The results are touring bikes, road bikes,
cyclocross bikes and mountain bikes–for Rivendell, Boulder Bicycle, Georgena
Terry Bicycles, Shinola, and Milwaukee Bicycle Co., in addition to filling
orders for Waterford’s own brands, Waterford and Gunnar. The one commonality is
an exacting attention to detail and precision measured by the thousandth of an
inch. He became the point man for Schwinn’s support of bike racing and then was put in charge of Schwinn’s Parts Division in 1956, a group that provided aftermarket parts to Schwinn’s dealers and distributors.
It opened a trendy shop in Detroit and a fancy boutique in New York
City to sell its watches and the luxury bikes, the lugged, silver brazed
Runwell and the tig welded Bixby, at $2,950 and $1,950 respectively. The factory that produced the iconic Schwinn Paramount racing bikes has solidified its place near the top of the US bicycle manufacturing industry. In 1980 the production of the Paramount was completely reconsidered, which resulted in a completely new factory in Waterford, Wisconsin. By 1985 Paramount was in full gear, with what became the “standard” model. For medium and smaller sizes, Paramount introduced Columbus SLX tubing.
They felt, though, the Schwinn needed a take control of its top of the line Paramount, once and for all. Schwinn had made great strides in frame finishing during this period, decorating the Paramounts with the new metallic paints then becoming available. Joe Brilando, Frank’s brother, had developed extraordinary skills at the delicate art of pinstriping. Many of the Paramounts of the 50’s had intricate box striping in multiple colors. During the next twenty years, most of the Paramounts would be built at Wastyn’s shop. The earliest Paramounts followed Emil Wastyn’s signature styling (balled-end seat stays, for example) and keyhole-styled lugs.
The rim would accomidate the narrower 23c/23mm tires, which would offer increased performance. The Schwinn Varsity Carbon Men’s Road Bike frame is made of an aluminum carbon composite (ACC) construction for superior strength. When Schwinn stopped Paramount production in 1994, Richard Schwinn and long-time lead product engineer Marc Muller led the employees in the launch of Waterford.
Delivery times on Gunnar frames have grown to three months, compared
to four to five weeks, due to the private label workload. Most of the companies in the U.S.-based
group measure their annual production in the hundreds. Waterford produces about
2,000 schwinn electric bike to 2,500 frames each year, and Schwinn cautiously reveals a total revenue
figure of $1 million to $2 million. The Sting-Ray[28] sales boom of the 1960s accelerated in 1970, with United States bicycle sales doubling over a period of two years.
Up until the early 1930’s, Schwinn was not a brand name to the public. Schwinn’s own production was sold under the World, New World, Excelsior or Henderson brand names. Schwinn also produced a number or private label bikes, such as the Ranger during this period. The Schwinn Le Tour series makes road bikes bicycle designed for frequent riders seeking comfort and grace in a stylish frame.
As always, the Paramount spared no expense; the bicycles were given high-quality lightweight lugged steel frames using double-butted tubes of Reynolds 531 and fitted with quality European components including Campagnolo derailleurs, hubs, and gears. The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today. Other road bikes were introduced by Schwinn in the early and mid 1960s, such as the Superior, Sierra, and Super Continental, but these were only produced for a few years.
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. The Paramount continued as a limited production model, built in small numbers in a small apportioned area of the old Chicago assembly factory.