I'm back -- I was out at the barn all day today. I think they feed those horses too much, but that's another story......
Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I'm glad the Paramount finally got put back together. It was great to have everyone show up to help out. John (bigbossman), thanks for having us all over to your place for the whole day. Your bikes and garage are always a treat to see. Stan, it was a pleasure to meet you and you provided excellent Schwinn karma for the build, and thanks for bringing your Chrome Paramount & Chrome Waterford bikes. Those are both stunning! Rich, sorry you couldn't stay longer. Your Ron Cooper bike is a beauty. Mike, sorry you didn't make it. I hope your wife is feeling better. John (brother), I'm sure you must owe me some change for all that beer money I handed you (at least you got some Fat Tire Ales which were appropriate with that label), and thanks for dashing to that bike shop for that stuff we needed. Your chrome Varsity needs some work!
It was a cool find back when I got it last year, but at the same time also very saddening to see a nice bike like that in such poor condition. When I bought it I was told it was in a fire (note the crankset and tires on the first photo in the thread). I hadn't ever done a project like this before and it was a big one. The frame and useable parts needed a lot of cleaning, a number of new parts to replace damaged or missing ones, a decal set, and some frame repairs. Ed Litton was able to do the repairs on the frame (sorting out a dent in the seat tube which resides under the big decal & magically removing both sheared off dropout adjusters with just a little of each showing inside of the dropouts) and supplying and putting on the decal set. He did a wonderful job. I forgot to ask him to remove the brake cable clips which a previous owner apparently hammered flat (no rear caliper or cable housing on it when I got it) because they likely couldn't remove the screws. Those were still on when we put it on the rack yesterday and John and Stan were brave enough to decide to carve through the rusty bolts with the Dremel. I've got a photo below of that.
I spent a year plus a month or so acquiring parts for it. My brother (TIOS) helped a bunch with that task (thanks John!), and I got some parts from a number of C&V'ers here. Thanks to all of you. Pastor Bob, I still have the nice Campy Record high flange hubs and flat levered skewers I got from you. I'm gonna use them--I promise! For this bike, I'd rather not put those hubs on 700c rims of any type. I'm likely not to ride on tubulars so I'm leaning towards lacing them to some old clinchers in a 27" size and perhaps adding some Pasela tires to those so it will look closer to original issue. I'm still searching for a set of worthy rims for that.
After acquiring a pair of Campagnolo gold annodized brake levers from Stone's Cyclery in Alameda, CA, (worth a visit if you are in the neighborhood) I got onto a bit of a color tangent and went down a gold/honey/red trail, hoping to bring back the bike with some class and bling after it had a rough turn for a while.
Re some of the components, the chain is a NOS Regina with gold outer plates that are drilled. The freewheel is a used, gold Dura-Ace one. The build crew talked me out of using the NOS gold Regina one I got. That likely will go onto the 27" wheels as that size was on it when new. The wheels I got from bigbossman as noted previously: rims are 700c Nisi Mixer laced to Campy hubs/skewers. I'm guessing those are later 80's or early 90's vintage, but the rims look nice with kinda gold annodizing, and the red Panaracer Stradius Pro tires look nice on them. I thought a little color on the sidewalls on those would bring out the Paramount decals, and brought some other tires out to the build too (NOS Ritchey Tom Slick and NOS Specilaized Turbo/A gumwalls), and was laying those on the rims, but the team set me straight with the Panaracers. You've got good eyes, East Hill!
Re the brake hoods, I bought some pricey NOS Campy ones (winged logo) and with the help of my brother I mysteriously got the first one on ok with a liberal amount of dish soap applied. On the second one I didn't use as much soap and I was leaning pretty hard on it, and in a flash it split all the way through. That was shameful but all my fault. The build crew was very wise to shy away from that procedure! (After that incident the build crew encouraged me not to help with anything else that I could potentailly damage, and I did hear some groans when I picked up the Brooks Team Pro saddle.) So, one of the hoods is a Dia-Compe until I track down another NOS Campy one. The original Campy bar end shifters were both a mess and the others I found later didn't have all of the nut/bolt fittings (I'd prefer red or tan lever covers anyway), so the shifters that are on are Schwinn labelled Suntour ratcheing barcons which was an optional upgrade when the bike was new. They function better than the Campy ones so that's most important.
Original parts that are still on the bike: headset, BB, cranks and small chainring (45), FD, RD (cyclotoine, thanks for the info for getting the RD put back together -- bigbossman got the stop screw out and I got it back together!), downtube derailleur cable housing stop, seatpost, and front caliper. The useable old stuff was filthy and I had to do some serious cleaning to get them presentable.
New or used parts added: brake levers, freewheel, Cinelli handle bars, Cinelli stem, rear caliper, large chainring (52 -- original was a 54 and messed up), crank bolt dust caps, derailleur cable guide, brake cable clips, pedals (I repacked a pair of used ones and touched up the scuffs with black paint), cable housings, Brooks honey Team Pro saddle, and the wheel set of course.
Dr. Deltron, the pedal cap hasn't arrived yet! It must've taken the scenic route and I'm hoping it will arrive on Monday.
Sadly, the tan Alfredo Binda toe straps I bought were too wide for the pedals, so I didn't attach the ALE 24K gold plated toe clips I got for it.
I'm looking forward to getting the Brooks honey bar tape on. It will really look sharp.
It is the racing model so I thought it would be ok to make it kinda sporty with some bling. I'm pleased it is getting good reviews.
John and Stan, you guys did most of the work on it. It looks beautiful because you did a great job. Thank you all very much! Not bad for the B Team. The A Team was some old Peugeot mechanic I lined up, but Cody ran him off and kept his hat, declaring that the build was a non-French event. Photos below....
I've got some more photos. I'll add them when I find that memory card.