Interesting thread. The one thing that I find really interesting is if you were to post that you wanted to upgrade your vintage Paramount and the change would require spreading the stays, there would be all kinds of helpful posts on how to do it, what mistakes to avoid and references to Sheldon's site. IMHO, that's way more risky than converting to a SS.
In the end, it's your bike do what you want with it, especially since you don't intend to Drew it or repaint it.

I'm not clear on the source of your misunderstanding. If it was a '92 POS road bike, would you feel the same way? If it was a '61 Cinelli, would you feel the same way? In other words, do you draw a line anywhere? If not, I'm surprised you're posting here. If so, then why not say something about where you, personally, draw the line, or explain why other people's action's bother you (because it's a Paramount rather than a Pogliaghi? Because it's a '92 rather than a '52?)? Otherwise, I don't understand why you act this way about other people's reactions? In just don't understand it!!

Its just putting such a finely built frame to use at a level far below its capability and intent. What if you took the sails off a schoner and used it as a paddle boat?

I don't mean to degrade you, but if you're going to do that, why not just get a more generic but still nice 4130 chro moly frame and use that?

Your Paramount is already set up for use as a geared bike and as such will come in handy for rides you can't do on single speed. Why undo that when with a little searching you can come up with a project bike on cl for under $100, and convert that? It's just not prudent from a practical standpoint. In this case aesthetics and practicality are one, because even in appearance I always feel the finest road bikes look awkward as single speeds. Probably because they're so out of touch with intended purpose. Making the frame capable of supporting a precision geared drivetrain is, in fact, where most of the increased build quality was directed!

So in my view its not a question of right or wrong, but whether its a good choice for conversion. These bikes, in my view, cry out to be geared. Someone put enough love into them for them to be remarkable for that purpose. There are so many better options for single speeding.

I've been wondering through this entire discussion - does the '92 Paramount in question have vertical drops?

If so, excuse me while I laugh myself silly.

-Kurt

:rolleyes: :lol:

There's 5 series of Paramounts in '92
http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1...92_Pmt_24.html

Which one is it?

I did not have the year memorized for when the Series machines were added to the lineup, but I had a gut feeling that a '92 would already fall in this category.

All road Paramounts with exception to the carbon Series 9C run short horizontal drops.

-Kurt

They fight back these days. Better watch your back...

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/p...og/Kittens.jpg

I'll bite...

I too wonder about those who get all bent out of shape when someone's decision about their private property isn't "kosher."

It's almost as if here in the United Socialist States of American...oops...I'm sorry...United States of America, when you are the custodian....I'm sorry...owner of a certain kind and year of bicycle...your use and work on that bike must meet the approval of a central committee...oops...I'm sorry again...certain concerned neighborhood grannies...oops I'm sorry...concerned citizens.

I swear, if someone were to win the lottery...buy up every Maria Confente...and melt 'em down to create an 4' x 4' block of pure clean Mario Confente steel...certain hyperventilating self-appointed gurus of the C&V community would drop dead from a heart attack.

I can only imagine the tombstone inscriptions left behind by pissed off wives and siblings...

I myself restored and recently sold a Zeus. Now I'm pretty sure the buyer is not going to hack off the derailleur hanger and start turning it into a fixie...

But nevertheless...if he were to do so I have two choices:

1. Step up and make an offer to buy it back that couldn't be refused.
2. Or simply say, "Welp, sorry to hear that, but to each his own!" and then move on about minding my own damn business.

Bikes. Either you like them or you don't. Either you ride them or you don't. They're a utilitarian transportation tool that do the job they were designed for with many specialized niches. For many who are mechnically inclined and artitistically inclined - that is their very attraction. The utility and specialized niches.

But the emotional attraction that gets one bent out of shape in regards to what other's do with their bike? I'm sorry...those folks need to take a deep breath and reexamine why they like, own and ride bikes. Even moreso those folks who somehow think that one must adhere to some "bike culture" as part of owning or riding a bike.

I say the last part especially to those who reside like I in this supposed freedom loving, liberty worshipping and property-rights respecting democratic republic called the United States of America.

If you think I'm all talk and no action in regards to the above...little story to tell you....

