What lies beneath...
 

Good Morning all;


Back in the mid-80's I purchased what was advertised as a Paramount. Have travelled the globe with this bike, riding it very little (I know, a travesty). Now with the information available via the Internet, I began to doubt the authenticity, and so enlisted the assistance of Waterford and their Providence Report service.


Turns out the bike is indeed a Paramount, circa late 1964, originally sold in Florida.


As you will note from the photos, it is not original (top tube brake guides, downtube shifter bosses and bottom bracket cable guides, along with water bottle fittings), not to mention the color!


Courtesy of the Providence Report, I learned this bike was originally chrome.


Would you "roll the dice" and begin removing the existing paint hoping to find good chrome underneath (two of the photos show the fork stem which never saw the elements, and the underside of the NDS rear stay where paint has been chipped away) or would you leave it as is, since the bike is not intended to serve as a "retirement fund", but only as a rider?


All the best,
Dave

Where things have been brazed on, the chrome is presumably ruined. It may still be good on the lugs, but I think you'd see it in more places than you indicate.

Paint does not generally stick well, over chrome, and your paint is 30 years old and not too scratched up. This leads me to suspect the chrome was removed prior to the repaint.

If you truly want to restore it I would send it to Waterford and let them do their magic. This is my friends 1967 after their magic. Roger

Completely agree with rhm. IF you decide you want to refinish it, have a few options in mind with regard to preserving chrome, in the event that little to none remains.

"Brass" brazing does not bond to chrome. Silver does, but even if that was used, the chrome will be burned.

If it were mine, I would chemically strip the paint at the stays, fork and head lugs areas that one could expose readily if not media blasted prior. Then assess what to do.

Really nice bike there! I'm not trying to be a jerk, but the bike looks cobbled together after the frame resto.

It was cobbled together with Campy, Galli, Mondello and so on parts from his racing days. I believe all were NOS. Roger

Never mind that guy, he's got 30 posts and is being a dick in like 25 of them.

My '66 Paramount came to me with the top tube spray painted and the rest of the bike coated in what I presumed to be Silver Mist. The lugs were also painted over. After a lot of speculation, and eventually a conversation with Richard at Waterford, I determined that the Silver Mist wasn't original. Once stripped down, we found that everything was chrome. Unfortunately, it was in poor condition. Much as I love chrome frames, I decided to go with the suggestion Richard had made when I first spoke to him, which was a classic white. And I love it!