From a prior thread, as I recall from Scooper, the Series 5 and Series 7 were Panasonics. The Series 3 was made in Taiwan. Eventually, the Series 2 and 3 moved to China production.

The ones I recently picked up were a 1986 Waterford, a 1992 Series 5, and this Series 3. I consider my 1987 Schwinn Prologue a precursor to the Series 5 and 7 Paramounts, as it was also made by Panasonic, had Tange Prestige frame, etc.


Its kind of funny, since I grew up not liking Schwinns at all, that my keeper fleet is rapidly becoming all Schwinn. I would not be surprised if I replace the rest of the fleet with Schwinns, probably Asian Schwinns.


To me, the Waterford is the potentially collectible bike, SLX tubing, all Dura Ace components. I don't see the Asian Paramounts as collectible, maybe they are, maybe they are not. I'll leave that to the experts. No way they have Waterford value for sure, but people like Paramounts. And the finish work on the Asian Paramounts is pretty good. I just consider them higher end Asian bikes, comparable to other high end bikes from that era.

My basic rule is I keep six bikes total, so if all three stay, three others from the keeper fleet will have to go.

The paint on this one is so good, that I know it will stay. There is very little/no wear on the bike period. I'll work on this one first, as I know the first bike to get bumped.