In my senior year in high school, my mother accused me of loving my bike more than I loved her. I immediately open the front door - and locked the screen door open. I proceeded to grab my Peugeot with Reynolds 501 and chucked it out the door over our 6 foot high steps and 25 feet out to the street where it landed front wheel first.

Needless to say...my mother never again questioned my emotional attachment to a bicycle with respect to other people.

As a certain media person says:

People first...
...then money...
...then things...

=8-)

Not exactly, but if that were to happen that person would be melting down his own property, and destroying treasures of bicycle history in the process.

And you get into a grey area of ownership. Western culture has a different idea of ownership than some other cultures. When things are of a certain age and have enough collective meaning, history, and love consolidated in them, it becomes the owner's duty to be a responsible steward of that object. That Confente is not just yours, it belongs, in a sense, to Confente himself. It is a piece of art, and it would be wrong for the owner to ruin it, in the same way burning the Van Gogh you bought would be wrong.

It so happens, thankfully, that the people who wind up with these treasures tend to be folk who care for them. In a world of mass, assembly line production (of bicycles and everything else) it is necessary to preserve these hand built relics. They have something to teach, even, about the value and care that can and ought to be put into the things we create. They stand in contrast to the massive amounts of waste created in factories today.

On the bright side, old bikes (unlike old barns) don't have to be destroyed so new ones can be created. So they're still around to cast ripples of artisanship in an era when that is largely gone. Anyone who has one has a national (or international) treasure, in a way. Melting one would be a pity. I don't mind single speeding. I build many myself, mostly for other people as flips here in Chicago, where its very flat. I just don't see the point of converting a Paramount or (God forbid) a Confente when there are so many chro moly double butted candidates (Nishikis, Miyatas, etc.) out there that aren't as unique and would perform just as well as conversions. The only time I'd really get upset is if people started grinding braze ons off treasures, but that doesn't stop me from thinking a ss Paramount just feels out of place. Not gonna give anyone grief about it, its just icky.

^ Nice response, krems81. But one question: what happened to your Peugeot?

Thanks! Which Peugot?

Single speed, not fixed gear. "GOD" only kills kitties if it's converted to fixed gear according to the recent reinterpretation of obscure ancient texts.

vvvvv vertical dropouts, two different chainrings, 16t cog on one side, 22t on the flop, NOT that big a deal. Don't go and choke and die while you're laughing, we need you here.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...agicratio2.jpg

+1 to what Amani said. I knew I never should have opened this thread.

(Edit: this is a general rant, by the way, not a rant specifically at the OP and his singlespeed Paramount)

Things that amuse me....

Converting an old road bike to a fixie because everyone else is. (And I'm sorry....but it IS a fad currently. It WILL go away, and those people will move on to other things, leaving a junkyard of devastated classic steel in their wake.)

"My singlespeed is much more reliable and easy to ride since there aren't any gears!" - uh huh. Of all of the mechanical failures I see as a bike mechanic, maybe 2% are related to the fact that the bike has gears. Broken chains happen no matter is it's a fixie, a single speed, or a 33 speed. How often - REALLY - do you think a rear derailleur hurls itself into the spokes of the rear wheel in an emo outburst of suicidal energy?
Here's an amazing observation on my part.... if you want to ride in only one gear.... DON'T SHIFT. I know, I know....a bike with no gears LOOKS cleaner and WEIGHS LESS. Ummm.... then why use an old-arse Schwinn? The frame weighs more than a new road bike. That argument carries no weight. (Pun intended)

"I want a bike that expresses my individuality! That's why I want to massacre an old road bike."
There are these amazing things called "Track Bikes". They already come with a fixed gear. They already come from the bike shop with no brakes on them. They ALSO accept Velocity rimmed wheels in Antifreeze Green or Burlwood patterns. They are also usually steel. They already have Pista bars on them. They hold paint just as well as an old bike if you decide to paint it chartruse with white polka dots.

I sometimes think that the problem isn't the bike at all.... it's the person tarcking it out. Followers of the fixed-gear-as-fashion-accessory crowd ARE amusing. They amuse with their occasional stupidity (tarcking out a Colnago Mexico, for instance) and they amuse with their "different-just-like-everyone-else" cookie-cutter selves.

Newsflash - Fixies aren't rebellious or even fashionable any longer. When TREK offers a fully built fixie that looks a lot like some of the homemade fixies I've seen, the movement is dead.
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...rict/district/

Yeah, you've only got like 6 months (maybe 8 if you're in a fly-over) to enjoy the end of a long-dying fad.

