Tom Sanders flattered me as a possible "rich" source of information on the early Paramount cranks. Not a good source, nor rich. Indeed, from the pix posted on this thread, I learned why I was caught out by someone, I don't remember who, about the cranks on my '38 Paramount. It seems that my '38 is a nice bike, and all that. To build it up, I grabbed the cranks from a '53 frameset I found at a garage sale (Skillmman, NJ, probably 25 years ago). Thought nothing of it. Somebody remarked that the cranks on my '38 were not original, and until today I didn't know how he figured that out. It seems from the photos posted that the 38/39 (at least) had "Paramount" stamped into the leading and trailing edges of the crank arm; mine doesn't have that. Hmmm, if there are no other differences, maybe I can backdate my crank options. :-) (is there no shame?)
So, I've now officially outed myself: My '38 Paramount has later cranks (and an incorrect but similar Major Taylor stem, and the right saddle broke because I rode it too much, and we'll let the serious aficionados count the other ways it isn't quite right). Mea culpa, and I won't commit such fraud again until...
harvey sachs mcLean va.
Tam Pham wrote:
Hi Tom,
Bob's scans are a excellent resource and here's what I can fill in about the cranks.
They did make at least two versions for the Paramount, one for the Racer and one for the Sports Tourist model. The Racer version is 165mm with 9/16" pedal holes and the Tourist version has 1/2" pedal holes and (I believe) also 165mm in length. The Tourist utilized a longer bottom bracket spindle to accomodate chainguards.
The chainrings are of course different as well. The Racer used 1" pitch and the Tourist used normal 1/2" pitch.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
Cheers, Tam Pham Huntington Beach, CA - USA
On 8/9/07, Tom Sanders <tsan7759142@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>> Thanks to a couple of fellow Paramount collectors I have just become
aware
>> that Paramount used their own cranks on their bikes from 1938 up through
>> the
>> very early 1960s. They look a lot like Chatter Lea cranks to me, but do
>> have Paramount and Schwinn stamped on them. They also used a similar
>> crank
>> that did not have the crank as one of the three arms that attached
>> directly
>> to the chainwheel on lesser models (Such as the Superior),
>> too, apparently.
>>
>> Can anyone fill me in on when they quit using these cranks? Did they
>> build
>> them in house, or were they built by another manufacturer? Were
they only
>> for single ring cranksets? Were they a copy of the Chatter Lea crank as
>> they appear to be? Were they available in various lengths upon request?
>> Might there have been more than one model of cranks on these Paramounts,
>> say
>> one for touring and another for racing models? Might there be a site
>> where
>> one could see a photographic time line or selection of models?
>> I had naively thought myself fairly knowledgeable about Paramounts and I
>> see
>> now that there seems to be a wealth of knowledge I had never even been
>> exposed to. My guess is that Harvey Sachs might be a rich source of
info
>> in
>> this? Perhaps Tam Pham? Where is Raoul Delmire when we need him?
>> As always I will be waiting for you more knowledgeable List Members to
>> fill
>> in the Grand Canyon size holes in my own knowledge base...and many
thanks
>> to
>> those who for years have been doing this for myself and others.
>> Tom Sanders
>> Lansing, Mi USA