trainman999

Congratulations sd5782 you are now a member of THE PARAMOUNT club. There were only a few hundred of these built at $2500-3000 or $950 + for a frame and fork.. Dissemble it, give it a bath, two or three coats of wax. Remember Evapro Rust is your friend for its neglected steel parts. Your bike will be looking fine. It’s younger brother says Hello he is May of 83 and a 56cm

Here is a link to the Eleite Paramount cataloug pages https://waterfordbikes.com/SchwinnCa...1982_pb01.html

Drillium Dude 

My information (I added a little more to my earlier post to clear any confusion) came from the old Bicycling magazine article. In addition to the frame/fork going for $950 and the "money is no object" built-up bike at $2500, there was a third option: at $500, a stock Paramount with more radical angles, designed purely for racing. The article is a good read - I remember it from back in the day. You can check it out right here on Bike Forums: Road Test Bike Review 1983 Schwinn Paramount

DD

sd5782 

I am cleaning this bike up now. I took off the wiring for the old speedo and the pump and pulled the wheels and seat and stem to give it all a look over. I will post some better pics of components next week to get some input on what is actually period correct. There are some significant scratches on a seatstay but no dents. Paint condition is acceptable and decals would rate poor. I won’t attempt to change anything there.

The stem was a bit of a challenge to loosen and the seat post has marks on the very top as If it was stuck at one time. I did get the derailleur cables to free up a bit which I am glad about as I didn’t want to get involved with cables and bar wrap if I was going to part with this. I do find the rd interesting and I may keep it. The cage plate is stamped 13-36=36-54 and it shifted the Shimano 600 13-32 freewheel just fine.

Rims are newer looking Open 4cd with bladed spokes on campy low flange hubs which look original. Frame is spaced 99.5 front and 122 rear which required a firm rap on rear wheel to get out of frame. Also of note is the sealed bb positions the small chainring very close to the chainstay; like 2 mm. I therefore won’t be pulling and reinstalling the crank. It looks like a spacer washer is advised here and there is a common style locknut on the nds.

The lady also had a vintage Santana tandem that she said she put thousands of miles on with her husband. I believe she said it was also custom as she was short of stature. It also has barcons with TA cranks and half step plus granny gearing. It looked like fillet brazing on that. She wanted a good home for that one too and said she may have found an interested party.

I’ve had some unsolicited interest on this Paramount and will eventually work with the folks here to not step on toes. Perhaps I will go to the local bike shop and see about shipping as I also have a very nice 85 Ironman currently for sale that would sell faster with shipping. I also will have a small Ross Triad frame with some parts in the future. I’m surprised that one didn’t have more drooling going on as I understand that is from noted American frame builders too of this era and of Columbus tubing. Thanks all for the input and advice.

pastorbobnlnh 

Drillium Dude thanks for linking that article from SpeedofLite . I missed it due to all the early COVID-19 pressures I was dealing with at the time with the church (retirement is great ). That is the first time I've ever read the Elite framesets could be ordered for $950. I had only seen the $2500 price mentioned in the "build it anyway you want."

I did know that my May 1983 Standard (with the rainbow decals) was sold as a frameset only. It was also originally ordered by a Schwinn LBS owner in the Atlanta area. He built it with a mix of Campagnolo Record (crankset, shifters, brakes and hubs) and Suntour Cyclone M-II (RD and FD).

merziac as best I know, there were no 1980 Paramounts from either Chicago or Waterford. There were 1980-83 Superiors built from leftover Reynolds 531 tubing and are often referred to as "Baby Paramounts."

As trainman999 mentions, very few Elites were built during 1981, '82 and '83. Standards with rainbow decals were offered early in 1983. However, sometime in the fall of 1984, the Standard rainbow decals were phased out and the more traditional decals of Waterford Paramounts were introduced. Sometime in mid to late 1984 the Serial Number was moved from the left rear dropout to the the BB shell and changed from the Chicago style to the new Waterford self-describing style. Finally, the shifter cable routing was moved from above the BB shell to the underside, at approximately the same time during 1984.

These are all subtle differences which help to date the earliest Waterford Paramounts. As you might notice in the Bicycling article, the left rear dropout has no Serial Number. I'm guessing this is because it was a test/review model which was eventually returned. I've seen a few other instances where an early Waterford Paramount does not appear to have a serial number. However, in most of those cases I suspect the number is filled with paint on the left rear dropout, similar to mine, which needed wax in order to be read.

merziac

I think that RD is the last and latest version of Rally that may have used the same body as the SR or was made to look the same.

Interesting thing is, the touring model in the factory catalog [MENTION=176579]trainman999 linked looks to be a NR with a long cage on it, not something I would expect from the factory. It calls out a Rally in the component/option list but I don't think the one in the pic is an actual Rally.

Also interesting is that RD but no triple crankset that is also listed, maybe the photoshoot got ahead of the program and they put together what they had not wanting to use an older version Rally that was having a bad rap by then.

sd5782 

Well, I got this bike somewhat road worthy to take a spin on. It is way big for me. Better measuring showed it to be 64 ctc on seat tube and 60 on top tube. Rear shifting wasn’t great, but then I noticed after my short spin that the chain was somewhat slack with perhaps excess chain length. I wonder about the long cage rd and the freewheel with little wear and very clean teeth. Perhaps it was a later addition for an aging rider and wasn’t set up properly.

The 6 speed Shimano 600 is 13-14-17-21-26-32. Plugging that into the gear calculators comes up with a very poor choice. I would think whoever gets this bike will probably go with a 14-28 and a short cage. The ride seemed lively and responsive without being twitchy. The paint was a bit poorer than I thought with scratches and such. I will get some better pics asking about the components and valuation in the near future. I don’t see myself tearing this down for bearings and lube, as it is not really too rideable by me which is a shame. Perhaps a trade candidate for an early 70s touring triple version?

sd5782 

I posted this one in the valuation thread. If anyone has any insights, I would be glad to hear.

albrt 

The bike fits me perfectly so SD and I worked out a deal yesterday. Took the bike for a 56 mile ride today - it's a great bike and I expect to keep it for quite a while. I haven't decided on any changes, just minor adjustments. I'm supposed to go visit the original owner's sister this weekend.

pastorbobnlnh 

This is great news! Keeps another fine example of Paramount history in the C&V family.