Actually, the PDG Series 5 is a really great bike. The PDG Series 5 and Series 7 were built by National/Panasonic.

When asked on the Waterford Forum about the Series bikes, Marc Muller (who managed the PDG Waterford, Wisconsin facility and is now Richard Schwinn's partner in Waterford Precision Cycles) had this to say:

"National/Panasonic were willing and eager partners in this project. I spent a lot of time in their plant, and they at our corporate headquarters, overseeing the smallest details to assure the bikes were worthy of the name. While some of us had reservations about the use of the name, after spending the 80's building up the Schwinn/Paramount/PDG brand, once the decision was made to use the name everyone was on board to make the finest possible bikes at their price point. Are they Waterford Paramounts? No. Are they excellent bicycles? You bet! Don't listen to the bashers, you'll drive yourself crazy!"