Thread: Paramount???
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Old 10-02-13 | 07:29 PM
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Scooper
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Joined: Aug 2005
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From: Santa Rosa, California

Bikes: Waterford 953 RS-22, several Paramounts

The ebay listing says the frame number is 949, which according to Tam Phan's Paramount registry is a 1959 serial number. It's possible Schwinn was experimenting with different lugs at that time, so I can't say the lugs automatically disqualify the ebay bike, but the head tube decal instead of the iconic metal Paramount head badge is very suspicious. Schwinn offered a choice of double-butted Reynolds 531 or double-butted Accles & Pollock Kromo tubing for Paramounts in the late fifties.

I've also heard the story about Schwinn using heavier gauge 531 in the Paramounts, but the only place I've seen that in writing is in the 1979 book The Custom Bicycle by Kolin and de la Rosa where the authors quote Schwinn's Frank Brilando as saying Schwinn used Reynolds 531DB on all its Paramount frames (track, road racer, road tourist) except frames over 26" which used a straight gauge chromoly down tube and tandems, but the tube gauges were heavier than the standard-packaged Reynolds 531DB sets because of Schwinn's belief that the slightly heavier tubing provided a stiffer frame. In the late fifties/early sixties, though, I believe they were using standard 531 gauges. My 1940 23" Paramount track bike double-butted chromoly frame (27.0 seatpost) weighs 5 pounds and the fork is 1.8 pounds. The complete bike weighs 20 pounds.
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