What year was the Diamond Jubilee edition? Lots of folks familiar with Schwinn have said they used a heavier gauge 531 than most manufacturers, including those who were Schwinn dealers and maybe even those associated with the manufacturing, like Richard Schwinn perhaps. Not sure exatly what gauge, though. I think 1.0/0.7/1.0 was typical for quality bikes in the 70's, but I don't know what gauge Schwinn used. You can definitely tell when riding a 70's Paramount that it wasn't a superlight tubeset, you could never accuse those bikes of being even remote "flexy". When you ride the Waterford-built Columbus SLX or maybe other Columbus Paramounts from the 80's, they are definitely more resilient. Not that the 70's Paramounts rode THAT bad, but to me they feel more suited to a matched sprint on the track than to 276 km over cobbles in Paris-Roubaix.
By the way, I note that BC's Cafe de Velo site lists the TA extractor. This is the small portable one, similar to the Stronglight extractor that sold for maybe $5 In The Day.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: john strizek <lyonstrings@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> Subject: [CR] Schwinn or swine?
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Monday, September 28, 2009, 12:16 PM
\r?\n> Dear Jerry Moos and other Paramount
\r?\n> owners,
\r?\n> I have an all chrome Diamond Jubilee edition with
\r?\n> Bocama lugs. The geometry and sizing is virtually identical
\r?\n> to my Raleigh International. The onlt discernable difference
\r?\n> is the bend of the forks. Scwinn- traditional quick turn at
\r?\n> the lower part of the blade and Raleigh- smoother bend along
\r?\n> the balde like the Professional but with a box crown insteda
\r?\n> of the Pro's Cinelli crown.
\r?\n> The riding difference to me is the Paramount rides
\r?\n> like a Continental and the Raleigh, I could ride the
\r?\n> continent. I love both rides but the Scwinn has always seen
\r?\n> less use because it is not as supple in its ride.
\r?\n> I had always heard the rumor that Schwinn used a
\r?\n> special order heavier Reynolds 531 tubing. this has been
\r?\n> partially confirmed by a discussion with fellow list memeber
\r?\n> Jack Romans. Jack used the Imperical method af weighing
\r?\n> frames and the Schwinn was about 1/2 pound heavier than the
\r?\n> other 531 frame he compared it with.
\r?\n> Has there ever been substantiation to the rumor of
\r?\n> the special heavy guage 531 tubing for Schwinn?
\r?\n>
\r?\n> On a separate note; I am glad to see a VAR crank
\r?\n> extractor for TA still available form Mel Pinto. A tip of
\r?\n> the hat to Fred Radnor.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> john strizek, sacramento california in the USA