[CR]Paean to Paramount...

(Example: Framebuilding:Brazing Technique)

Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2003 18:58:21 -0500
From: "HM & SS Sachs" <sachs@erols.com>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Paean to Paramount...

Last Fall, I bought my old friend' Eddie R.'s 73 Paramount P-15, and arranged for our son to pick it up from Ed in Cleveland. Last night, Greg arrived with the bike. 30 years ago, I helped take that one out of the box and set it up. Yellow, chromed Nervex, Campy triple, the whole bit. And it's pretty near original still, but with some parts updating to replace the worn headset and derailleur, for example.

So, I rode it this morning, and it was pleasant. I'd fortgotten that some NR fronts do shift very nicely, even on a triple. What a joy the Suntour/Schwinn Approved bar end shifters can be (more travel between shifts than the Campy, but still quite close enough. How nice to have a triple front, just to allow a nice, rational patterns (it's got a 14/28 5-speed, with 36-46-50 cogs in front). Just such a nice old-guy-option on the hills.

Sure, there are scratches on the bike; it was ridden almost every weekend for 30 years, but kept indoors between times. The Brooks is fine, and i think the rims are original.

Another nice touch is that it came with the proper Paramount User Accessories, including the tool kit. The kit includes Campy double bent wrench for the NR seatpost and the nose bolt on the Brooks saddle. Campy crank extractor Campy T wrench Cinelli 7 mm "Van" allen key (for the stem). I had never seen one of these. Schwinn Lightweight bicycle operators manual (or whatever it's called).

So, I'm grateful to my friend for selling it to me. Like the stray dog we got from the pound a month ago, it's a real thoroughbred (The dog is a Rhodesian Ridgeback!)

harvey sachs
mcLean va