So much for overrated Paramounts
 

Well, I always say put your money where your mouth is. It seems that at least a dozen different bidders have done just that on one of those overrated Paramounts. http://cgi.ebay.com/1969-Schwinn-Par...QQcmdZViewItem

Not only that there is over 1 day left on the bidding. Any guesses how high it will go? I say at least $2500 before it's all done.

Tim

Definitely a sweet bike!

But, no way would I pay that much for a bike and actually ride it... If I had more disposable income it would be for display only (even if it were my size).

This is one of the first really nice Paramounts I've seen this clean in a useable size. Ebay seems to be full of 60CM and larger frames. The price is really amazing though. There were over a dozen bidder last time I checked.

Tim

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

Chrome bikes from this era look GREAT with the bolt-on Campy shifters, brake cable guides, etc. This one has the stops for the 'plug shifters' which bolt-on.

The heavy chrome plate of those items against the frame chrome just looks natural.

With paint, you want braze-ons.

With chrome, the bolt-on stuff makes total sense.

Sweet bike. Thanks for the heads up.

I don't quite fathom the peoples' bidding strategies. Even if I had interest in the bike, sniping is the name of the game. :)

and it's not even a p-13. looks like a p-10 to me with the campy 1010a dropouts and road geometry. still a great looking bike though!

Anyone else notice that it's that high - and the reserve is NOT met yet?

Beautiful bike, but for the $$ I'd likely pass unless I had the $$ to blow without worry (aka: I won a 300million lottery)

Those brakes go alone for what many whole bikes sell for.

For other useful parts and images

www.velostuf.com

I have purchased from him, very reputable.

Hmmmmmm......

Most bidders are US, a couple are from Japan. The small frame size probably would make it more valuable in Japan.

Not too many Japanese grew up riding Schwinns. Pretty bike, but I can think of a dozen others that I'd rather have - all that would cost me a lot less than that.

I would really, really love to have a chrome Paramount. I'd need at least a 23 1/2 inch frame, and even then I'd have to put a Technomic stem on it.

A chrome Paramount is one of my leftover teenage dreams that I could still conceivably have, if the price were right. The model that I lusted after on page 22 of the 1973 Schwinn catalog probably looks much less appealing than she did 33 years ago.......

The Paramount kept its looks!

You might be in luck then. As cs1 pointed out earlier in the thread, almost all of these that have come up on ebay in the last few years have been larger frame sizes. Seems like most of the higher end bikes on ebay are larger framed bikes. I think that the most serious cyclists must mostly be tall folks. Personally, I've been meaning to sue the city for pouring the sidewalks too close to my hind end. ;)

Look at it from the other end: most average size bikes get ridden into the ground. The real big/real small ones last long enough to end up on eBay.
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(who rides a 54-57cm frame dammit!) :)

They're just trying to find the reserve at this point.

None of this proves they're not overated.

It doesn't mean they are either.

You're right about 60cm frames not being of any use - they're too damned small. :)

I guess usefullness is in the eye of the beholder. Most frames/bikes I see on eBay that are of any interest are 58cm or smaller - utterly useless to me, which is just as well from a storage space, money and wife-annoyance standpoint.

I need at least a 61 to be usable, though I could probably settle for the right 60.

$1925 with 15 hours 50 minutes left. I can't imagine what the reserve is. I hope this doesn't poison the minds of all the other sellers with clean early Paramounts out there. Used to be really nice examples went $1000 max, this could start a bad trend.


Tim

Sans the size, that Paramount is worth it at $2500.00 plus. That kind of money is chump change for a chrome Paramount in that condition. I would only seek a P-13 in 21.5" or 22", but even these prices will be fondly remembered as the "cheap times" in about 10 years.

Re-paint and restore a Paramount nowadays, the paint alone runs $800.00.

My new Pinarello frame cost almost double that, and I do not remember complaining very loud. In 40 years it will be worth exactly squat.

The all chrome aspect of the Paramount is a big deal, at least to me.

As of right now, with 1 hour and 37 minutes to go, it is at a bargain $3,650.

I wonder what the snipers have in mind........?

The fact that the paramount's price is so ridiculously inflated proves that they're overrated. Afterall, it's not like that paramount is Luis Ocana's actual 1973 Motobecane Team Champion.

It's the chrome. The chromed Paramounts are the ultimate bragging rights, the frames had to come out of the bath perfectly.

Plus, it is so very cherry.

Get em' while you can. Because once all the secretly stashed, collecting dust in a basement, bikes are cataloged by collectors, the price will forever be regulated, and no collector or speculator wants to eat it.

Why do you think cased sets of duelling pistols cost so much? Because the entire market is basically cataloged and accounted for. They just swap hands, over and over again.

I cannot believe how inexpensive these vintage bikes are, if you do a collectors comparison of high end articles, bike prices will shock you. My 2 cents.

Lesson of the day? DO NOT SELL YOUR SH%T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

According to Sheldon Brown, the chrome paramounts are heavier and more prone to failure.

I'm hanging on to my bikes, not to mention anything Campy!

Go away now, please. Thanks.

a high ebay sale does not change the fact that it's overrated :p Unless you had a schwinn collection to build or money to burn, that's just ridiculous. That being said, I'm sure the winning bidder will have a fine reason for owning that bike.