When, in the mid 1970’s Shimano redesigned its entire middle range of derailleurs, including the Shimano 500, Schwinn had the opportunity to move the Schwinn GT400 Le Tour on a generation to this - the Schwinn GT420 Le Tour. In doing so slightly more steel crept into the design - in the front knuckle.

I think that this was the last model that Shimano produced that was branded as Schwinn - from here on in, Shimano was a brand that was desirable in its own right. Today, of course, Shimano rules the world and Schwinn is viewed as a quaint piece of what Americans call history.

A tidy, competent derailleur.

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• Derailleur brands: Schwinn, manufactured by Shimano
• Country: USA, manufactured in Japan
• Date of introduction: 1976?
• Date of this example: 1978 (two letter date code is ‘CC’)
• Model no.: GT420
• Weight: 274g
• Maximum cog: 28 teeth (Sutherland’s 4th edition)
• Total capacity: 28 teeth (Sutherland’s 4th edition)
• Pulley centre to centre: 46mm
• Index compatibility: friction
• Chain width: 3/32”
• Logic: top normal
• B pivot: sprung
• P pivot: sprung
• Materials: aluminium rear knuckles, steel front knuckle, parallelogram plates and pulley cage plates