P13 Road Racing Paramounts of the 1970s weighed 23 pounds, not 26 pounds. The P14 track bikes weighed 18 pounds, and the P15 Deluxe Paramounts (triple chainrings) weighed 25 pounds.

When Edward Schwinn took over as president of the company in 1979, he shut down the Paramount "cage" in the Chicago factory because the Paramounts had become non-competitive. Marc Muller was tasked with redesigning the Paramount with newer tubesets and componentry, and with building a new facility in Waterford, WI, for Paramount production. The new facility opened in 1981, and new Paramounts were built there until after the bankruptcy in 1993. After the bankruptcy, Marc Muller and Richard Schwinn (Edward's younger brother) bought the Waterford facility and have continued to build world class bicycles there under the Waterford and Gunnar brands (the use of Paramount name went to Zell-Chilmark as part of the bankruptcy).

Are Paramounts overrated? Some folks think so, but I do not.