Schwinn Paramount Design Group
 

Just saw this and was wondering if anyone had any info about it?

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/bik/592189305.html

Not my size but looks like an interesting frame if someone wants it.

Paramount design group? Never seen this frame before.

PDG was the name of the Waterford, WI factory that produced Paramounts when it was owned by Schwinn from about 1981 through the early 1990s. Looks like one of their later frames.

Edit...I should add that PDG continued to produce awesome bikes as Waterford Precision Cycles. There's a pretty good history section on the site.

I'd buy it if it were a 66cm frame :)

Yeah, I'd hit it.

Looks like it's still up for grabs if anyone can fit it. Easthill maybe? hah.

It's a PDG "Series" Paramount built in Asia, and was Schwinn's effort to leverage the Paramount brand by offering Asian built bikes using Tange tubing at a price point lower than the Waterford built Paramounts.

They're nice bikes, but they're not built to the same standards as the Waterford built Paramounts.

I thought Paramount Design Group was a marketing idea that Schwinn concocted when they started having their "Series" Paramounts made in Asia. It connoted that the frames were designed by the same people who designed the Waterford frames, even though they had "Made in Taiwan" stickers. The frame in the CL ad appears to be a "Series PDG" built of Tange OS, with a unicrown fork, so I'd suspect its a TIG-welded Asian frame, not a Waterford product.

Damn you, Schwinn! That's terrible business practice, you can't keep doing stuff like that!

This is a common misconception - or perhaps "urban myth" would be more accurate. The "Paramount Design Group" name and concept predate the "Series" bikes by a good decade. Waterford frames with "PDG" decals sometimes fail to bring full value when sold because of the idea that PDG=Asian-built. It's rather remarkable this stuff continues to get repeated when the Waterford site makes all the information readily available.
Also, the unicrown fork does not equate to TIG-welded - as a cursory glance at the photos of the craigslist bike reveals.

Here is a link to Waterford's site about PDG.

It is titled "PDG in Waterford"

http://waterfordbikes.com/now/home.php?newstype=pdg

Thanks for setting me straight on that. My limited (and apparently inaccurate) knowledge came from lusting after a Paramount during the days when they were being made. I devoured everything I could read about them, and I must say that I honestly do not recall ever seeing the letters "PDG" on their frames before they started importing from Asia. But what's on the Paramount webpage (link above) does sorta dispel the rumors. Schwinn would have been well served to distribute that information to its dealers at the time, since they were the boldest purveyors of the evident misinformation.

As for the frame in the OP - I still don't see anything in the photos that I can clearly make out as a lug, though I see a hint of one at the bottom bracket shell. Am I also incorrect in surmising that a frame of Tange OS was probably of Asian origin?

My computer screen may be better than yours: I can fairly well detect the lugged bottom bracket shell, and also the head and seat lugs. I'm not aware that any of the PDG Series bikes were TIG welded.
You are quite correct that Tange OS is a clear indication of Asian manufacture, as is the "Series" designation as pointed out by Stan.

1964 Schwinn Paramount
 

i am restoring a 1964 Schwinn Paramount Track frame and am looking for decals. Any places to look?? thanks

Shoot an e-mail to Waterford, they do Paramount restorations and have decals for pretty much every Paramount.

I too , was misinformed early on in my Paramount quest.....confused by the lack of distinction between PDG and PDG-"series"....ughhhh.....

I passed on a couple early on....