club member with
\r?\n> sales of Schwinn bikes above that number . When a number of bikes were
\r?\n> being put togeather it would have been relatively easy to switch parts
\r?\n> boxes or parts.
\r?\n> I recall Letours as having the same partial assembly as Chicago
\r?\n> bikes. Most Japanese imports were much more complete out of the box with
\r?\n> levers and tape already fitted
\r?\n>
\r?\n> BOB FREITAS
\r?\n> MILL
\r?\n> VALLEY, CA USA