60th Anniversary PAramount
 

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Schwinn-Para...ayphotohosting


What the heck is this? Something produced by somebody post bankrputcy?

There is this from Schwinn bike forum, which corresponds to other traces on the Internet and seems to encompass the 60th anniversary:
http://www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/...+match+serotta

"The 1998 - 2000 steel Paramounts were built by Match Cycles (Tim Isaac and crew including Curt Goodrich who built most of the Paramount frames and now builds custom frames for Rivendell) for Schwinn using Reynolds 853 for the main tubes and 725 for the stays. During the same timeframe, Ben Serotta made Titanium framed Paramounts that looked like the steel ones (same geometry, same graphics, etc.).

I don't have a 2000 catalog, but here are the '99 catalog pages of the steel and titanium Paramounts, as well as the catalog drawing showing the Paramount/Peloton/Circuit geometry. I'm pretty sure (but not positive) the 1999 and 2000 Paramounts are virtually the same."

"These are world class bicycles."

http://whttp://www.schwinnbike.com/h...chmentid=43067

www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/attachment.php?attachmentid=43066

http://www.schwinnbike.com/heritage/...chmentid=43068

Yep; it's a post-bankruptcy Match built (Tim Isaacs) Paramount.

In my mind, its not really a Paramount. To me a classic, lugged Waterford frame is more the true successor.

Tangenital question, Why is no one selling a bike labelled a Paramout now? It would seem that whoever owned the rights could make money selling bikes with that name, or sell it to someone who wanted to use it.

Well, IMHO the Match Paramounts are Paramounts in every sense; the management of the post-bankruptcy Schwinn knew the value of the Paramount brand and outsourced the manufacture of 853 lugged frames to Match (Tim Isaacs) and the manufacture of titanium frames with identical geometry to Ben Serotta. Both Isaacs and Serotta were very experienced framebuilders with stellar reputations for extremely high quality products. I agree, though, that the lugged Waterfords are the real successors to the classic Schwinn Paramounts.

In 2001, there was a second bankruptcy (by then owner GT Brands in Denver) and Schwinn was bought by Pacific Cycle in Madison, WI, a company that had also purchased several other bike brands (Mongoose, Murray, Roadmaster). In 2004, Dorel Industries, a Canadian Company, bought Pacific Cycles.

Today, although Schwinn (Dorel/Pacific Cycles) owns the Paramount name, they seem more interested in high profits selling mediocre mostly imported products. At least we can be thankful they're not turning out cheaply made bikes with "Paramount" emblazoned all over the frame.

I see your point, and I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a well made bike. Just, to me to the extent anything survived of the original Schwinn company, other than intellectual property rights, it is the shop in Waterford.

Agreed!

In any case, the colour is incredible... I owned a 1990 Waterford Built Paramount that colour and rue the day I sold it. This one is a really quality built frame...wish it was my size!