abigscarybear

It's a Ken Evans build custom chromed and painted but thats all I know about it. I found it in the depths of the pic thread

paramount

I hope folks think this bike looks classy -- I just finished building it up and I'm really excited. It's a beautiful '71 chrome Paramount. First ride was fantastic, rides amazing. This is pretty much my dream bike. I spent a long, long time on this bike contemplating whether to keep it set up for the track or to make it a street bike, and in the end decided for the latter, and I'm so glad I did. I wanted it to look more modern, but still elegant. The record hubs are laced to 80's anodized Campy Omega clinchers -- I am thrilled with how they look and ride. I just took some crappy cell phone camera pics, not the most flattering but I just wanted to share with the forum:

eAspenwood

perfect.

dooktruck

^^^^^not quite needs straps

bexley

paramount, your bike is great. But why the plastic saddle?

Looking forward to more pics at a higher res.

paramount

Thanks - I tried to keep it as original as possible. That saddle is original, it was specific for track racing. It's a Cinelli Unicanitor. I believe it was pretty high-end in its day -- I guess it was the lightest material they had to work with at the time.

SingleSpeeDemon

That's amazing. My today's standards it looks like a cheap BMX saddle from the '90s. Great looking bike; is there an interesting story behind your acquisition?

paramount

I think Cinelli made those plastic saddles in colors, too, and I've seen them go for a lot on ebay. It is more comfortble than I thought it would be.

I'm not sure if it is interesting but the story is that I bought it from a really nice, older guy in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He posted it on Craigslist and a friend of mine out there tipped me off to it. I called him and asked if he'd be willing to ship it and he was a bit reluctant at first but I talked him into it. I don't think his Craigslist posting got any response because he didn't have any photos and didn't mention that it was chrome, and although I think it was a great bargain, he wasn't giving it away either. And I bought the bike sight unseen, which was nerve-wracking, but I instinctively trusted the guy. The fellow had owned the bike since the mid-70s, and he'd gotten it from the original owner. Not exactly sure how he wound up with it. He didn't race it, I think he just rode around town with it (so maybe Ann Arbor is where track bikes on the street started!). The bike had been sitting for many years and it looked a bit rough, but it was totally original and cleaned up beautifully. The bike shop in Ann Arbor that packed and shipped it to me was the same shop where the bike was originally purchased in 1971 -- the shop's sticker is still on the back of the seat tube. The guys at the bike shop thought that was pretty cool.

SingleSpeeDemon

That's a great story. Congrats on finding a great bike with a nice bit of history.

otismedina

Where did you get the rims? I have one omega rim, but the other one had major damage and was unusable. Is there a source for these type of vintage rims?

onetwentyeight 

my frejus is better ;P

nitpicking but IMHO bullhorns will never be classy, and the setback thomson post hurts...

bexley

Again, someone in C&V scores big. $150 in like-new condition. Not fair...just not fair.

bexley

Ok, well, this thread has just turned into my personal reason to look at classy bikes:

bbattle

Don't go into the C & V; those guys score incredible deals all the time. Best bike pr0n is over there.

abigscarybear

abigscarybear

Stert

are those drops below the top of the front wheel?

abigscarybear

why is this an issue? maybe the guy has really really really long arms

ADSR

This little pony just popped up on FGG today and made me think of this thread. The parts are a little extravagant to me, but the overall look is gorgeous.

SingleSpeeDemon

The seat stays are like daaaaaamn.

groove.jpg

bexley

Hrm, valiant effort, but the result is so-so to me. Not digging the text for the bridge or the cutout near the track end (flashy and poor design). The curved stays are cool, but they look out of place and a bit goofy/too-curved, but I think very few curved frames actually look good geometrically after the novelty of seeing the curves wears off.

Still, it looks to be exactly what the guy wanted, so I dig the bike in that sense.

Nothing about the yellow bike with the front rack?! Jeeesus, that thing gives me a rock hard *****.

SingleSpeeDemon

The fork gets me all tingly. I'd like to see the whole thing. I love round fork blades.

jdms mvp

that's actually a friend of mine

HelluvaStella

I love this thread so much.

eAspenwood