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Schwinn experts: help ID without pics a "Paramount"?

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Schwinn experts: help ID without pics a "Paramount"?

Old 07-08-17, 11:10 AM
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Schwinn experts: help ID without pics a "Paramount"?

I know this is a tough nut without pics, but I promise to take some and add them in the next couple days, but since we have such a depth of Schwinn Paramount knowledge from the likes of @Metacortex and @Scooper, this may be so easy that pics will just be gravy...here's the story:
Friend of mine has a commuter he built up with an orange (tangerine metallic) painted frame that has replacement all-chrome fork, and
-appears to be original paint and graphics/decals including the off white panel on seat tube with world champ stripes
-NO chrome on the Nervex Pro lugs or long Campy dropouts, no chrome anywhere but that fork.
-serial number stamped on the curve of the NDS dropout, number to come with pics
-Reynolds 531 decal (looks OEM) yellow "lightweights decal" (as seen on Super Sports, etc.), the standard "Schwinn" logo on both sides of the down tube but NO "Paramount" either there or on the top tube...has the typical metal headbadge.
-no braze-ons, looks very 1970s, has a slightly longer stay cap then seen on many pics I've viewed of Paramounts from this era.
-owner says he thinks it's a "Super Sport" and one tick down from Paramount, but aside from the lack of chrome, I see no difference. Being unfamiliar with Schwinns (tho i did do some research including this thread: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...paramount.html) I am stumped, but curious.
So, until pics arrive...can anybody tell "what am I"?

The bad-bad-bad news is that the reason i was viewing his frame at all was cause he got in a bad jam trying to remove a stuck and snapped-off seat post so it was at ANOTHER friends shop and has suffered both seat tube damage (not terminal) and some slight paint damage ...a shame but that effing seat post is finally OUT!
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Old 07-08-17, 11:32 AM
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The SN will tell a lot more. AFAIK, Paramounts were the only ones that came with Nervex Pro lugs. An early 60's P-12 would not have chrome lugs or socks except on special order.
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Old 07-08-17, 11:53 AM
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Might be an 81 or 82 Superior. does the head badge say Paramount? Check the pictures here.
Schwinn Paramount Registry Database
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Old 07-08-17, 12:45 PM
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Originally Posted by trainman999
Might be an 81 or 82 Superior.
+1 Need to see pics, plus the frame and badge numbers. For reference here is the '81 Superior catalog page showing the bike in Pearl Orange:

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Old 07-08-17, 06:55 PM
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Dang that 81 superior looks like a pretty sweet sport tourer, maybe i need to start looking around for one...
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Old 07-08-17, 08:46 PM
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Did Paramounts ever come with 'lightweight' decals?
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Old 07-08-17, 08:53 PM
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It does kinda' sound like a Superior (I forgot about the Superior with Nervex Pro lugs), but did they ever come with the white banner decal on the seat tube?
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Old 07-08-17, 09:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Kactus
It does kinda' sound like a Superior (I forgot about the Superior with Nervex Pro lugs), but did they ever come with the white banner decal on the seat tube?
They did not, but decals can easily be changed, more easily than paint anyway. Those with the white banner also had the Schwinn Paramount name on the down tube, but perhaps the Paramount portion was worn off or the decals have been replaced. I'm not sure what the OP means about no braze-ons, but I believe the only Paramounts with the white banner decal on the seat tube and no top tube cable braze-ons was the '71-'73 Paramount P13:



However none of those years were available with a "tangerine" paint. In that case it may be a repaint with any sort of decals added. Without detailed pics as well as frame and (if present) badge numbers all of this is speculation as so far it doesn't appear to match anything 100% correctly.
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Old 07-08-17, 09:49 PM
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I will be taking pix tomorrow and using a new (no more photobucket) hoster but I think the Superior looks pretty close, except for the lack of the word "SUPERIOR" on the top tube and the placement of the 531 decal, but all will be revealed (and corrected if I mis-remembered) in the next days. meantime. THANKS for the feedback, I think we'll get this solved pretty quick...and did I mention that the Frame and Fork (with the gouged seat tube) may be for sale soon, I think it's a 58cm.
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Old 07-10-17, 09:04 AM
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Yep, due to my faulty memory several of the detals I was sure about were NOT correct: no off-white panel, there ARE some braze-ons (just not the ones I was looking for) and even though the model name is missing on the top tube, this is most certainly a SUPERIOR (and maybe I can get some pix attached without the interference of photobucket!) These pix are selected as the least crap from the crappy cell phone series I took, but in case you can't make it out the serial number is 13431 and the paint damage is shown at the seatlug but the shot of the seat tube gouge was too bad to share. I'll take more with a real camera, later.
In any case, THANKS for the help, all you who chimed in!
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Old 07-10-17, 09:34 AM
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Looks nice to me!
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Old 07-10-17, 12:27 PM
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Here's some information on the 1981-1982 Superiors posted several years ago by Bob Hufford. They were nicknamed "Baby Paramounts."

