jamesdak 

Most of my good bike shots are taken with an old Canon 5D using a wonderful Leica 60/2.8 macro.

Kent T

In that era, I call these close to Paramounts, nicer than the usual Schwinn models. I call these the Near Paramounts. Close enough to be worthy.

UKFan4Sure

Your photography is absolutely stunning! Talent on loan from the man upstairs, for sure!

76SLT 

78 was the last year for the Chicago Superior. They were very nice for the time but I think the 80s line up mentioned earlier were lighter, and had nicer components probably. Here's my 78 I bought new in 79, and still ride today.

UKFan4Sure

This is so gorgeous.... WOW!

3alarmer 

...the Peleton was a pretty good Japanese production bike, when they were selling them.




...all of the Waterford production Paramounts seem to be pretty nice riding frames. The ones with indexed Dura Ace work especially well if you don't require a huge gearing range.




...the ones that seem to draw the most Ooohs and Aaahs, (and command the highest prices, IME,) would be any of the full chrome Chicago Paramount cage bikes. This is a P-15.




Honestly, it's a mistake to call anything "best" when referencing the entire history of production Schwinn's.

nomadmax 

I vote Varsity.

Varsitys have carried papers, been used as commuters, gravel bikes and surely had a hand in making the rider's legs stronger, especially uphill

UKFan4Sure

I really like those, specifically the Schwinn font on the gray one...

shoota 

Shots fired.

sdn40

Funny you say that as I really wanted that font for a project. Sadly not available.

rideandgoseek 

Not sure about best but chrome Paramounts gotta be the prettiest

Lascauxcaveman 

Them's fightin' words.

Give me Schwinn Bantam, or give me death! Or just give me one for my 7th birthday, like my grandma did

merziac

Here's one of em.

1958 Paramount

mitchmellow62

Let's tack and alter course slightly. A. D. Carson of Recycled Recumbent says "the best bike is the one you'll ride". I'll alter that a little and for this discussion say the best Schwinn is the one you own, ride and enjoy. I have one "collector"(non Schwinn) that hangs on the garage wall and I wish I had never bought. Too afraid I'll ding it up. For me, the "best" is a 1989 Voyageur that was bought new. Of course, it's "best" in my mind because of all the miles and memories we share. Could use a paint job but that's probably not going to happen. The latest "cheap" find is a 1999 Peloton (I know, not a REAL Schwinn) with 853 frame. Some have called it the best ride they have owned. I'm hoping that is true.

mstateglfr 

Paramounts all the way up until somewhere in the mid80s were nice looking, but basically 1 Imron color with some usually curly lugs.
Meh- neat an all, but nothing moving for me.


The PDG Paramounts look fast. They look fun. They are well built too. I would take one of those over a random 70s Paramount for sure.
This is also why I am more drawn to the late 80s upper level Prestige tubed Schwinn bikes- they are well built and look fast. Fades are fun.

mstateglfr 

I dont doubt any of this, but its funny to me since Schwinn did the same thing 20 years prior when they had Panasonic build the World Voyageur, which was seen as near equal in quality to the Paramount for something like half the cost(heavy paraphrasing based on what I remember reading).
By the early 90s, all Schwinn needed to do was look at bikes Panasonic made under their own label and for other brands in the prior handful of years to see that they could make bikes worthy of the Paramount name.

jamesdak 

Yeah, if you dig around a bit you'll find the quotes from Richard Schwinn on all of this. Been discussed in full on many of the threads of the PDG series bikes. I don't know how many were made but there's probably 1/2 floating around on the forums here.

dmark 

Why not; everyone else did.

thumpism 

They really should have made a Pixiemount.

Kent T

The 1981 Traveler was a lot of bike for the money. And mine was a reliable, faithful steed, who's frame outlasted several iterations of componentry, and never let me down with good maintenance. Got over 40,000 great miles of riding out of it, pure pleasure. Panasonic quality for the win, my pauper's Paramount. I love same era Le Tours and Voyageurs. In this case, I say Panasonic got really close to Paramount quality for 1/4 the Paramount price with the Traveler. A Velo Classic Bargain!!!

Kent T

I like Tange tubing as well as I like Reynolds tubing. And quite a few of my favorite bikes used it, including my present Bridgestone. I can't argue with this post of yours one bit. It's all in how the bike rides. One of my favorite bikes I ever owned was a less expensive Japanese built Schwinn, in this case a 1981 Blue Traveler, (Panasonic built).

Whit51 

The 93ish Waterford Paramount with 753 tubes gets my vote. I also like the late 80s Columbus Circuits. I have got to say another strong contender is the Tenax Voyageur. Takes wide tires, touring configuration but very light and responsive. Of course there are lots of Schwinns I have not ridden.

The Golden Boy 

The "best" subjectivity is so... subjective.

The Panasonic built 84 and 85 Schwinn Voyageur SP bikes were outrageously prestigious. First, and foremost- it was a "Schwinn." The frame and fork were Columbus SL or SL/SP mix- some would place SL/SP ahead of 531. The components were all top of the line stuff- All the best Suntour/SR/Sugino/Dia/GranCompe had to offer. Suntour sealed bearing hubs and bottom bracket, Mountech FD, and LeTech (84) and XC (85) RD, SR Four'Sir seat post and stem, DC981 cantilevers, and Gran Compe drilled levers, Sugino AT crankset, Wolber/Super Champion Model 58 rims (36 spoke front/ 40 spoke rear)...

I don't know how much the 84/85 VSP sold for- but it was a serious machine. My personal opinion is that the 85 was cooler because it came with the XC rear derailleur instead of the triple pivot LeTech of the 84. I have an 84 and it's a really cool bike.

RiddleOfSteel

I've had the fortune of riding and owning a number of Schwinn luminaries. There are several I've yet to experience, primarily a '70s P13 as I think it would be a perfect blend of the 531-era Chicago/Racine ride with Waterford-era road/race geometry.

All that to say, my short(?) answer to this question is my '74 Paramount P15 touring. The geometry matches previous Paramounts going back into the '60s (if I'm remembering correctly), so it covers a range of years and is thus a possible known quantity. My '74 has always been a strong-feeling frame. It's stable, with nice medium trail that doesn't flop or demand speed. It gets up and goes when called upon for out-of-saddle efforts, always willing to rock back and forth (a trait not all bikes/frames possess). Never whippy, but with good wheels and tires, supple and extremely smooth. A stiff set of wheels (even with 35mm tires!) brings out surprisingly-increased response and sharpness when climbing or accelerating out of the saddle. I've had mine in a number of configurations from period correct to fully modernized, and the modern pieces bring out the best in the frameset, allowing its true character to show. Queen of the Fleet status, unquestionably.



A second entry, perhaps in the post-1980 Schwinn era, in my opinion, goes to my This Is The Real Paramount 1987 Prologue. Tange Prestige in an accommodating, lithe, sinuous, sharp package. Oh, and the Di2 takes it to another level.

thook

now, why couldn't schwinn have raked all their forks like those? that elegant, smooth transitioning, low, graceful curve. the super le tour fork of my '85 reminds me of surly's forks. like someone didn't quite have the knack for bending. a bit of a kink just before it kinda goes nearly just straight down to the fork end. hmph

as a note, it's only now occurred to me....riv's forks look much like those directly above