Hi all. My name's Tim, and I'm from San Francisco, CA. Reasonably new to the CR list, but I've been working with vintage lightweights for the last 3 years, including an old Schwinn Super Sport, Casati Gold Line road bike, and now a '72 Schwinn "Paramount" raced by John Vande Velde in the Munich Olympics.
I believe I am the fourth owner of this bike (including Vande Velde). It measures 57 cm squared, c-c. The frame was built with Nervex lugs and Reynolds 531c, but the rear stays and bridge has been replaced (with 531c) by Bernie Mikkelsen of Alameda, CA. The bike was apparently crashed sometime before the second owner sold it (per the eBay listing), and the third owner (whom I bought it from) had the repair done. The bike is painted with a thin coat of silver, but the rear triangle is currently just primer. The BB shell has 4 large cutouts, the Campy track ends are each drilled 15 times, and largely filed. The Nervex lugs are also filed, all in the name of lightness. I am told that the frame was built by George Flagle, who apparently had built a few Paramounts in the past during a shift in builders. It is extremely lightweight (supposedly 3.6 lbs for the frame and fork).
All of this information comes from the original eBay listing from the second owner, and what I was told by the third owner. The sale of the bike also included two photographs of Vande Velde riding the bike, one of them signed for authenticity. I plan to build the frame following those pictures, but with a few changes to suit my own use.
If anyone has any further information on this particular frame, or a way of getting ahold of George Flagle or John Vande Velde for more history, I would love to hear it.
Thanks!
-Tim Wesolowski
SF, CA