Re: [CR]Paramount track bike

(Example: Production Builders:Teledyne)

Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2002 15:10:32 -0700
Subject: Re: [CR]Paramount track bike
From: "Bill Bryant" <bill_bryant@prodigy.net>
To: Leon <velo2@webtv.net>, <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <2862-3D58224D-1793@storefull-2237.public.lawson.webtv.net>


on 8/12/02 2:02 PM, Leon at velo2@webtv.net wrote:


> On the subject of John Howard's track bike, the seat post height does
> look correct for his size. I can't imagine why he would buy a bike
> that small!
>
> I wouldn't assume he bought it at all. He raced the bikes that his team sponsor issued him. He didn't buy his own bikes at that stage of his career. Also, although he rode Paramounts a lot in the early 70s as part of the US Army team, his sponsorship arrangement was different by '76 and he would have ridden another brand of bike. If memory serves, it may have been Graftek that year. If Graftex (or any other sponsor) didn't have a genuine item for him to use on the track, they would make sure another brand of bike had their decals on it, not those from one of their competitors.

More likely, he may well have won this bike in a race and sold it off unused for cash--which could help explain its pristine condition. This was a very common practice in the old ABLA "no cash prizes" days. Or, the current seller took it for a spin (as he wrote) and adjusted the saddle for himself. Remember, all the guy on ebay says is that he bought it from Howard.

I don't recall that Howard rode the '76 Olympics as part of the track team. If he did, it would have been as a pursuiter, and those 165mm cranks wouldn't have done the job for a guy his height (though the 50x15 gear seems correct). Overall, I don't think this was John Howard's personal race bike in 1976--or any other year. He knew how to get a properly sized bicycle.

Bill Bryant
Santa Cruz, CA