just got my copy of "bike world", has a paramount ad on the back cover, looks good - should I pull the trigger? Or wait until they discount it for next year's model?

That was a fortune back then.

The Inflation calculator says that $575 = $3024.32.

Seems a little high to me, but different goods experience inflation at different rates, making it difficult for an Inflation Calculator to be accurate.

I think that was more than I was bringing home, in a month, back then. And, we still had to pay the mortgage, and eat.

Probably not too far off actually.

Think about getting a top of the line steel bike today with Campy Record components, and really good wheels.
I see no way to avoid spending around $3k for it.

A higher end road bike costs about $3000 today so it makes sense.

ETA: I was in the Army in 1975. I think I was making less than $300 a month. So that bike would have cost me about 2 months salary. I wonder if the wife will let me spend 2 months salary on a bike now.

I worked at a bike shop in high school from about '76 to '78. We stocked a couple of Raleigh Pros & Internationals but Paramounts were a big deal because they had to be ordered. I remember a guy who came in looking at low end bikes. By the time he left, he ordered a Paramount. It came in a couple of months later and we called the guy. He had died. Apparently he had some disease. Maybe ordering the bike was his last hurrah . . . too bad he never got to ride it.

I bought a race ready Suzuki TM 125 motocross bike that year for $600. It took a long time to save up for it. It was pretty much toast in 9 months.
Should have bought that Paramount.

From another perspective. A new $600 Specialized Allez at your local shop would preform better in every respect than that $3000+ Paramount did in 1975.

Many aspects is as far as I can go. I'm not sure how you come up with "every respect".

Beauty, component durability and "repairability" are a couple of qualities that, off the top of my head, come up in the Paramount's Win column

I am not saying i would take a truck load of Allez's over that one Paramount.
I am just saying
If we had a time machine & carried that Allez back to 1975 the Paramount would look like it was from the stone age in comparison. Twice the number of gears. Index shifting. Brakes that work rain of shine. All this for one fifth the price. Just something to ponder.

Sad story - what did he say when you phoned him?

This thread reminded me of buying a brand new Paramount P-15 in 1972 for the then princely sum of $352. I was in the Air Force back then and somehow convinced my wife that I needed to spend all that money on a bicycle. It was silver mist in color, and based on the serial number, I think it was actually built in 1971. The top tube got dented slightly when my toddler son, who is now 37, knocked it over. I sent it back to the factory for repair and repainting, this time in black.

It was a wonderful bike... wish I still had it..but had to sell it shortly after buying my first house to make ends meet one particular month. An ad in the paper resulted in the mechanic from the shop that sold it to me buying the bike. I wonder what happened to it.

Thanks for reminding me.

Pete

Oh, man, you beat me to it !

He didn't say nothing, being dead and all ... Besides, being just the wheel building kid in the basement, I wasn't the one to make the call. Seems like we sold it on consignment for the widow. The dead guy had paid in full in advance, as I recall.

My dad's World Voyager was 222 dollars in 1973. I remember that it was a lot of money for a bike then, especially a schwinn. I imagine $575 really was huge bucks back then. It was two and a half, or three weeks work for me about then.

By the way, I had that same issue. I remember that photo on the front very well.

My buddy recently bought a brand new carbon fibre Kestrel SL with CF seat post, and crank, and it was 1700 hundred dollars. I think that he got a real bargain!

sorry 1700 dollars

Wow, looks like it was lost in the mail for quite some time!

In 1971 I spent a lot of time in a Baton Rouge bikes hop that had a $300 Schwinn in it.The bike was EXTREMELY LIGHT. I didn't have the good sense to buy that bike, Heck a plain jane Varsity or Continental was about $150 back then, so paying $300 for a bike that was about 60% of their weight wasn't really that expensive.
Rather stupidly/cheaply I bought a *** KOLKOFF (W German) for $110.It weighed about 33 lbs-10 speed.One of the chainstays broke away from the bottom bracket one day.I found a welder and he managed to tack/melt/bubble it back on.
$575 seems a tiny bit high for 1975.Schwinns were always really expensive then, and they might have had some agreement with their dealers that prevented their dealers from discounting.

Yeah, I was really smart passing on that Schwinn and getting that *** Kolkoff !

Charlie

There is an ad in another old issue of "Bike world" I have - proteus bikes would sell you a complete reynolds 531 tubeset, lugs, etc., + "instruction book" to bulid your own frame, for $65!

I have a local magazine dated June 1976, there is an ad for a Rolex Sub mariner watch for the princely sum of $490 in stainless steel, and $3,825 in 18k gold.

The Stainless one lists for $6,000 today.

Times have changed....... *sigh*

I guess they were a KILLER deal compared to the 70th anniversary frameset for $7000

I'll second the endorsement of the older machine's durability and repairability, as well as it ability to limp home with a broken spoke. For the average utility, recreational, or even club rider, a well-made high-end classic bike still makes a lot of sense. As for number of gear ratios, since I don't need or carry any really tall or low gears, I can easily get the tight ratio spacing I crave over my low-40s to mid-90s range with a 2x7 1.5-step or a 3x8 half-step-plus-granny setup.