john m flores 

What percentage of bikes from that era that you acquired have had Flickstands?

Even if 20% of bikes from that era had Flickstands (not likely), this one accessory increases the likelihood of this being the OP's bike considerably.

The Golden Boy 

Around 30 years ago I acquired a guitar that had the neck snapped off. It was an early 1970s Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, and most of the parts were on it and it came with a case that was covered in stickers. Short story long, I cleaned the stickers off the case and found a "FEAR" stencil on the case. Suddenly a smashed Les Paul made sense- clearly, "the guy from FEAR" smashed this Les Paul- I mean, who else would smash a relatively expensive guitar except someone from a legendary punk rock band, so I was pretty excited about that as I shelled out a metric ton of money getting that guitar rebuilt.

A few years later I found out the truth... The guitar actually used to belong to a guy who was a friend- he was in a band with a bunch of other drunk kids and they made a "FEAR" stencil and started stenciling everything in sight. He showed me some pallets in his studio with the same stencil. The guitar was smashed by a drunk friend. Not Lee Ving or some other guy in FEAR.


Around the same time, I was in a band- we had a rehearsal studio in Grafton WI. It had been a recording studio at one time. It had a control room and nice baffled rooms and it was in a REALLY old building. (it was actually off the street and a dentist office had been built between the street and the studio in the 70s) I found out that many old blues records from the 1910s-1920s were released on Paramount records, and Paramount recorded their records at their studio in Grafton. (what are the odds that a label brought people up from the Deep South and Chicago to record in Grafton WI???- But they did.). So, of course- how many recording studios could be in really old buildings in, of all places, Grafton WI? I'm CONVINCED to my bones that our rehearsal studios were in the old Paramount studios... I have visions of Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson making their way back there. There was no other possibility. It's freaking Grafton. This is the early 90s, there was no internet- just whatever books were around and no real way of finding out the address of Paramount studios...

And, of course, years later I find out that the old Paramount Studios and the associated record plant were demolished in the 1930s


In both cases, I really wanted to believe it. There was just enough evidence, and enough plausibility to make me believe.

And for what it's worth- I still would have dumped all that money into that guitar even without any suspected FEAR provenance- it had been my plan all along. And for what THAT'S worth- the guitar turned out just OK.

The Golden Boy 

Just a cursory search for "Rhode Gear" and "Flickstand" will give you plenty of results- nation wide.

As far as a Flickstand goes- they're easy to put on and remove- IIRC, 2 screws- same as if one were to put on Cannondale mounting hooks- and using a Cannondale bag as an identification point. Additionally, the plastic can become brittle and break over the course of 35+ years.

I guess I'm more or less just saying that the odds are against it- as much as you'd want to believe it- and as much ordinary evidence points at provenance- and even if the odds were in favor of- that bike is beat to **** and they want $300 for it. And you have to get it to FL.

On the other hand, my brother in law sold his 1969 Firebird in like 2015- around 5 years ago he went on a mission to find his car- he didn't remember who bought it, he had the VIN but it had not been re-registered. Through a series of completely unlikely events- he found his old car. The guy that bought it had plans to completely mod it- and had put it in storage, bought some parts and never touched it. When my brother in law found it, it still had HIS garbage in the trunk and console- and he was able to buy it back.

BikePower

is it really a small point? Ive been thinking. On my photo the flipstand covers the S on the right side of the bike. Since in the ad the flipstand is covering the S on the left side of the bike, does that mean its a different size flipstand that it could be that far off from the proper location to just reach the tire to hold it? Unless its different size tires? If its a different size flipstand then its existence is altogether irrelevant and a main evidence for it being my bike has evaporated.

BikePower

when i first did that i searched for flipstand and found nothing, thus giving me the impression that it was ultra rare and seeing it on the Paragon in its last known location was mathematically astonishing to me. Now I know its pronounced flickstand not flipstand and we get loads of used flickstands on ebay thus diminishing the statistical probability that this is my bike to a profound degree. Am I wrong?

Chuck M 

hazetguy , do you have any photos of the handlebars on the Paragon you had showing the markings? If the OP can get the seller to provide photos of the bike's current bars and the bars do not seem to be original this would further lend to the possibility that the bars were replaced. And if someone wanted to replace the cut bars the OP had with drops, they may have been apt to install a saddle they preferred.

The Golden Boy 

I think there's a probability that it's your bike. You have just enough pieces that match up. Who doesn't love solving a good mystery with a happy ending?!?

I also don't want you sending someone $300 for a beat up bike that isn't yours. Especially if that bike isn't even worth $300. Especially if your budget is limited.

Did I mention my first 10 speed was a Ross back in 1981-ish? I grew up around 40 miles south of you.

BikePower

Ive been to Grafton before a time or two. I dont remember much about it other than it was nice.

Im pretty sure its my bike but I realize we as human beings can talk ourselves into or out of believing just about anything.

Ive tried to be as rational and objective as possible. Obviously this bike means a lot to me and Im hoping for the best.

In a few minutes I am expecting a report with photos from a local expert who is traveling to see the bike in person.

Ive asked him to check the bars, date code and the chain protector and the Suntour Superbe rear derailleuer to see if the marks from my wipe out are still there.

Im 80% sure i bought the bike between sep 83 and july 84 so if the date code is in that range it would be strong.

BikePower

I just received photos of the Suntour Superbe and it has the scuff from the spill I took on it when I was 15 or 16 iirc. The serial number date 0483 is in the right range when I bought the bike in 83 or early 84 and I have positively identified the bike as mine!!!! I have no doubt that it is my bike!

