pnwgopher

Yesterday I decided to take a chance on a local CL ad; minimal details with only one blurry picture (below), but luckily he listed the serial number, so i knew it at least was a 63cm waterford made frame made in 1986.

I get there, see that the chain is rusted solid, and there's some pretty nasty rust on the driveside chainstay. At quick glance there are some decent parts and a lot of potential, so I figure it's worth the risk and make an offer and take it home.

So when I got the bike home, what do I notice? Not only does this bike have eyelets galore (front and rear dropouts, mid-fork, and seat stays), but it has an extra set of bottle bosses on the underside of the downtube, and it came with a very nice set of 27 inch wheels and tons of clearance (and the chainstays are crimped). It's clearly sat for a long time and this will need a complete overhaul... but this should be fun.

As I brought it home:






Does anyone have info about Waterford-made touring paramounts? In the 1985 Schwinn catalog there's a mention of a "Touring configuration with all the braze-ons features you expect from the best" - but I couldn't find any other details, and nothing's mentioned in the 86 catalog. I'm curious how this will compare with my 89 (road) paramount; the seat tube (63.5cm ctt) and top tube (58cm) match catalog specs listed for the later-made waterford paramounts of this size, but they had to have tinkered with the geo a bit to accommodate the 27 inch wheels, right?

Bad Lag

Good score - that thing looks just thing side of unused. It was improperly stored, hence, the corrosion.

Is that chain stay okay? That does not look like surface rust to me.

Will you repaint it?

pnwgopher

The chainstay does look pretty nasty; I'm going to sand it down soon and see how it looks underneath. Fingers crossed. If that looks okay and I can get away without repainting the whole thing I'll be pretty happy - I think I can come up with a few tricks for disguising just that bit pretty easily.

smd4

I don't recall ever seeing or hearing about a "touring" version of the Paramount back then, but this does seem to have a lot of calling cards from that period. Was this perhaps some kind of a custom order? Perhaps by a good dealer?

I had a 60 cm version in this very same "electric blue." Gorgeous bike...

John E

Replace those brake pads with KoolStops for your own safety. Otherwise, it looks like a really cool bike and a good score.

trainman999

Nice Score !!! Here is the link to the 1982 Paramount cataloug theTouring Paramount frame dimentions and angles are likley the same as yours they are on the last two pages. https://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCa...1982_pb01.html
86 came as frame, fork,and headset. Use Evapro rust on the chainstay Dont sandpaper it it is chrome. If it looks really pitted after Evapro rust have a knolageable mechanic or a frame builder check it
Here is its smaller and 2 year older brother with the factory cantilever brake option

84 Touring Paramount

himespau 

Beauty. Just my size too. Very jealous.

merziac

@pnwgopher

What a fantastic get, especially in light of the recent Waterford news.

Hopefully and I doubt there is anything truly life threatening there.

Some elbow grease and creative camo should wind this right up, can't wait to see how it goes.

Also don't know anything about "touring" model and don't think it matters much here anyway, this bike can likely be just about anything you want it to be.

Very, very jelly.

Mr. 66

Oh that looks pretty nifty. Can't wait to see how he cleans up. Looks to have enough reach on the calipers for 700.

RiddleOfSteel

Awesome score!! Apart from whatever may be in catalogs or said by others, I don't have any information. I have seen a few '80s-era Paramount tourer threads pop up here over the years, some have cantilever brakes, others standard reach like yours. Looks like yours is a 25"/63.5cm or very close--serial number should tell more of its spec. I didn't know that the early '80s even had standardized geometry availability as tall as 26"/66cm. Later catalogs seemed to just stop at 25" until the late-'80s where 66cm and later 68cm geometries were listed. I definitely would like to ride one of these Waterford tourers with 531 instead of the usual Columbus tubing. In a 26" size. Lol, another unicorn to find!

beicster 

I have a 63.5cm 84 touring in red. I know the head angle is 72 and I think the seat tube is 74. It had 80mm of bottom bracket drop.

Mine has 700c wheels. It can take 32’s with fenders and 35’s without. It will also take 38’s if you are comfortable with close clearance in the chain stays.

I hope it works out and the chainstay isn’t damaged. They have a nice ride.

Pompiere

I was the prior owner of beicster's bike. So, this one makes only the second time I have seen a touring model of a Waterford Paramount. I never loaded it up with a touring load, but it sure was nice to ride unloaded. I only sold it because it was too big for me, but it was fun while it lasted. I took some pictures with 700x37 Pasela tires before I passed it on . They actually measure closer to 35mm wide.


fork clearance

rear brake bridge

chain stay

thumpism 

Here's my touring of that vintage in 63.5 and refrigerator white, ordered while I was working in a shop in Seattle. I'm running 32C tires with okay clearance.

pnwgopher

You guys are amazing- thanks all for the info and @thumpism @Pompiere and @trainman999 for sharing pictures of your own waterford touring paramounts. I haven't had much time to play around with it yet, but am really looking forward to stripping it down and cleaning it up. Will keep you all posted.

trainman999

pnwgopher Would you consider adding this bike to the new Headbadge Paramount Regestry when it goes live in the next month or 2. There don't seem tp be many Tourist models in the Waterford era

Vintage_Cyclist

Wrap in cloth bar tape and shellac the crap out of it.

beicster 

Thought you might appreciate this. I think I got this off a post here from Scooper. (note, the rake is wrong on the larger touring frames.)

pnwgopher

Amazing! Just what I was looking for- thanks for sharing.

smd4

Awesome! The 1986 touring Paramount must be one of rarest of the rare. Not even mentioned in “The Grand Touring Magazine” of the era.

beicster 

This is mine.

Lattz

Congrats, it looks like someone bought it, might rode it to the car, drove home, and let it outside for a year or two.... neglected, but almost NOS

pnwgopher

I finally had time to strip it down; everything played nice and came off easily, and it cleaned up really well with just a light wash:


I got scared when i pulled the seatpost, but this isn't too bad and nothing a little steel wool shouldn't make quick work of.




I suspect that this bike was either never ridden, or was used lightly for a time and then completely overhauled with fresh parts and then left to sit; the drivetrain looks like it's never seen a mile, the brake track has never been touched, and the brake pads are new and were installed backwards.

Generally, the paint looks fantastic:


But the real bummer here is that there are rust bubbles and worms under the paint in quite a few spots other than the really bad chainstay- it's a shame that this was left outside in the elements over the last winter. I am wondering if these rust spots are bad enough that they need to be sanded out or indicative of the frame rusting from the inside out- I'm curious to hear what you all think.

pnwgopher

This is probably the worst of it. Sadly I think this means I'm going to have to consider sanding down and inspecting all of these areas... and then maybe powdercoating. Or maybe giving this the OA bath treatment? I need to read up on those recent threads. Hopefully it doesn't look too bad under the paint.

pnwgopher

update: the rust was bad enough that I decided to get the frame sandblasted and powder coated (illusion cherry), and he did a really great job - pictures don't do this justice. I coated the inside of the tubes with boeshield t9, and am really excited to build this up and get it back on the road again. Thinking of going with a modern black groupset.

SwimmerMike 

Wow. That turned out great. I really like how it turned out.