For penance, 10 Prophet's Prayers, and you shall be resolved.

There were some good ones there.

The only reason a bicycle should ever be in an upside down position is during mid-rotation while crashing.

But, there are also about a dozen reasons I'll never be a roadie:

All of cycling’s monuments are measured in the metric system and as such the English system is forbidden.

No full beards, no moustaches. Goatees are permitted only if your name starts with “Marco”

Mirrors are allowed on your (aptly named) Surly Big Dummy or your Surly Long Haul Trucker. Not on your road steed.

Rides are to be measured by the quality of their distance and never by distance alone.

Gee, when I did a triple century, measured in American, for me, it was all about the distance.

Also, I never thought I was a twatwaffle, but it's not about the bike.

It is, absolutely, without question, unequivocally, about the bike. Anyone who says otherwise is obviously a twatwaffle.

How did anyone ever ride those? In a sane world every one of those that Schwinn sold would be in a glass case on display in pristine condition. I know bikes are for riding, but you can always buy a second bike for that. I don't think I could risk scratching this one.

Made a decision
 

OK, I made the decision to let the Raleigh Professional go, and focus on the Paramount.

Here's proof:

http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...l#post19234539

I guess we'll see what happens! Jeff

Turns out that Jeff, aka [MENTION=310895]Fairview[/MENTION] and I have common roots from our childhoods. Who would have known! Amazing stuff here on BF-C&V!

Does this seatpost binder bolt look original to you? Would the Paramount of this vintage (1972) use a Campagnolo binder bolt? Thanks, Jeff

Yes; that's the correct bolt.

Mine is a '72 P15-9 so it has a cable hanger for the rear center-pull brake, but you've got the right domed binder bolt.

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...img4595med.jpg

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...BinderBolt.jpg

Thank you, Scooper! That is good news.


I hope you don't mind if I lean on you for some more guidance.


The other thing on my mind right now is to get the tubular rims to match before I put on new tires. The rear rim decal says Schwinn Approved "260". The front is a Mavic Championatt du Monde. Both have the reinforced eyelets. Front spokes are butted, rear are straight. Front rim has those little serrations for braking purposes I assume. My guess is the rear is the original, front was replaced some time along the way.


Would a set of Schwinn Approved "330" tubular rims be a good choice to be something within the realm of possibility in 1972? I'm simply an originality neurotic....


Jeff

Jeff, mine came from the factory with the Mavic tubular rims and butted spokes, so I believe your front wheel is original and the rear one is a replacement. I'd look for a used Mavic Championnat Du Monde rim for the rear.


I replaced mine with Open Pro clinchers several years ago.


http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...psu2zarwe9.jpg

Scooper,

That is good news as the rear has a little twitch to it that might be hard to get out, the front (Mavic), is straight as an arrow. I'll shop for a Mavic Championnat to put on the rear. The labeling on my front wheel is identical to what you have posted above.


Thanks, Jeff

So, we'll never see you out and about on your chrome Pinarello?

The saving grace with that is that the chrome is already chipped. The chip is covered by a decal, but I know it's there. It's also not as perfectly polished as this, having originally been painted.

I can promise that you'll never see my chrome Pinarello leave the garage on a day that isn't sunny.

Good deal. Let's schedule that July 4th ride right now!

(PDX inside joke)

Not to worry. I'm prepared to take the Voyageur out in any weather.

@Scooper, or anyone that knows, for that matter, weren't Paramounts offered with the option of either tubulars or clinchers? For some reason I remember the catalog having the wheel/tire set up and the brakes in either center pull or side pull (Nuovo Records) as customer options. This was in 1971-1975, I believe you thought that you dad called on them for his territory as a Schwinn Rep, Scooper.

I remember that most of our Schwinn shop's 'Mounts had clinchers, but a few were sew up equipped. For some reason Escambia Schwinn Cyclery didn't get in many of the P15 models, when one was on the rack for sale it was usually a P13, IIRC. I spent way too many hours drooling over the Paramounts that moved through their place, those never stayed on the rack long, the customer ordered bikes never made it out front, the mechanic always offered to assemble, and then fit the customer, with them present while he got things in order.

