Steve, Your experience with your 1972 Paramount is curious. I have a 1977 Paramount P-15 (26" seat tube size), which probably has identical geometry to your 1972 bike. With a 2" fork rake and 73 degree head angle (the standard dimensions for a Schwinn Paramount touring model at the time) the trail is 52 mm, which is not particularly high trail. I've descended hills at 50+ mpg with complete security and nary a hint of wobble. I wonder if your Paramount had some other problems...?
Jim Cloud Tucson, AZ On Oct 19, 2:52 pm, Steve Palincsar <palin...@his.com> wrote: > On Wed, 2011-10-19 at 13:56 -0700, William wrote: > > I wish I could test ride your MAP. I think your Saluki was a 58, > > 60 cm, c-t > > > as is my Homer (nominally the same bike). I knew you 'upgraded' and > > liked your MAP, and I'm intrigued by the concepts and the classic look > > of a 'traditional' randonneuse. That said, I had a long talk on a > > brevet with a fellow on a gorgeous low-trail Ellis who hated the ride, > > said the bike was terrifying to ride over 20mph, and was working with > > Ellis to get a new fork to increase the trail. I feel that people's > > opinions about bikes tend to tell us as much about the differences in > > people as they do about the differences in bikes. > > None of my low trail bikes is terrifying to ride at any speed. I've > owned a bike in the past that was frightening at high speed, the 1972 > Paramount I owned for 20 years. In the early years, it had a very > frightening speed wobble, and even after changes in position cured the > speed wobble, high speed descents always made me feel as though I was > carrying my life in a goldfish bowl held in my outstretched fingers. > > I think nothing of going full tilt downhill on any of my bikes. Of > course, we have no long hills here, unless I venture into the Blue Ridge > or the Catoctins, and in mountains like that my overwhelming concern is > excess momentum (I have momentum aplenty!) and an inability to slow down > or stop, so I descent very cautiously. > > Here, where what passes for a hill is a half mile run down to a bridge > over a creek followed by a corresponding half-mile climb, it's full > tilt, spin 'em up to 120 rpm, cross the bridge and work your way through > the gears on the climb. And never even the slightest hint of > instability. > > > To settle things, I think Steve should ship his MAP to me for a few > > months to try out. I'll take good care of it, honest :) > > I deeply regret that you are too short... However, if you ever find > yourself in the vicinity of Alexandria, VA we could go down to Toys R Us > and see if they have any pedal blocks that would fit PDM-959 SPDs. ;-) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
