Classic and Vintage Bicycles: What's it Worth? Appraisals and Inquiries - Another Paramount: '89 754 Aluminum

Hi,

I've already emailed the guy about this, but I don't know anything about aluminum paramounts. Do these aluminum ones have as strong of a following as the steel beasts?

Selling alot of bike for little money...very nice Schwinn Paramount Designed 1989 754 All Aluminum Bike in white pearl, 21-22 inch frame. Suntour GPX 14 spd, all specs below at schwinn link. It only weighs 20 lbs. The only thing it needs is a front tubular tire. The rear is is a clincher and ready to roll. The schwinn specs can be found here:
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_16.html
and the sales flyer here:
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_16.html

Is his ad. He wants $125. I figure I am too late, but you never know.

http://images.craigslist.org/3k13p03l4ZZZZZZZZZ96pc4a9b5e1958f176c.jpg

http://images.craigslist.org/3ke3m13leZZZZZZZZZ96p1a233ee8ded216b2.jpg

It's not a Paramount. It's a product of the Paramount Design Group, which is not the same thing. People sometimes try to sell them as "Paramounts" anyway. The seller in this case is listing it as "Schwinn Paramount Designed," which makes it sound better than it is. Might be worth $125, but I personally wouldn't buy an aluminum Schwinn from that series - just me.

The late eighties/early nineties Schwinn "Aluminums" are not Paramounts, although they were designed by the Waterford, WI based Paramount Design Group. They were never marketed by Schwinn as Paramounts.

These bikes have a reputation as being very stiff and transmitting road buzz through the frame to the rider. On rough pavement, they're bone rattlers. Some of the harsh ride characteristics can be mitigated with careful selection of tires, but they never developed much of a fan base because of the harsh ride.

Thanks! That had occurred to me when I reread the post. I had a inkling that perhaps he was just copying the Paramount Designed off a sticker.

edit: Was there an actual "Paramount" model being produced at the same time as these "Paramount Designed" aluminum bikes were being sold?

$125 is an OK price if your the end user. I'd pay an extra $50 it had shimano components.

At least schwinn got approval from the patent holder of the frame design unlike cannondale who ripped off the patent holder.

Stan, do you think its yoke design rear stays contribute to road buzz?

edit: Was there an actual "Paramount" model being produced at the same time as these "Paramount Designed" aluminum bikes were being sold?
Yes; absolutely. Schwinn introduced the Paramount "Standard" in 1989 using an oversized (OS) steel tubeset jointly designed by PDG and True Temper. They continued to build the "Standard" in regular sized Columbus SLX (SL/SP mix for larger frames) tubing, although as the superiority of OS tubing became apparent, they sold fewer and fewer Paramounts with standard sized Columbus tubing.

HERE (http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_03.html) is page 3 of the 1989 Schwinn road bike catalog. Notice the descriptions of the "Paramount with Columbus Tubing" and the "Paramount with Paramount [True Temper OS] Tubing"...

The previous catalog page HERE (http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_02.html) shows a gray Paramount OS "Standard" frameset being held by a shirtless model.

Stan, do you think its yoke design rear stays contribute to road buzz?
Jim, I don't know. That yoke is very beefy, so I don't think it could have helped dampen the buzz.

The previous catalog page HERE (http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_02.html) shows a gray Paramount OS "Standard" frameset being held by a shirtless model.

Not what I hoped I'd see when I clicked on that link. :lol:

Not what I hoped I'd see when I clicked on that link. :lol:

Thats why I didnt click...

Thanks for the info! This place is a gold mine of knowledge.

The modeling Schwinn used doesn't seem very effective to me.

http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1980_1990/1989_Ltwt_04.html

What is going on here? Is she crying?

What is going on here? Is she crying?
Yeah; I think she's crying because her hairdo just got ruined. ;)