Furthermore it is actually in good shape much better than it shows in the pictures.

Handlebars are SR alloy but in one of the pics it looks as though the bars have a groove in them for a cable which I dont think was original to the bike because of the groove. Didnt grooved bars come along later on?

Also I dont believe the stem is original because it is so short. Its my feeling that the original stem and cutoff bars were just replaced as a unit. The metal caps in the bars are the same kind I installed so maybe they reused those.

The Velo seat is not original in 83 or 84. This has been confirmed by T-Mar with the spec sheet from 84.

The bike came in 19,21,23, and 25" sizes. This bike is 52x53 so I guess that makes it a 21" which makes sense.

Im overjoyed!!! Im just beside myself right now with gratitude and thanks. I cant believe the support and help i have received on this epic journey. Thanks to everyone so much especially Tengrainbread for getting the bike and sending it to me! Such amazing people on this forum!!

TenGrainBread 

Yep the bike is in fine shape, it will look good after a thorough cleaning and replacing consumables. There's only some minor cosmetic rust on it and some areas that should be touched up. I negotiated it down to $160. So it'll probably be about $250 total to get to FL, I think worth it.
Bonus is the seller has a farm and I said hi to his horse.

jetboy 

its close but hes made a terrible mistake and is on the wrong side.

BikePower

I will try to set up the board the same way when i recreate the photo.

Brad L 

I just read through the entire thread and found it to be an amazing story. I’d love to find out what happened to my 1955 VW Beetle that I sold back in the late 90s.

FYI - get yourself a bottle of Meguiar’s Cleaner Wax. This is what it did for the paint on my 1985 Peugeot PGN-10. Left is after washing, right is after the cleaner wax.

BikePower

wow thats quite an improvement!!

P!N20

I'm not sure it's a groove for a cable, that would be on the front of the bars. I suspect it could be just the reflection of that cable nearby.

BikePower

You are right, it is a reflection of the cable. Do you think the stem is extremely short? it looks odd. much shorter than the catolog pics and other pics of stock Paragons.

P!N20

Well I wasn't going to say anything, but...

hazetguy 

nice to see this happen, happy it will be headed your way.

regarding the 'weird sizing' comment: the rear spacing is 120, seatpost is 26.8, and the headset/stem is for "schwinn size" .833 quill. the headset nut (Ross Professional headset) definitely would not allow a 22.2 quill to pass through it (you could open the hole for one to fit, i would imagine, if the quill would fit in the steerer tube, which i kinda remember it didn't). i remember the steerer tube having a welded seam on the inside, and the stem seemed to fit poorly.
then there's the funky fork dropouts. do your own research on the forums to find out about those.

anyway, the nice one i bought was pretty bone stock original, minus the handlebar wrap, tires, brake lever hoods, and a previous owner put on a rear view mirror (and mangled the brake lever in the process).
it had a 3/83 build date/serial number
before i sold it, i took a lot of pics for reference. i had swapped out the chain, rear derailleur, and freewheel prior to the pics, because i live in the hills and the stock 13-21 wouldn't cut it around here. there are a few pics of the original derailleur, freewheel (and spacer) and chain guard.

here's a link to the pics. https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBcV7D
i'm only going to leave these posted for a few days, so if you want to keep any of them for reference, please download them.

BikePower

thank you for the amazing photos! Im surprised about the stem sizing. So the SR stem is a Schwinn size? Wow.

Hobbiano 

If you search on ebay for "21.1 stem" or ".833 stem " a few SR's usually show up in various lengths. The SR's look like they were turned down from a standard 22.2 to me.

BikePower

i wonder if the seller was the guy who bought the bike from my friend in the 90s? Hes the right age. The bike looks like it was sitting in that barn for aeons. Maybe hes the one that took the bullhorns and factory stem off and put the short stem and drop bars? What if he still has them in the barn somewhere? I tried to call him but he didnt pick up. I sure would like to hear how he got the bike and how long hes had it. Maybe in chapter 2 I will try to reach out to him again.

Chombi1 

The danger of trying to get back things in the past is, you might discover things you'd rather not see on it, ruining your good memories of it.....
I remember finding my former motorcycle, parked on a busy downtown street in SF, about a year after I traded it in for a new one. I really loved that bike (A V twin 1988 Honda Hawk GT 647) the whole time I owned it and zI did the most tasteful and effective mods on it to still be one of the best twisty mountain sport bikes I ever had. When I found it on the street. I noticed the new owner had taken off a lot of tge mods I did to it, including the small fairing which took me years to perfect on the bike. The bike was also filthy and seemed to never been cleaned since I traded it away.
It was truly a depressing meeting between me and the bike. I just could not look at it that long..... Dang!, up to this day, I wish I just kept the bike!....

BikePower

I will say this. I am nervous about seeing her for the first time since 1988.

TenGrainBread 

I stripped the bike today to prepare for shipping and figured I would clean most of the parts while I was at it.
Good news is everything cleaned up great and the bottom bracket shell was incredibly clean, absolutely no rust. BB and headset races and bearings are all in fine shape and can be reused.
Bad news is the seatpost is a little stuck. Couple weeks soaking in penetrating oil and twisting in a vise should get it loose. BikePower will also have to clean up, repack, and true the wheels as I didn't have time for that.
Besides the odd safety dropouts on the fork, I actually like the frame quite a bit. It's well made for its model level with relatively neat brazing.

IdahoBrett 

Any updates?