The West Coast had its own cast of characters, including Tom Ritchey and Eisentraut. Starting in 1971, Schwinn outsourced excess Paramount production schwinn dealers to Pioneer Manufacturing of Racine, Wisconsin, owned by Don Mainland. Don was an accomplished bike racer as well as successful industrialist.
Using the standard electro-forged cantilever frame, and fitted with five-speed derailleur gears and knobby tires, the Klunker 5 was never heavily marketed, and was not even listed in the Schwinn product catalog. Unlike its progenitors, the Klunker proved incapable of withstanding hard off-road use, and after an unsuccessful attempt to reintroduce the model as the Spitfire 5, it was dropped from production. Another problem was Schwinn’s failure to design and market its bicycles to specific, identifiable buyers, especially the growing number of cyclists interested in road racing or touring.
Most models of Schwinn bikes have years of images and information via old catalogs, advertisements and Schwinn documentation. This page lists Schwinn bicycles models (sorted alphabetically) and links to their details. Find all your favorite Schwinn products at the retailers listed below.
At Paramount’s peak in the mid-70’s, 10 frames per week came from Wisconsin and 15 from Chicago. There is no obvious way to distinguish the Wisconsin-built Paramounts from those built at the Schwinn factory. P-10 – Deluxe Paramount – designed for non-competition road schwinn ebike riding and included front and rear eyelets, 27 x 1 1/4″ clincher tires and Weinmann center pull brakes. You could order it with Campy side pulls and/or custom geometry as an option. P-11 – Paramount Tourist – designed for upright bars and recreational rides.
Back around ~2008 during the fixed-gear craze, new riders had Kilo TT frames because they were $300 fixed-gear bikes and the next level up was around $700. All during the 70’s, the Paramount continued to sell in its well-proven design. The customer base for the bike changed, however, from primarily bike racers to older, wealthier riders looking for their ultimate cycling reward.
The Paramount used high-strength chrome-molybdenum steel alloy tubing and expensive brass lug-brazed construction. During the next twenty years, most of the Paramount bikes would be built in limited numbers at a small frame shop headed by Wastyn, in spite of Schwinn’s continued efforts to bring all frame production into the factory. As a result, Schwinns became increasingly dated in both styling and technology. By 1957, the Paramount series, once schwinn ebike a premier racing bicycle, had atrophied from a lack of attention and modernization. Aside from some new frame lug designs, the designs, methods and tooling were the same as had been used in the 1930s. After a crash-course in new frame-building techniques and derailleur technology, Schwinn introduced an updated Paramount with Reynolds 531 double-butted tubing, Nervex lugsets and bottom bracket shells, as well as Campagnolo derailleur dropouts.
A preventive maintenance program helps to keep your equipment in top condition, decrease downtime, and prevent major equipment failures. Cleaning, lubricating and making adjustments as well as replacing worn parts are all necessary to ensure the safety and reliability of your equipment. We do our best to find replacement parts, but keep in mind that parts may be difficult to find, especially for older models. It also may be cost-prohibitive to repair your machine if it is older. We break down why women’s bikes are smaller than men’s bikes and which parts on the bike differ.