1983 Schwinn Superior/ Paramount? project is on the road!
#1
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1983 Schwinn Superior/ Paramount? project is on the road!
Greetings,
I’ve had this kind of mysterious Superior frame awhile and finally put it together. It’s an 83 Superior…last year they made them. It was likely made at Waterford as Paramount builds were being transitioned. It doesn’t have a typical Superior serial #. It matches up with early Waterford Paramount numbers…K8358 so it was built in October of 83. Probably one of the last Superiors? It has all the hallmarks of early Waterford Paramounts except for decals and paint. Head badge is odd too…yellow from earlier years.
It’s a nice bike and felt great on it's round the block maiden voyage. Will put a couple hours on it when it cools down this evening. I built it up pretty close to original. Gran Sport crank, NR? for rest of the bits. Pretty light compared to most of my bikes. Should be fun.
I’ve had this kind of mysterious Superior frame awhile and finally put it together. It’s an 83 Superior…last year they made them. It was likely made at Waterford as Paramount builds were being transitioned. It doesn’t have a typical Superior serial #. It matches up with early Waterford Paramount numbers…K8358 so it was built in October of 83. Probably one of the last Superiors? It has all the hallmarks of early Waterford Paramounts except for decals and paint. Head badge is odd too…yellow from earlier years.
It’s a nice bike and felt great on it's round the block maiden voyage. Will put a couple hours on it when it cools down this evening. I built it up pretty close to original. Gran Sport crank, NR? for rest of the bits. Pretty light compared to most of my bikes. Should be fun.
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That's beautiful. The paint is in amazing shape. Did you start with just a frameset only?
#3
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Thanks. Yes, I got the frame off eBay about 5 years ago not knowing much about Superiors. Paint has some bubbling in few spots and decals a little damaged but overall it looks like it wasn't ridden too much.
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Great bike. That badge is really cool.
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The lugs on the headtube and at the seat post look identical to my May '83 Paramount, as do the cable guide/stop braze-ons for the BB and right chainstay. The other similarity is the metalic flecks in the paint. That was a hallmark of the early Waterford Paramounts.
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I really like the "art deco" font of the decals on this model.
I've been looking for one in my size(that I can afford) for a couple of decades now. No luck yet.
My understanding is that, like the orange ones of the previous year or two, these frames were made up from leftover Paramount tube sets, but used a Tange fork.
I've been looking for one in my size(that I can afford) for a couple of decades now. No luck yet.
My understanding is that, like the orange ones of the previous year or two, these frames were made up from leftover Paramount tube sets, but used a Tange fork.
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Looks like they ran out of Nervex lugs - must be one of the last ones made.
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I *LOVE* those decals!
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The lugs on the headtube and at the seat post look identical to my May '83 Paramount, as do the cable guide/stop braze-ons for the BB and right chainstay. The other similarity is the metalic flecks in the paint. That was a hallmark of the early Waterford Paramounts.
Possibly a warranty replacement after Superior production was over?
-Kurt
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Superimount?
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I know this is a Zombie, but stumbled upon this after reading a current Superior thread and loved the @madpogue "Superimount?" quote. Then when looking at the '83 catalog it seems to confirm "Superimount?" to be exactly what it is, notice the first line of the description. Different than the '81-'82, 1st mention in catalogs of Paramount Design Group.
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I have a 1983 Paramount and it's a great bike, but these decals are cooler.
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I know this is a Zombie, but stumbled upon this after reading a current Superior thread and loved the @madpogue "Superimount?" quote. Then when looking at the '83 catalog it seems to confirm "Superimount?" to be exactly what it is, notice the first line of the description. Different than the '81-'82, 1st mention in catalogs of Paramount Design Group.
The catalog wording suggests that the production moved location, but not necessarily that the bike would be built identical to a PDG Paramount. We (obviously) know from the OP's bike that they did paint and sell at least one '83 Paramount-pattern frame as a Superior, but we still don't know for sure if the catalog was worded foreseeing that they'd run out of old-pattern frames mid-run or if they had PDG build the remaining old-pattern frames.
It's been a slog getting the Excel files from ALL the existing Paramount databases conformed to something that the PHP-based Headbadge replacement site can work from, but there will be a completely new, stand-alone Superior registry eventually. Perhaps once we have all the serials and photos in a row, some observable conclusions will come to light.
-Kurt
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https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...k-failure.html
The Superior was in production at about the same time the Trek fork debacle happened. It wouldn't be out of the question to assume that some of the Superior fork replacements during refinishing were motivated by the buzz around forks with of this crown design failing. Unlike today, these bikes were new at the time and would have been much more prominent in daily discussion. Plus, no internet for verification; only a rumor mill tied to the original recall.
-Kurt