I have two Schwinn Paramounts. My chrome one rides like a nice Italian bike and the painted one rides like a piece of crap. My two cents worth! Sterling Peters San Diego
> That's an interesting developement. Sounds like a wise move on the part
> of Schwinn if it is true. I'd never heard about a subcontract builder
> that built the chrome frames but it makes lots of sense. I was thinking
> about why I've never seen the seat stay cap problem on one of the
> chromed frames. It seemed odd because it is so common on the painted
> frames. That would explain why it appears that way.
>
> I wonder if Dave Staub knows anything about the special chrome frames?
> What was the extra cost? I think it was almost nothing, even at the
> time.
>
> Brian Baylis
> La Mesa, CA
> >
> > I received a note in response to Brian's commentary on "the Grandmas"
who did the framebuilding on Paramounts during the 'boom years':
> >
> > " Don Mainland, who was building Paramounts for Schwinn
> > in the 70's under contract, [said] that the chrome frames were almost
always
> > made in his shop in Wisconsin because the brazing was cleaner, and
> > the chrome frames reveal workmanship more than paint."
> >
> > This individual found his 72 chrome Paramount to be quite well executed,
something that I also find in relation to my all chrome 73. An interesting
observation and one that I can not take further without some assistance from
our resident Paramount experts.
> >
> > It would seem that there is little middle ground here, with those that
disdain Paramounts as second rate on one side and those who avidly collect
them on the other side of this debate. One thing does appear to be coming
to the fore is a lack of adequate information about how these frames were
built. The information at the Waterford site does not cover the
'outsourcing' information I just received. And, while Richard Schwinn has
been very helpful with providing information when I have called
> >
> > Any more data of this sort out there?
> >
> > Dave Novoselsky
> > Chicago Illinois