Looking at the 1972 model specs, P-13's came with 2 wheel and tire options. Weinmann rims with Clement tubular tires were standard. For extra you could order wood filled Weinmann rims (my '71 has these) with different Clement tubulars. The touring models, P-10 & P-15, came with 27" clinchers.

Campy side pull brakes were a $50 option (my '71 also came with these).

Oh my. Nice bike.

Thanks @Kactus, much appreciated, I didn't recall the cost added for the brakes. And I never knew about the wood filled Weinmann rims at all, those must be extremely rare now.

I can remember the ones on the rack having the Clement tubulars tires, no idea if they were the filled rims though. Seeing these bikes and their tubular wheelsets led me to seek out Clement tires for my 73 Raleigh International. I can recall the Paramount owners, as well as some high end Gitane and Bottecchia riders, always raving about the ride and performance their Clement "Sew ups" gave them.


I learned somethings this evening, so its all good.

Bill

In '72 the brakes were a $50 option and the wood filled rims were $12.95 extra. The standard P-13 cost $350.00 so the Campy brakes were pricy.

Kactus has it right; the P13s only came with sew-ups according to the 1972 order form, while the P15 and P10 models came with 27" clinchers standard, but could be ordered with sew-ups as an option, and mine was ordered with sew-ups. The P15s and P10s had fender eyelets and the Campagnolo side-pull brakes wouldn't clear the fenders, so they came with Weinmann center-pulls.


Here's the 1972 order form with the commonly available options for each model spelled out.


http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...porder01sm.jpg


Bill, you've got a good memory; Escambia Schwinn was one of the dealers Dad called on regularly.

Scooper,
Thanks for the customer order sheet posting, when seeing this attachment things came back fairly clear. I can recall seeing one of these, with Mr and Mrs Whelan(?sp, its been over 35 years since seeing them,) in their shop. I cannot fathom why I was shown the order form, other than their being truly nice people, they put up with the lot of us hanging around their place to talk bicycles and ogle the new things being offered there. I can imagine them inviting your dad to dinner with them at their place, I really wish I had met him when he was calling on their shop. They always treated me well, and buying a bike from them was a treat for a teenager that was nuts about everything cycling. I am trying to recall their long time mechanic's name, I learned a great deal from him by observing his work and listening to his pointers. Schwinn, Gitane, and Bottecchia, were always on their floor in the full line ups.

Andy K, sorry for the hijack of your thread.

Bill

There is nothing like a good vintage Paramount thread to warm the heart on a cold snowy morning in northern New England. :)

Beautiful bike, Jeff.

FWIW, I have a set of new old stock A. Binda toe straps. I'll never use them. Thing is, if I'm not mistaken, the proper color for this fine bike would be red ones. Mine are the tan/mustard color. Which may not look all that great on this bike. Dunno. If interested, shoot me a PM.
RB

Thanks RB,


I have just sent off the $ for a set of decent used ones from someone here on the forum that may clean up OK. I can't tell if the ones being shipped now were white and aged to a tan color, or were originally tan. However, there were Binda straps on my bike when it arrived. If I used my imagination, I could think they were white originally. They were a little too far gone to save, though I did save the buckles, and the straps for a pattern if necessary (I'm Scots Irish- we will "keep the Ten Commandments, and anything else we get our hands on")


Would you mind posting a photo or sending a pm with pictures of yours? They may work better than what I have on the way.


Jeff

Jeff,

I'll try to take some pics and post em. If I remember correctly, the original Binda straps from the early 70's came in a cream-ish color. Among other colors of course. The light cream ones were always my favorites.
Did they have pure white ones back then? I can't remember. They do now, apparently.

Good save on the buckles. I've re-used them before. But it can be difficult to find the proper leather to use. Original Bindas were quite thick. About 9 or 10 ounce leather. And, it seemed, cut from the part of the hide with the least stretch, which is up near, and parallel to, the spine.