Paramount reborn
 

I decided that 15 carbon fiber, scandium, aluminum, and titanium bikes didn't really scratch my cycling itch. So, on a recommendation from a friend, I began the quest for a Waterford-built Schwinn Paramount. After weeks of scouring online classifieds and forums, I landed a 1989 model built with OS tubing. A deal was quickly struck and my new project was launched.

I spent one of the happiest week's of my adult-cycling-psycho life stripping off the original ShimanoDura Ace 8 speed (entire group including wheelset in excellent condition and for sale) and replacing it with Vicenza jewelry and other updates from the last twenty years (Chorus, K's, etc.) that I collected from Ebay and prior take-offs. The frame is in fairly decent shape with a few nicks here and there, but the Candy red still shines.

I completed the build last night, just in time for the first snowfall in the area. Now, I can spend the rest of the winter staring at my Paramount and waiting for spring.

The last shot is picture of the group I removed from the frame (and am selling).

Great looking ride

No brooks saddle? Classic steel deserves some good hide. Well done on the build. Think about it your bike will be worth some bucks in several years but those cookie cutter bikes will be dime a dozen and modestly priced.

Wow!

Very nice! The '89 through '93 Waterford OS Paramounts are incredible frames, and with the brifter update you're gonna absolutely love it.

Congratulations.

Very nice. Which model of Ksyriums do you have on there? Are the later Paramounts made of Columbus SLX?

Scooper knows better than I do, but the earlier Paramounts I've seen are all SLX tubing. As best I can tell, Schwinn switched over to OS tubing in 1989.

this is my '89 OS...still with 8 speed dura ace. Works great and looks good!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...g?t=1196633328

Meet your long lost brother...
 

Meet your long lost brother...56cm Columbus SLX

Norsk--Mine came to me looking just like yours. Let me know when you want some replacement parts for Shimano group ;-) Do you have any suggestions for touch-up paint? It's hard to match the metallic candy red. I may send it to the good folks at Waterford for a repaint later this winter.

Ahhhh.....another red '89.....

I absolutely love mine, updated with a mix of Ultegra and 105 10-speed stuff.....almost a dream come true....

Enjoy!

I was looking for one of those OS bikes back in the late '80's, and they were hard to find. Seems supply was limited.

Anybody know production numbers? They don't show up very often...

Do you have a dura ace 39t chainring? Don't know about touch-up paint, other than nail polish for very small places.

Schwinn introduced the TrueTemper OS tubing - jointly developed by Schwinn's Paramount Design Group and TrueTemper - with the 1989 model year Waterford-built Paramounts. They continued building Paramounts with Columbus SLX (SL/SP mix for larger frames), but the TrueTemper OS bikes were a preferred option for most buyers.

HERE's the 1989 Waterford Paramount geometry showing the Standard SLX, shortened top tube SLX, and PDG OS models.

beautiful!

I believe 85 to 89 used SLX up to 56cm bikes, from 58 up they used SL.

I went about building my 86 56cm red up this weekend. It's a hodgepodge of parts. Campy 6 speed wheels with Montreal tubulars, Shimano 600 cranks (never seen any like it, had "W Cut" rings, I think from the late 70s), Dura Ace 9 speed front der, 105 7 speed rear, 105 downtube shifters, 105 brakes, 3T stem etc. I would love to have it be all Dura Ace or Super Record, but it's proven hard to find a group or a bike worth buying to strip. Still need to put chain and cable it up, but I should be riding it by next week.

I bumped this because it shows the exact bike I just got for free from my brother in law. Same year, same color. Unfortunately mine has some significant rust, all external but still unacceptable. I'm going to have it powder-coated in some color... not sure. I want it to still have the metallic finish.
I have a couple of questions though.
Is it SLX or True Temper? If I put decals on it can I then clear-coat over the powder-coat or will I have to settle for exposed decals?

Some of the very late OS Paramounts were built with Reynolds 753 as well.

Sure it's not the other way around? Because the doesn't make any sense unless you meant SP and not SL since SLX is the heavier/stiffer tubeset... and SL/SLX and OS are mutually exclusive.. To be Over Sized you need and oversized tubeset, which was the true temper as mentioned about... I don't think there is an OS 753 either but I might be mistake. You guy might mean OS era as opposed to OS true temper.

You are indeed mistaken, as some pretty mudane research on the Waterford site will show.

beautiful.

You couldn't have picked a bike w/ more class! I have been so impressed w/ my '92 OS (True Temper). Great job!

I don't know about the type of tubing your Paramount would have been made from but I know that you can clear-coat a powder-coated frame. My powder-coating guy told me it would be fine to use any automotive clear-coat but there is a thread in the frame-builders forum regarding powder-coating here: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=378844 See what they think. And if it is just external rust, a quick sand or bead blast should solve that problem nicely.

In late 1992, Paramount Design Group began working with Reynolds on a 753 OS tube set, but didn't start delivering Paramounts using 753 OS until the summer of 1993. After the bankruptcy, Waterford built Paramounts under contract to Schwinn under its new ownership, but in September of 1994 Schwinn decided to put the Paramount "to sleep". Basically, from the summer of 1993 until September, 1994, Paramounts with OS tubes were Reynolds 753 OS. In the late 1990s, Schwinn revived the Paramount and contracted the Reynolds 853 steel Paramount production to Match Cycles and titanium Paramount production to Serotta.

http://www.waterfordbikes.com/2005/d...ount/index.php Click on "---PDG-80's/90's" at the upper left of the page.

The late eighties non-OS Paramounts used SLX for smaller frames and a mix of SL and SP in the larger frames (over 57cm). Here's the sidebar from the '88 catalog with tubing specifications:

http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d7...untSidebar.jpg