Double Vision: Chrome Paramounts descend amongst us mortals
 

I snapped these shots while preparing for a thread about Crawford Decals' new Paramount transfers. Enjoy.

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_1.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_2.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_3.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_4.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_5.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_6.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_7.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_8.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_9.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_10.jpg

-Kurt

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_11.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_12.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_13.jpg

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_14.jpg

-Kurt

Very theological! See Genesis 13:2. Here's my paraphrase based on "The Message."

"By now Abram (sic. Kurt) was very rich, loaded with classic bicycles, and especially with silver and gold Schwinns and Raleighs."

You know, I've always found the curve on the Weinmann levers more visually appealing to me than the curve on Campagnolo levers. This is a great picture as to why.

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount_seeingdouble_11.jpg

Don't forget Peugeots ;)

Long-reach Campag levers are generally not as graceful to work with as standard-reach Campag levers.

The standard-reach levers are a bit more visually appealing, but setting ANY lever to look good on the Campione Del Mundo handlebars isn't easy.

-Kurt

O, beware, my lord, of jealousy!
It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
The meat it feeds on.
- William Shakespeare

(You see Kurt? You even got old Bill going! :thumb: )

Duplicates..................what is the point?

No they aren't...many, many subtle differences. ;)

Aaron :)

More things different than in common haha. Very cool.

Kurt-

How do you approach wrapping the bars without damaging the hoods (I assume you don't curl them upwards) and how do you get such a clean finish at the top end of the bar?

Thanks

You've clearly never seen a double mint commercial.

<thread hijack in progress>

Who, what, when, where, why and how does one get their frame chrome plated (and have it done well)?

<thread returned to you>

No secret I'm not a Schwinn guy but HO-LEEEE BUCKETS Kurt, that's mighty impressive. Wow.

I seem to think they just take the lever off somehow.


Platers will seem to do it, and why? Because it's awesome. These were factory though.

They came that way. Its hard to get "Real" Chrome done now.

Mike, CyclArt does premium chrome plating, and they do it right (e.g. they dispose of hazmats legally).

There's an article describing the process on CyclArt's website HERE. Doing it right, especially doing the prep work correctly to get a blemish free mirror-like finish, is pretty labor intensive.

CyclArt Price List. Scroll down to "New Chrome Plating & Masking"....

I'm not normally much of a Paramount guy either...they were considered a bit of a joke by the time I was riding...but some of them, like these, make me ready to hail Waterford in the morning. Every now and then I still regret not buying Jim's when I had the chance.

Far from it. I started another thread about the P13 geometry revision of 1971:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...New-quot-P13-s

I wrap top down so they're flush at the top (Eddy style), and as for the levers, I follow Ray Dobbins' bar wrap trick:

http://www.raydobbins.com/molteni_replica/molteni_tip

That's RobbieTunes' line.

-Kurt

Ahhh I see, Thanks!

Visually appealing, maybe, but I find them really uncomfortable to use. I have very large hands, and they are still awkward to grip.

They're not bad on the Giro bars. Not outstanding, but not bad at all.

My favorites are the medium-reach Weinmann levers on my '61:

http://www.jaysmarine.com/paramount61_091509_6.jpg

-Kurt

If anyone's interested, there's a 25" chrome Paramount frame for sale at Portland's Community Cycling Center. It looks to be in reasonably good shape but lacks most of the decals (so I'm going by what the shop has on the tag). The tag notes that there's a little rust near the BB and a couple dents in the downtube. Still... mighty tempting, particularly since it's my size and I have a bunch of Campy NR parts looking for a home.

Sigh- too many projects right now anyway.

What's the price? I might be interested if you intend to pass.

-Kurt

Jeff,

If you don't need chrome, rust, nor dents, :twitchy: I could help you out with this 25" coppertone P. :o Let Kurt deal with the chrome restoration. He loves to block, align, and polish! :thumb:

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/f...0/DSC00432.jpg

Though never a Paramount fan, for personal reasons, I find your bicycles stunning in their presentation.

I was considering chrome plating my Cyclops (yes, I have found the perfect vintage road bicycle for me), until I saw how much $$$ chrome plating is these days! That said, I am still going to have a look at the idea but through different sources.

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