Drillium Dude thanks for linking that article from
SpeedofLite . I missed it due to all the early COVID-19 pressures
I was dealing with at the time with the church (retirement is great
). That is the first time I've ever read the Elite framesets could be ordered for $950. I had only seen the $2500 price mentioned in the "build it anyway you want."
I did know that my May 1983 Standard (with the rainbow decals) was sold as a frameset only. It was also originally ordered by a Schwinn LBS owner in the Atlanta area. He built it with a mix of Campagnolo Record (crankset, shifters, brakes and hubs) and Suntour Cyclone M-II (RD and FD).
merziac as best I know, there were no 1980 Paramounts from either Chicago or Waterford. There were 1980-83 Superiors built from leftover Reynolds 531 tubing and are often referred to as "Baby Paramounts."
As
trainman999 mentions, very few Elites were built during 1981, '82 and '83. Standards with rainbow decals were offered early in 1983. However, sometime in the fall of 1984, the Standard rainbow decals were phased out and the more traditional decals of Waterford Paramounts were introduced. Sometime in mid to late 1984 the Serial Number was moved from the left rear dropout to the the BB shell and changed from the Chicago style to the new Waterford self-describing style. Finally, the shifter cable routing was moved from above the BB shell to the underside, at approximately the same time during 1984.
These are all subtle differences which help to date the earliest Waterford Paramounts. As you might notice in the
Bicycling article, the left rear dropout has no Serial Number. I'm guessing this is because it was a test/review model which was eventually returned. I've seen a few other instances where an early Waterford Paramount does not appear to have a serial number. However, in most of those cases I suspect the number is filled with paint on the left rear dropout, similar to mine, which needed wax in order to be read.
