There are really two kinds of cyclists; enthusiasts who ride regularly and dilettantes who ride two or three times a year. The latter choose a bicycle almost entirely on price, because they don’t know any other criteria on which to judge bicycles. These customers don’t care that the bike will start disintegrating after a couple of hundred miles, because they’ll never use it that much.
The Paramount continued as a limited production model, built in small numbers in a small apportioned area of the old Chicago assembly factory. The new frame and component technology incorporated in the Paramount largely failed to reach Schwinn’s mass-market bicycle lines. W. Schwinn, grandson Frank Valentine Schwinn took over management of the company.
P-12 – This was the old designator for the Paramount Racer – now becoming the P10. P-13 – Road Racing Paramount – designed for competition, this model came with tubulars and Campy schwinn ebike sidepulls stock. P-14 – Track – Full Campy track components including wide flange hubs and tubular tired wheels. P-15 – Deluxe Paramount with 15 speeds (triple front chainrings).
Schwinn decided to meet the challenge by developing two lines of sport or road ‘racer’ bicycles. One was already in the catalog — the schwinn dealers limited production Paramount series. The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today.
In time, the Paramount came in a variety of models but remained expensive to produce and purchase. Designating the width with a fraction instead of a decimal usually signifies a straight-sided rim, not a hook-edge rim. There are similar problems with other Schwinn tire sizes.