St33lWh33ls

I purchased this Paramount (K7041) on EBay a while back and am just getting around to detailing it. The bike appears to be very original except for the wheels, front is a Weinmann and the rear Fiamme sewups. I would imagine Schwinn would have put a matching wheelset on the bike originally. Everything else seems to be correct and original down to the cable housings. The thing that I can’t seem to find online is the seat tube decal that is on this bike, every Paramount I have seen from 72 back a few years has the Olympic rings on the decal, and this bike does not. I guess the obvious answer is that the decal is an incorrect replacement; thing is it looks original to the bike, old and yellowed with age. Anyone else have a late 60’s early 70’s Paramount without the rings?



I sent for a provenance report from Waterford and am curious to see what info that will bring.

As soon as I get it cleaned up I will post some better photos, with saddle slightly higher.

St33lWh33ls

Talked to the nice folks at Waterford, whatever decal was available at the time was applied to the bike, and apparently there was a variety available. Chime in if you have a non-ringer Paramount.

icepick_trotsky 

Good looking bike either way. @Scooper will probably sweep in with some answers.

Scooper

The correct seat tube decal for a 1970 Paramount is similar to the one on your bike, but instead of saying "Arnold, Schwinn & Co." a '70 would say "Schwinn Bicycle Company."

The decal was changed around 1968 to "Schwinn Bicycle Company."

If your P13-9 is a '70, somebody has replaced the correct decal with an earlier one.

Here's what yours should look like.

St33lWh33ls

Thank you, I thought that might be the case, I just couldn't find a definitive answer. I think I will leave it, I like the old school logo.

pastorbobnlnh 

Somehow your '70 P-13 received the same decal used on my '62 Continental. This is the best picture I have which it compares it to the reproduction decal on the P-13 I used to own. I'm not certain how long Schwinn used this decal and on which models. Maybe @Metacortex knows.



I found a more head one view from a distance.

Metacortex

I think @Scooper pretty much nailed it, the company name and "Quality" logo changed for '68 and the Paramount decals had Olympic rings.

I would add that the company name change was officially announced in the Jan. '67 Reporter (dealer newsletter), which also stated that all material carrying the old company name would be gradually phased out during the year such that "...the new name can be included on everything by the latter part of 1967."

I would also confirm that the Paramount seat mast decal had the Olympic rings both before and after the name/logo change. I'm not 100% sure when they started using the Olympic rings, however the Waterford site seems to imply that started in 1959-1960 with the "Disneyland" decal style:



You can see that style on the '61 here: Schwinn catalogs, 1961 - 1970 (26 of 765)

According to Waterford and the consumer catalogs the last year for the Olympic rings was 1973. Finally, I noted that the parts catalogs list p/n 03 068 for the Paramount seat mast decal (with olympic rings) both before and after the name/logo change, however the "mfr. no." changed from 9361A in '67 and earlier to 9361-B for '68 and later, apparently corresponding to the name/logo change.

St33lWh33ls

Yep, that is the same decal. I think Scooper is right though, it was probably put on there at some point. The man I purchased the bike from says he was the original owner and the bike was original, but you know how that goes. Thanks pastorbobnlnh.

St33lWh33ls

Very thorough research, Thanks Metacortex!