60’s Schwinn Paramount , Easier gearing wanted
 

Should be getting a 66 Paramount in a month or so. The gearing is way too tall for my area of Kentucky. Crank is something like 52/46 with a near corncob freewheel. Hubs , derailleurs , etc are Campy. I’m not sure of the cranks. I believe they are original.

So, what is the most cost effective way to make this bike more pleasant to ride, but still looks right/ somewhat period correct.
I will be adding a Nitto Technomic and wider bars to add more comfort, so I’m not totally wanting to keep absolutely period correct. Just want to keep it looking “rightish”. Not wanting a collector piece.

I know this is like asking how high is up, looking for meaningful suggestions.

I went through this with a '68 Schwinn Paramount which came with a very similar gearing set up. If you have a top end cottered crank on the bike, it may be possible to run 52/36 rings on that. If you get rid of that crank, you can sell it here.

If you want real flexibility in terms of gearing and something period correct, get a 50.4 bcd TA crank (a Nervar 631 or a Stronglight 49d would also work). Chainrings are available and you can easily run it as a compact crank. The other limiting factor is the campy rear derailleur. It likely can only handle a 26 in the rear. You can modify it with long cage arms so it can handle a 32. Or you can get a shimano crane which dates from the early 70s but was sourced on a great many Schwinns. It's a better rear derailleur than the campy.

Put a C Record or Chorus tripple on it a 32-34 freewheel and a long cadge derailleur. It looks sompthing like this when done will get you up any hill. For $349 on ebay every thing you need except the freewheel. The brakes probbly do not have enough reach for a 60 Paramount and if you want to use the bifters you will need a diffrernt rear wheel and spread the drops. If me I'd just run it in friction https://www.ebay.com/itm/13402258104...YAAOSwbU9iB7ak
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3f6b31e61e.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0f9dea9bb0.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...39fec4154a.jpg

Campy Comp/Champ/Race triple if you're going to be friction shifting

If you want it to look rightish, put on smaller chainrings with maybe a Velo Orange Gran Cru 110 crankset with 48/34 rings or if you got $$$ one of the Compass Cranks. You should leave the rear end pretty stock with maybe a 14-26 freewheel. Sometimes folks go with long cages and big cogs and the bike starts looking like one of those newfangled 1X jobs.

If you are sticking with 5 on the back (or even an ultra six) and you want a wide range of useful gears, your best bet is half step gearing with a granny. A 50.4 bcd triple (TA, Nervar, or Stronglight) are superb choices for that set up if you want something period correct. The problem again will be the rear derailleur where you will either have to get a long arm campy (Soma makes long cages for Campy RDs) or, which would likely be my preference, is to go with a long cage shimano crane as it will shift better than the campy. A suntour would shift even better but Schwinn used Shimano RDs a lot which is why I'd likely go with a crane.

for something appropriate to the bike's age, the T.A. Cyclo-touriste or its equivalents are fairly available and reliable. T.A. still sells new chainrings for it, which is certainly a vote in its favor. Here's the relevant page from the old Cyclo-Pedia catalog...

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...bf07c1_b_d.jpg


another option would be the Stronglight 99 or the Japanese equivalents. Not quite as unique in appearance as the T.A., but will still provide low gears and be suitably vintage. Not sure how hard it is to find chainrings now.... my understanding is that these are harder to find than the T.A. rings.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...825546_b_d.jpg


Personally, I put the SunXCD version of the T.A. crank on one of my bikes when I was looking for some lower gears...
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...caf962_c_d.jpg

Steve in Peoria

First, congrats on scoring a classic old Paramount. I am delighted that you plan on getting it on the road, where it belongs/

Next, how to get lower gearing: A lot depends on the crank you have. Even more depends on how much you are willing to spend.

If it is a cottered crank (entirely possible) or a first-gen Campy cotterless with the 151mm bolt center diameter (also entirely possible), you are going to be limited as to what you can do to change the front gearing.

If you are willing to spread the rear triangle from 120mm to 130mm (as I have had done on several frames). then you have a number of options, including ones already mentioned by others. I'd suggest Campy (up to 10-speed) or Shimano (up to 9-speed, but 8-speed would be better) triple cranks and front and rear derailleurs to match. My upper limits are based solely on aesthetics - the ones I mention still look pretty classic and not out of place on a classy old frame.

If you want to stay with friction shifting, I'd suggest spreading the rear triangle to 126mm and going with a 7-speed set up. Tons of options here. I find friction shifting with 8-speeds or more to be a tad finicky. Others will no doubt disagree, but these are my opinions and they are worth exactly what you are paying for them.

If you do not want to spread the frame - and I am not suggesting you should want to - get a standard Campy Nuovo Record double crankset (144mm bcd, accepts down to 41 teeth), get a Red Clover triplizer (be sure to get the bolts, too), install a 74mm bcd chainwheel, and you are on your way to low gear nirvana. (Red Clover is run by BF C&Ver @jonyvara and you will be hard hard pressed to find a better person to do business with.) You'll need a new rear derailleur, an new bottom bracket (or at least a longer axle) and probably a new front derailleur, but you can set up the gearing you want and still look pretty period-appropriate. Campy did make a NR triple, but they are not common and rather spendy and only go down to 36 teeth. And if you find one that was drilled for the third chainwheel but does not have the 36-tooth chainwheel and bolts (you can see the drilled holes in my crankset, pictured below - they are not being used on mine), good luck finding them and good luck paying the king's ransom for them

Anyway, those are my thoughts. As noted above, they are worth exactly what you are paying for them.

Here's a shot of my mid1960s Cinelli with a triplized Campy NR crankset to give you an idea of how it looks.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...34006855eb.jpg

Where are you in the Bluegrass? I am in Berea, down the road from Lexington. My choice when rolling out is either more hills or less hills but all the rides have hills.

Very late answer to your question, Andy.
I am near Fort Knox.

Thanks to all for all your helpful direction.

+1 on Campy NR + Red Clover triplizer.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5df888128b.jpg
Red Clover triplizer with 28T Sekai chainring

You hit the real secret, which is to use a smaller outer chainring, which in turn facilitates lower gear ratios all the way down, even without maximum-capacity derailleurs. 46/13 = 50/14 = 96 gear-inches, which is plenty of top end for most of us.

So can't believe we got this far, "pics or it didn't happen" . :wtf:

Especially when you say Paramount AND 60's. ;)

And there's always this, P-15's came with Campy Record triple, 36t small ring, sometimes you can find custom made 30-31t for them.

The tripleizers are a far easier option.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...92a81cd55e.jpg

Acquire a 42t chainring and and 14-28 freewheel.

I don't know your terrain, but that might just be good enough. If not, maybe you just need to increase the large cog size to 30 or 32 and add a Soma long cage to your derailleur.