jlmonte

Doing some research it's a 58 inch frame made in 1990 per serial number on the Waterford site.
Also from the Waterford site..
"The addition of the OS Paramount kept up demand for Paramounts even as the overall road racing market was collapsing. Paramount continued making the “Standard” (Columbus tubing) frames through late 1990, though the OS really took over. In 1992, PDG introduced the heat treated version of the OS tubeset. Heat treating allowed PDG to lighten up the tubeset still further. During the early 1990’s, Schwinn began importing Paramount-branded bikes from Asia as part of an effort to grow Schwinn’s upper-end presence. This caused quite a bit of consternation among Paramount owners, who began to call their bikes Waterford Paramounts after the factory."

Sure enough, I have a 1992, Bicycling Buyer's Guide that list a Paramount Road OS with Dura-Ace STI with Tange Paramount tubing, The guide also list Paramount Series 3, 5, 7 with Tange #188.
Since the chain stay says "Designed and Handcrafted..." I assume it's not an import, and maybe the custom True Temper?

Now this is all educated guessing on my part. So given the frame material, I am curious what modern groupset I should use to build it up? I was thinking 105, but that might cheapen the frame. Maybe SRAM, though I'm not familiar enough to select. I am a Chorus fan, though I think that is overkill. Of course the safe bet is Ultegra, boring.

Mulberry20

How about Campy Potenza? I have seen many pictures of that groupset on vintage frames. SRAM is a good idea since it is an American frame and SRAM is as well.

tkamd73 

I have the same frame, just bigger and in red. Built it up twice, first with a nos 105 (1055) group set, and Campy Omicron rims, second time Dura Ace 7400, with Campy dual pivot calipers, and Velocity A23 rims. If I do it a third time, I’m going back to the 1055 105 group set, with the Velocity wheels. The Dura Ace, Campy stuff sure is pretty, but the 105 stuff just worked better.
Tim


Shimano 105

Dura-Ace / Campy

Leinster

I don't think 105 cheapens any frame.

I've just built up a steel frame of similar vintage with Athena parts that I was able to find on the Bay, and I love it. I went with the silver finish where I could.

I don't like the look of Potenza, I wish they'd kept Athena in the lineup.

veganbikes

Ultegra is boring? Ultegra has been some of the best looking groupsets in Shimano's line up. Arabesque, 600 Tri Color, 6800. Sure I will admit the 9 speed era goes to Dura-Ace for the 25th anniversary (and everything else looked like crap).

I would more say 105 is boring (minus golden arrow) but not in a bad way at all just in that it is a good reliable groupset at a low price

I would go Campanoglios because I think it will fit the bike well. Granted I also just selfishly want one myself but sadly they don't make useful groupsets to fit my current needs for groupsets.

jlmonte

Thanks for the pictures. I was having problems finding an example bike. The silver components look very traditional and sharp. I am struggling on period 90’s or current modern. The complete bike should not try to compete with carbon frames, but maybe an Eroica vibe.
​

By “boring”. I mean to say a lack of creative effort on the selection process and 105 is just practical. I have an early STI 105 group that was powder coated. Worked great, but preferred my Sun Tour Cyclone.

Lastly, Campagnolo does suggest performance this frames maybe too old to justify, unless as suggested, Potenza.

I’m assuming the frame is worth $600 to $800,, any guesses? Another $1200 build kit makes it a nice $2,000+ bike?

mstateglfr 

I dont know why Campy suggests performance. If you go by those who perform on bikes, how many teams ride Campy? How much Campy do you see in local crits?
Out of the UCI teams, 2 are sram, 3 are campy, and 14 are shimano.

Modern 105 is excellent. Modern ultegra is excellent. Either would look great on that frame with some modern bars and modern 28mm deep wheels.

jlmonte

I agree.
I was conditioned to believe Nuovo Record, along with Superbe & Dura-Ace, was for the pros while Super Record was for world record attempts. I also related Reynold 531 and 753 with Nuovo and Super respectively. Along the same thinking for Columbus SL/SLX, and TSX.

If memory serves me, Athena entered Campagnolo into a enthusiast consumer base. I always appreciated Shimano 600 and Ultegra hitting an enthusiast performance price point. I think this frame was for this level rider.

shelbyfv

DA 7800 would be a good choice. The nicest silver group, IMO. FWIW, the fork also identifies your bike as US built. The "Series" bikes had unicrown. They also had really nice internal brake cable routing, so who can figure?

Darth Lefty 

If you want something shiny and a bit more modern that still has the 1990s soap-bar styling, the last generation of Campagnolo Athena 11 gets my vote. Centaur 10 has similar styling at a lower level. They were available triple with longer RD’s too, if that’s something you need.

jlmonte

thank you, so definitely not a series, got it! So from the 1992 Buyers Guide, if it was offered as a complete bike( (in 1990) would have likely been Dura-Ace.

@Darth Lefty I was thinking about bike use. May not need a triple, and leaning toward compact cranks if I go current year group set. But yes, I like Athena, while finding new old stock might not be cost effective. Turn out it’s a sellers market for parts,

I still doing SRAM research.

veganbikes

It's a nice bike made at the Waterford Factory a new bike from them is going to be at least 2k but probably more with their handmade fork. It is also some nice paint. I would put something nice on it.

Agreed with the comment on Campy and performance they do have fewer teams in the pro-peloton using their stuff but it is still a good company making some excellent groupsets that are high quality and well performing.

trainman999

Thats a top of the line frame it deserves to be wearing Record. Paramounts wore the best avalible when they came as complete bikes. Yours was a frame built up at the bike shop with watever the buyed wanted