Brittster

Recently purchased this 1972 chrome Schwinn Paramount P15-9. Was told it had been stored for over 35 years and all original. Original owner passed recently. Has serial # G7241 with a P2 stamped on the BB. Still have the original tires but melted gum walls so put these on temporarily. There are some faint markings on the tube and forks. Maybe Reynolds Tubing, not sure about the fork markings. Trying to convince my wife to make it a permanent fixture in my living room

repechage

Looks hardly used. It has Reynolds 531 fork blades too.

dpicare26

Wow.

Great acquisition, looks awesome.

Scooper

Very nice bike. Most, if not all of the 1972 chrome Paramount frames were brazed by Don Mainland in Racine, Wisconsin. Don's brazing was virtually flawless and since every imperfection in lug shorelines and cleanup file marks stick out like a sore thumb on a chrome plated frame, Schwinn contracted them out to Don.

Here are some photos of my '72 P15-9.

bikemig 

I'd hang it on a wall, this is a work of art.

Metacortex

Absolutely stunning! That's a grail bike for me.

drock79

Beautiful! The new carbon aero/light weight trend can't hold a candle to that lugged dream machine.

seedsbelize 

Beaut!

Dave Cutter

If you really want to hang it on a wall... my wife would let me hang it here for you. Just trying to help!

Lascauxcaveman 

Must be kind of a lousy bike. The original owner didn't like it enough to actually ride it.

b dub 

Gorgeous indeed. Campy turkey lifters?

ergillma

I want one, too!

Brittster

Stan. Your bike inspired me to search for this one. Thought you had one of the most beautiful prestine bikes I've ever seen. I, like you, had to travel a good distance to pick it up, was not going to chance shipping. Feel very fortunate to own a bike that Don Mainland blazed, it is perfectly done.

Hoss Cartright

SWEET! They seem to be popping-up lately, another superb example shows itself to the world.

My 1972 CHROME PARAMOUNT P13-9 - Pretty close to NOS. (Image from December 2014.) I ride this one! VERY CAREFULLY ~
Mine also has the Reynolds stampings visible in the tubing under the chrome, but overall mine is superb. My bottom bracket area is very nice as well, on some examples, the chrome in that area can be a little weak
Mine has clincher wheels and center-pull Weinmann brakes. Mine had turkey levers and they had to go. - The bar-con shifters are Schwinn approved Suntour and were on it when I bought the bike.

Brittster

A few more closer photos

howsteepisit

Lovely bike, but that rear derailer was a true boat anchor, I am sure somebody at Campy is still embarrassed.

Scooper

Yep; the Gran Turismo was a real stinker. About the middle of the 1972 model year, Schwinn wised up and replaced it with a long cage Shimano Crane rebranded as a Schwinn-Approved GT-300 "Le Tour"... Much, much better performance. They kept the GT-300 on the P15-9 until the late seventies.

howsteepisit

Yea, that Crane GS was a step above everything of the day. But I'd be more than happy to take that Paramount even with the Turismo!

Fahrenheit531 

Freakin' gorgeous.

Metacortex

From what I've been able to gather from Schwinn Service Bulletins, dealer News Flash documents and original bikes I've examined the GT-300 rear derailleur was not factory installed until '73 on the Paramount P15/P65/T19/T22, Sports Tourer and World Voyageur. For example a Dec. '72 service bulletin introducing the GT-300 states "The new GT-300 LeTour Derailleur will be used on the 1973 Sports Tourer... and the Paramount 15-speed P15 and P65. In addition, Paramount tandems... will use this rear changer."

Any GT-300 derailleurs found on '72 models were most likely later replacements, however in the case of late '72 Paramounts the plot thickens as an 11/7/72 News Flash bulletin states that at least 600 '72 Paramounts "will be carried over into 1973" due to "several key components" being "tied up in an airline cargo handlers strike in Milan". It went on to state that "Those units which cannot be shipped this year will be carried over into 1973 and will have production priority over next year's orders". From this I gather that the frames had already been produced so those late '72 models may have been actually built up in '73 and would in that case have most likely came with the GT-300.

All that being said one of my go-to riders is a '71 Sports Tourer with the much maligned Gran Turismo and while it may not equal the GT-300 it seems to work fine for me, at least as well as the GT-200 (Huret Super Allvit) on my Super Sports.

well biked 

Beautiful.

Scooper

Thanks for the references. Mine is M72274 and I bought it from the original owner, the son of the proprietor of Tarzana Schwinn Cyclery. He claimed he hadn't changed anything on the bike. The Waterford provenance report says it was shipped to Tarzana Schwinn, Tarzana CA, in December 1972, or January 1973.

Metacortex

Very interesting, that bulletin may explain the multiple dates in the provenance report as well!

72Paramount

Has anyone else noticed that there has been multiple full chrome 73 and 74 paramounts popping up on ebay and cl over the past couple years? I still regularly read people with 72's saying it's the last year of the chrome, but it wasn't. In fact, there is a chrome p15 from 73 on ebay right now. Just goes to prove that everyone is still learning!

Metacortex

It actually was. An official Schwinn dealer News Flash bulletin dated 11/15/72 states:
There are no subsequent bulletins indicating that chrome was re-offered, in fact there are many showing how '73 production was completely sold out well in advance and that '73 was the highest Paramount production year ever by a large margin. What I believe happened is that some chrome models were in fact produced in '73 and '74, perhaps as inside jobs or for influential or celebrity dealers, but for any normal orders chrome officially ended for Paramounts in '72.