Need some Paramount ID help!
 

Hey guy I am considering buying this bike shortly... its an unknown year, model and origin. The current owner doesn't know much about it. Any idea what year and quality this is? The rear derailleur is like a Shimano 100, who knows if its original? The cranks are 105. Frame is lugged, and its an OS 5 whatever that means. Any info anyone can give me is appreciated.

Thanks
Jon

I would guess ca. 1990 from the fork design. OS refers to "OverSize tubing," which became popular first on mountain bikes and aluminum frames. You may be able to decode the date of manufacture from the serial number; whereas the Varsinentals went to a 2-initial-letter serial number scheme in 1965, the Paramounts, KOMs, etc. retained the original single-letter code, in which the initial letter denotes the month (skip I, so J=September and M=December) and the digit immediately following it is the last digit of the year of manufacture. The headbadge may also have a 4-digit code, in which the first 3 digits are the day of the year (1-365) and the last is, again, the last digit of the year.

It's an early 90's frame made outside the United states. the frame material is Tange steel. the 5 in the OS5 indicates the group setup....5 = 105 7 spd components.

They are a sweet ride, but not terribly expensive. Its worth $150 to about $400 according to its condition.

Thanks for the info everyone! I paid a little on the high side but not too bad... for now the bike will be a commuter/nasty day bike for when the singletrack is too wet to ride. Ultimately though if i like the bike and the frame is of good quality, I will probably upgrade it to a good 9/10spd grouppo and get the whole thing repainted. I just got this thing for old steel... :rolleyes:

I have about 12,000 to 15,000 on a similar frame. I have also updraged to 9spd with no problems.

The guys at work just don't understand. If it doesn't sale Bianchi, LeMond or Ritchey, it sucks! :D

Only one of my bikes says "Bianchi." True, it doesn't suck, but then neither do the others, and the Capo is alot more fun on vintage bike rides or cruise nights.

Yeah, I know...and they won't ride Brooks either. Right?

They are road snobs for sure. Anyways I picked the bike up today guys, and its a porker but good god is it CLEAN and TIGHT. It feels like I am the first to ever ride it. The steel, although low end Tange, is like buttah on the road. Can't wait to ride it to work tomorrow and have my boss yell at me for buying a Paramount :D

Seely,

Just because its Tange and not Columbus or Reynolds does NOT mean its
low end. . . thus the slickern'owlsh*t ride. (buttah is way to NY).

Marty

I believe Tange numbered their steels, with "1" being the highest grade and "5" being the lowest I've seen. The Tange "1"s and "2"s are very nice high quality db tubing, comparable to Reynolds.

Whatever this is its one *****in' ride. Kept up pretty decently with a coworker on his '04 Bianchi San Lorenzo (10spd Dura Ace) yesterday on a 30mi warmup :D As far as the grade of Tange, I'm not sure what this is. I think the OS3 may refer to the quality of the tubeset in this case, as the sticker just says Tange Chromoly with no grade indication. This was definately intended as a race bike in its day, zero eyelets and a sweet chain-hanger... internal cable routing too (can't wait to change the cables out :rolleyes: )

The OS3 indicates the component group i.e.: 105.

The internal cable routing is not a bother to change.

Wait until you lay that cheap japanese steel frame into a quick downhill chicane, boy are you going to smile.

The internal cable routing DID suck. Our in house ghetto rigger sharpened a spoke to a fine point and that helped to "channel" the end of the housing through the frame.

Right now after owning it for less than a week its become a 9spd w/ Dura Ace cassette, 600 Ultegra rear deralleur, Ultegra front derailleur, Tiagra STI shifters, LOOK carbon fork, swapped out the 7spd freehub for an 8/9spd (obviously)... rides like a dream and is pretty darn fast considering the heavy heavy Araya/shimano wheelset and some other older heavy components that still remain. Next up is the wheelset, cranks and seatpost. After that I'm predicting it will be about 19lbs (currently 21-ish). The ride is unbelievably comfortable.