Just a post showing my old Paramount from about 1980. A 26" frame!

Nice. How long have you had it?

Thanks for posting. Your Paramount looks as if it would've been made in 1979 or earlier. Probably in Chicago. Beginning in 1980 Schwinn moved
Paramount production to Waterford, Wisconsin. Can you post the serial number which is located on the left drop out. This will tell what year and month it was made, plus the number of the frame sequence.

Thanks guys. My original Paramount was ordered with custom angles (75° head tube and such) in 1979. Drunk hit me in 1980. Schwinn was on strike and Richard Schwinn replaced my custom bike with a standard. To answer one question: I've had it since 1980. I suspect that it was a stock Chicago frame. The original 26" was perfect, the stock 26" was too long. Still a nice bike, but it wasn't as responsive and was too long for me with the Cinelli 120mm stem.

I may sell this one. I'm riding a 58cm Trek Domane 6.9 now, and it's zippy. Hit 39mph on a ride today. For a guy that's just shy of 250#, and a couple years shy of 60, that's pretty fast. In any case, the Domane is comfortable. Not the same as a steel ride, though!

I was riding the Paramount with clips. Just got some Dura Ace clipless for my Trek. Will shift the Ultegra's to the P'mount. I may even invest in a Garmin GSC 10 to compare how I ride on both bikes. The Trek has DuoTrap.

Maybe, if I hit a Lotto jackpot, I'll spring for a Waterford, with all the nice frame angles I originally had. A nice dream. PastorBob, your pic looks a bit like mine (but you have a cooler paramount, if I am seeing this correctly. I ride in the Western suburbs of Philly. Some nice relatively deserted roads. Here's a pic of the Trek that gives you an idea of the landscape:

Interesting story on your Paramount. Too bad we could not time machine back to 1980 and you had the chance to say something like: "I appreciate the offer, but I ordered a custom bike for a good reason. I need to wait until you can build me another." But that is water over the dam. Did you check to see what the serial number reads?

[MENTION=38510]Scooper[/MENTION] here on BF has a custom made Waterford built on the style of a chrome Paramount. His is polished stainless steel and is gorgeous. His father was a regional sales director for Schwinn. Stan possesses a wealth of Paramount and Schwinn information.

I own the '71 P13 you see in my signature line and an '83 Standard made in Waterford. The P13 has re-built to suit my riding needs here in the NH mountains. It has some seriously low gearing which suits my age (57) and weight (currently 230, formally 305). I actually "raced" it last September in a local mountain climb. It was the only vintage steel in the event. At the moment it wears 27" wheels. I'm waiting for a vintage set of tubular wheels to arrive.



As you might notice, I ride with SPD pedals.

The '83 is one of the first "standard" framesets out of Waterford (37th frame built in May). Basically in 1980 Schwinn built no Paramounts as they transitioned from Chicago to Waterford. In '81 & '82 they only built custom ordered frames. Sometime in early '83 they began to ship framesets in standard size offerings to Schwinn shops which ordered them. Mine was ordered by a LBS owner in the Atlanta area as his personal bike. It had a mixed bag of Campagnolo, Suntour and Shimano when I picked it up almost 10 years ago.

I've built it a few different ways, and several years ago switched it over to mainly 7 speed Shimano 105 gear. Over this winter I picked up a tubular wheelset. I'm loving the way it rides!