my new (to me) paramount OS
 

1989 waterford paramount OS, 55 cm.
First generation dura ace sti shifters - it had ~2K on it according to the seller.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P6.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/jvpro/P1.jpg

It came with dura ace hubs laced to mavic tubulars, I relaced them to some open pro clinchers.
I paid $700 for it, I've been watching ebay to see what similar models go for, no idea yet. Fair price?

I think you did ok on it. I bought the same year non-OS version equipped with mostly Shimano 600 components last fall for about $600. Mine is in very nice condition as yours also appears to be. I would say that you got a better deal than I did.

I know the seller, he is meticulous about the building and maintaining of his bikes, honest, and not one to gouge for extra profit, so I felt pretty good about it. It rides waaaaay smoother than my old '05 giant OCR1.

It looks great! $700 seems reasonable to me.

Assuming it fits you properly, it is a great bike at a fair price. You should easily get your money's worth out of it over the coming years.

Beautiful bike. I think you did just fine on the price as well. You paid slightly more than I did for my De Rosa, which is a year older and has 7 speed Dura Ace with downtube shifters, and I think I got a great deal. Mine has a couple of nicks from poor storage, yours looks to be fairly pristine.

Off to ride now, the heat finally broke!

The stem feels a little long, so I may switch that out. Need to ride it more first.

Very nice; I think the price was fair, especially considering what great shape it appears to be in.

What length is it? I can't tell from the angles in the pictures. I've found that anything much beyond a 105 doesn't feel right to me. I rode a 130 for awhile when I was doing mainly time trials, but when I tried normal riding with that, it was too 'squirrelly'. I quickly went back to a 90-100, and have found the 90 on my De Rosa better than the 100 on my Cinelli, as far as comfort & handling.

It's 120. So far the smoothness of the ride has outweighed any stretched-out reach issues I have had. But my longest ride on it has been about 2 hours. Any longer and I would probably feel more reach fatique. It feels great on the bar tops, and in the corners, but riding the hoods is reachy, and low (feels as low as my old Giant's "drops" position). So I am thinking of getting a 100mm, maybe a nitto pearl so I can bring it up some at the same time. I would also consider a 100mm modolo stem to keep the original theme of the bike more intact.

Forgive my ignorance, but didn't all the OS models indicate it somewhere on the decals? I worked for a Schwinn shop at the time and raced with Schwinn bikes, and I don't think I ever saw one that didn't say OS on it somewhere. Where is it on this bike? I'm not saying it's not an OS model, but it doesn't look like one to me.

you are right, there are no OS decals on the bike, nor steel type decals. I guess the true test will be to measure the seat tube diameter, it should be 1 1/8" no? I will do that tomorrow.

I think you did really well. There is one that appear on vancouver craigslist every once in a while and looks so much like that one I thought that was it... but then I read how much you paid I knew it couldn't be the same bike because he is asking $1500.
http://vancouver.craigslist.org/bik/366379878.html
found the add, his has full Mavic group, which is pretty darn cool. You still did well I think.

I believe the OS decals came on the more common 1990/92 Paramounts. The Waterford built 1989s were a much smaller production introduction to a new idea bikes. OS 2,3 and so on were mostly Japaneese made imitations of real Paramounts. The exception this were the the top two models the OS 7 and OS 9 which were very high end bikes. I own a 1992 OS 2 and it is a very nice riding bike but it is not a real Paramount other than in name. Roger

he's skimpy on details for $1500...
I looked at the waterford site, the downtube should measure 1 1/4" if it's OS.

eyeball downtube tape measures 1 1/4". Not surprising to me as I know the seller, and he knows what he has.

HERE's the 1989 Paramount page from Tom Findley's website that discusses the types of tubing available on the '89 Waterford built bikes. Note the description at the bottom of the page "Paramount with Paramount Tubing" which notes that "This elite Paramount features an exclusive Paramount lug design connecting slightly oversized top and down tubes."

Looks like the OS lugs from here. Maybe it was repainted? That would explain the pristine condition.

the seller is overly abundantly extra super meticulous about his bikes, so I bet the paint is original.

If you recall the Wheaties Schwinn team bikes from that year, they were clearly marked with the OS decals. Like I said, every OS I saw that year had similar decals, a big "Paramount OS" along the top tube that preceded the OS markings for the PDG bikes later. If anyone has the 89 Tour de Trump prologue and stage one on video, take a look at Thomas Craven's bike for me.

Not trying to argue though. Just interested. I was pretty geeky about these bikes at the time, and I've been wanting an 89 Paramount OS to go with my 87 Paramount. That was sorta "my time" in the racing world. If anything, this will clear up some of this for me.

I caliper-measured the down tube @ 1 1/4".
I also measured the bar (modolo) right beside the stem (modolo) @ 27.4mm? wtf?
must remeasure later...

You did well. I bought a '97 Waterford 2200 with essentially the same components and Ksyrium SSC-SL wheels for $850.

I look at it this way. I would rather have your Paramount or my 2200 for what we paid for them than any comparably priced new bike.

55/Rad

after riding my paramount vs my former ~$900 giant ocr1 I agree.
I remeasured the bar, it's 26.0.

Update! New barwrap!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ro/bike069.jpg

to be honest I dug the old wrap and I normally hate that camo splotch thing... but the new wrap looks great too.