Hello all,

I wanted to post a note here because I'm thinking some of you with greater experience may be able to offer guidance. The other day I was contemplating the purchase of a modern carbon-fiber frame when I took a peek at eBay and found the bike I'd wanted back in high school. In my color, my size, my price, and from a seller just a couple hours away. So now I am the owner of a reddish-orange 1973 Schwinn Paramount 10-9 with the chrome Nervex lugs and everything else that makes bike people giddy. The modern-bike purchase has been put off another year.

Forty years ago I saw one on the wall of a Schwinn shop in Spokane. The salesman explained it was what the serious riders used -- there was nothing better in the world. In high school I couldn't afford a $700 bicycle. That's about what I paid the other night.

Now, there's a lot of stuff that's going to need to be changed out in order to put it back to original, in my preferred configuration. Most of it I understand fully, after building another similar-vintage bike from the frame up. And I recognize the importance of getting everything right on a bike like this one. But one part throws me. The rims.

I get the idea, perusing various vintage-bike websites, that this bike came originally only with Weinmann 27-inch rims. That size is what most everybody used at the time. But I much prefer 700c rims, and dang it, that's what I'm going to use. (Of course, with the Campy Nuovo Record high-flange hubs.)

Was there a 700c option on the 1973 Paramount?

If so, what was the manufacturer and model name?

Is there a new rim that looks the same as the original equipment, but in 700c size?

And finally, I've always had this idea that rims wear out, and using a vintage rim is a bad idea. But is it? Keep in mind, this is a bike that's going to get used, not hang on the wall.

Thanks,

Erik Smith
Olympia, Wash.