Originally Posted by Bob Hufford
The early '80s Schwinn Superiors were built using frames and frame components (Nervex or Prugnat lugs, Campagnolo fork ends -- some had Tange forks -- and Reynolds 531 tubing) that were left over after Schwinn shut down the Paramount area of the Chicago plant (due to quality issues) in 1979. They were built by a Schwinn sub-contractor in Racine, Wisconsin (Don Mainland). Don (and partner Roger Nelson) had a machine shop that built about 40% of the Paramount frames during the '70s bike boom. I've heard (but have not confirmed) that the chromed '70s Paramount frames were all built by Don as the brazing was better (less visible after chroming) than those that were done "in house". The Schwinn Paramounts came back in late 1980 as full custom bikes built at the new Paramount factory in Waterford, Wisconsin -- what has evolved into Waterford Precision Cycles (separated from the Schwinn company at the 1993 bankruptcy and co-owned by Richard Schwinn).

There were at least three different colors (orange, gun-metal-grey, and black) and a variety of decal styles. They were equipped with Campagnolo GS (Gran Sport) -- 2nd tier Campy -- drivetrain components and Japanese seatposts, bars and stems.

A
Superior frame is in all respects (save decals and chrome lugs) a pre-1980 Paramount frame. For 1980 though, they stepped the Paramount frames way up a notch (the bikes were full customs and listed for nearly $3K).

Don Mainland and Roger Nelson in Racine, WI, had built many of the chrome plated early seventies Paramount framesets and were renown for their beautiful brazing and clean-up.
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Old 07-10-17, 12:40 PM
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Originally Posted by unworthy1
...in case you can't make it out the serial number is 13431
That is almost certainly an '81 or '82 Superior. The serial number does correspond to the '81-'83 Superior format (see the others listed at bottom of the Paramount Registry page), however other than the first digit ("1" in this case indicating the year of frame production) I can't seem to decipher the others. What is most important is that the 4-digit number stamped in the headbadge will indicate the day the bike was built, and in this case that might prove it to be an early '82 model.
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Old 07-10-17, 03:22 PM
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Originally Posted by Metacortex
That is almost certainly an '81 or '82 Superior. The serial number does correspond to the '81-'83 Superior format (see the others listed at bottom of the Paramount Registry page), however other than the first digit ("1" in this case indicating the year of frame production) I can't seem to decipher the others. What is most important is that the 4-digit number stamped in the headbadge will indicate the day the bike was built, and in this case that might prove it to be an early '82 model.
Only one problem: the metal headbadge I was certain that I saw was another figment of my poor powers of observation/memory" there IS none!
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Old 07-10-17, 04:55 PM
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It is orange though!
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Old 07-10-17, 05:23 PM
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That's too bad about the badge. So far my best guess on the serial no. format is Yww## where Y is the last digit of the model year (1 = 1981), ww = week of the year (34 = August 17-23, 1981) and ## was the sequential number built that week. If anybody knows better please chime in.

Last edited by Metacortex; 07-10-17 at 05:26 PM.
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Old 07-10-17, 06:01 PM
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Another problem. Looks like the left seat stay cap has separated from the seat stay. Maybe it's a paint crack.
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Old 07-10-17, 06:22 PM
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Some pictures of an early eighties 25" Superior HERE.
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Old 07-11-17, 09:02 AM
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Originally Posted by 3speedslow
Another problem. Looks like the left seat stay cap has separated from the seat stay. Maybe it's a paint crack.
I'll have to check that over, yes I see it in the pic but did not notice it in person (but then I did not notice a LOT) but suspect it's not as bad as the pic makes out. In any case the real wound is to the seat tube and that plus the paint damage to the seat lug will drive some people away from considering this frame. My friend who works in a shop says that the seat tube problem would not scare him off, especially if this was going to continue its use as a utility bike and not a show-queen. He'd says a long seat post in there, plenty of grease THIS time, and he'd ride away.
It's a 23" C-T and 22.5" C-C and has a 22" Top Tube, C-C
More pix if and when it's ready for selling.
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Old 09-24-21, 08:17 PM
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4 years and 10000 miles later...

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Old 09-24-21, 09:04 PM
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Originally Posted by miamijim
Did Paramounts ever come with 'lightweight' decals?
Not that I know off the lightweight decal was only on few early 80's mid level Schwinn Road and BMX models most of which weren't actually light.
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Old 09-25-21, 11:06 AM
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BEAUTIFUL BIKE !!!!

Thanks for the update !!!

I have never seen a water bottle holder in the back of the seat !!!

Pretty Cool !!!!!!
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Old 09-25-21, 11:14 AM
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Originally Posted by thinktubes
4 years and 10000 miles later...

Now there's a story with a happy ending!

Brent
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