How weird that the decals are downgrades. Some people are weird.

My only guess is that someone wanted to commute on it and didn't want it stolen.

It`s crazy right? To top it off he had a black rubber Raleigh chain stay protector stuck on the drive side top tube? I wish I took a picture of that before I removed it. Someone must have told him it was a Raleigh racing bike and he just went with it?

+1

...Somebody around here has a "Huffy" that's actually something far more serious, decalled for urban stealth. I keep thinking of [MENTION=174646]The Golden Boy[/MENTION] but it may be someone else.

That would be Aaron's Litespeed.

I've always had great luck with brass wool and PB Blaster to clean up chrome.

I think it's a great find, I'm very happy for you. Had to be a excellent surprise!

Anyway a man can talk you out of those guidonnet levers? 😊

Pictures in daylight.

IMG_0995.jpg

IMG_0996.jpg

IMG_0997.jpg

IMG_0998.jpg

IMG_0999.jpg

IMG_1000.jpg

IMG_1001.jpg

IMG_1002.jpg

IMG_1004.jpg

IMG_1005.jpg

I might. Then again, I grew up in a practicing Raleigh family and internalized the prejudism (but learned to "Love the Schwinner, but not the Schwinn").

I will give brass wool a try. Thanks. The Levers, I can always remove the turkey wings? I am not sold on them but they would be correct. For comfort, I could always go modern Aero. LOL

I knew it was something good by the lugs, surprise was the Campagnolo Triple. I was trying so hard not to smile and dance in front of the guy. I could sell that crankset for more than twice what I paid for the bike. Paramount, yes a surprise and I would take it over an International in a heartbeat. I thought I was buying a beat up International as I was driving to get it.

Yes, but optional. You would violate no period correctness shibboleths if you removed them.

so what's the story on the Raleigh headbadge?
Is it riveted on, or just stuck on with some glue?

If you've managed to remove it already, have you found holes that match the Schwinn badge?
(and if you don't have plans for the Raleigh badge, I know a downstate Raleigh nerd that would give it a home )


Steve in Peoria

I have not gotten that far yet. The badge is yours when I do remove it though.

My eyes are trying to tell me the fork blades and maybe head tube have visible seams (pic 3, pic 2). Are these just photo artifacts?

Must be the reflection of light, no seems.

My question, why would someone go to all the trouble to even put on that headbadge, I mean, why the total disguise, It baffles me too. KB

I can't quite see what's wrong with it... cracked ?

Should be cheap to fix. It's always the repaint that's the expensive part.

Send it to Richard Schwinn for a "factory" repaint.

Looks like half the braze on cracked off- so a Suntour downtube cable stop is clamped on to act as the cable stop.

To recap, the OP removed the paint off a bike with Raleigh decals, and discovered that the frame was unexpectedly a much more rare and valuable Paramount. So if I'm understanding the thread correctly, it was a textbook example of "Original Schwinn".

It was an odd move by the previous owner to do this, but as I always say, let he who has not Schwinned cast the first stone.

Enjoy the rest of the show, ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week.

pssst. You're supposed to tell them to try the veal.

And I remember a thread from about 2010 when someone posted pictures of his "Peugeot" which were clearly a Raleigh Gran Sport with Peugeot decals.

The tweekers must have been much more selective in his neighborhood than mine.

I think Schwinn had kind of a stodgy reputation back in the 70's and 80's. I know I thought poorly of them, having seen nothing but their gas pipe steel models like the Sting Ray, Varsity, and Continental. I very much associated Schwinn with their low end stuff back then, and thought those were the only kind of bikes they made.

So I can easily see someone disguising a Schwinn, even a Paramount, to look like one of those fancy English brands like Raleigh. I saw a couple very nice, very lightweight Raleigh road bikes back then, and assumed they made only high end stuff, and Schwinn only made the low end stuff.

Which is absurd, knowing what I know now (my Paramount PDG is my favorite bike of all time) but I think a lot of people thought like I did back then. Sadly, this kind of thinking probably had a lot to do with Schwinn going bankrupt back in the early 90's, their brand image was not nearly as hip or trendy as the English, Italian, French and Japanese imports. I think it was similar to what happened with the brand image of American cars during that era.

What a strange and interesting find. Congrats to Mr Whitlatch on it. Please keep us in the loop on the restoration process. This story is better than most of the TV shows I watch on Netflix.