Originally Posted by
Tim_Iowa
No offense, and nothing against the new bike.
But many paramount fans don't consider the new paramount to be a true paramount. Some even take offense at the current re-use of the name.
But then, some traditionalists hate on the '90s PDG paramounts as well.
Others' perception doesn't anything to your riding enjoyment. But it affects resale. Look at the prices of the PDG bikes compared to the earlier Paramounts. The newer ones don't have the prestige or resale, even though they have the name.
I'm glad you enjoy both of your rides.
Personally, I shake my head in disgust at any post-94 Schwinn. The series 8 you have seems like a rare nice bike from that group.
Maybe, but my 1992 Paramount PDG Series 7 frame cost me $120 pretty lightly used, and it's a great frame, clearly superior to my Trek 510, and comparable to my Tommasini Super Prestige, but with the advantage of modern rear spacing. I didn't buy it for prestige, I bought it to build a classic steel bike with a very versatile modern drive-train, without having to cold-set my Tommasini and dump it's Campy Super Record group.
My built PDG series 7 exactly as I wanted it cost me less than $450 all in. A real Waterford-built Schwinn Paramount built as I wanted it would have cost me double that starting at $500+ for the frame alone, and I would have had to cold set it to get a modern drivetrain. And I would not have any better a bike - although I would have one with more cachet and prestige - But my Tommasini already served that purpose for me.
The reason that the Schwinn traditionalists hate the Asian Paramount PDGs is that they used the same name, when they probably shouldn't have, and as such it signals the extinction of the Waterford-built Paramounts. But on the merits of the frames themselves, they're as nice as any classic steel frame you can get from the U.S. short of something made by an artisan builder like Bruce Gordon or Richard Sachs or Ben Serotta (by no means an exhaustive list - and the cost is 4 digits for such a frame). And at $120 for a clean aftermarket steel frame of that qualiity - that speaks for itself. I'm actually GLAD the Schwinn collectors sneer at them.
BTW, if you don't want to build your own, and you're patient, you can get nice fully built Paramount PDG Series 7 or the almost the same Series 5 (but for color and a few components) for $300-400 or so. Good luck finding a clean Waterford Paramount for under $800.