I'd wait a bit and see if you can't turn your Paramount into the new New Coke.

Edit: An interesting side note while we're on the topic of trends: It really does look like SSFG is becoming C&V. Just one example from today:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=542407

And check out the numbers on C&V vs SSFG...the trend is definitely vintage-ward.

We're the new New Coke!...

Yo, OP, if you want to catch the next wave, just put a honey Brooks and some VO leather bar tape on your Paramount...there's yer fixie.

I know it can be done, but I so happen to be a nut about fixie chain tension. I don't care for slop.

Need me here? I have just heard the biggest joke of the year :p

-Kurt

God knows that those Series bikes were painted like New Coke.

-Kurt

The OP came in here looking for a fight as far as I could tell. I don't mind a person putting a fixed gear rear wheel on a bike, done it myself. Most of the people that post in here are interested in bike history and preservation.
Fixie conversion of an actual classic/vintage bike is not going to be looked kindly on in here depending on the amount of hacking and painting that that entails. It seems like the worst excesses of fixie conversions are past, people don't spraybomb their '58 Cinellis quite as often.

[ All bikes are equal, but some are more equal than others eh? Pick a direction...any direction...you'll find a socialist / communist country either way...]


=8-)

^^Stone him.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...1&d=1242702287

not that i'd ever drew a frame but c'mon....Whatcha gonna do

Don't make me post the Internet Tough Guy picture again.

Or worse yet, the Spike Bike Gunbarrel.

-Señor Helmetz

Dave Hickey rode in the Livestrong Challenge a few years ago (it was actually called the Ride for the Roses, at the time) on a fixed gear. It was a big achievement at the time and most people didn't think he could do it. He did manage to finish the entire 100 miles, even with a 30 mph wind.
This was a great achievement because fixies are hard to ride long distances, especially on hills, although there weren't nearly as many hills then as now. The point is that, while fixies might look neat to some people, they are not nearly as efficient as a geared road bike, In this case it is kind of like putting a motorcycle engine in a muscle car. Hey they are lighter and easier to maintain and will get a lot better gas mileage.
But in America, you are free to do what you want with your personal property and we are free to tell you it is a bad idea.

I'm in sync observation wise...

1. Yup...the fixie stuff is mostly a fad.
2. Trying to be different - yet ending up the same - now where do us teachers see that all the time? Hell, us IT guys as well...

3. And of course, most of 'em you see are into this "culture" thing gothic looks and nose rings and all...
4. Fad has run its course? I suspect - it'll be over within 2 years.

Why? One thing I've noticed since 1984 is that a sure sign that a fad is running out is the following:

A. Even with generics and pre-mades priced to sell...
B. They resort to digging junk out of a recycle yard and insist on trying to build it. I.e., walking in with a rusted frame and fork bent back to the the point of no return.

Basically most of the folks now are late comers and followers who want the same but aren't willing to spend the money - because secretly they know their money is best spent elsewhere. They know the fad has run its course.


Surly makes a very decent fixie for 675.00...hardly sell. They look...but walk away. Now I'm seeing folks digging Velocity Deep-Vs hoops out of a trash can that are tacoed - and trying to convince shops to build 'em a wheel - totally ignoring pairs of brand new Velocity's built up on sealed cartridge bearing hubs @ 120.00 a set in any color combo you want.

2 years my friend...you hear it here first!

=8-)

Oh, I can see there's no utility arguing with an apparent devil's advocate (and, it seems, an A-hole to boot), but there's one point I'd like to take into contention, re: "[That's your opinion. And there are those who don't find Confente's work very impressive...]"

I argue only in photos. En guarde!


http://www.classicrendezvous.com/ima...nfente48_1.JPG

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/ima...nfente48_8.jpg

http://www.campyonly.com/images/retr...d/img_0232.jpg

hmm, I wonder who hand pantographed this chainring?
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3698.jpg

that's kind of silly, you'd have to be a madman to do this..
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3753.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3756.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3867.jpg

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3673.jpg

trying to save weight at the drops? might as well cut an ear off, sicko!
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/d/...2/PICT3661.jpg

Not the same fellow who tried to touch up the paint, that is for sure.

-Kurt