The market for quality lugged bicycle framed bicycles in the U.S. for adults was virtually non-existent before the U.S. "Bike Boom" that began in the early 1970's. What little demand existed was more than accommodated by the Schwinn Paramount for domestic buyers and imports from England, France and Italy. Frank Berto has previously made some rather persuasive analyses that the U.S. "Bike Boom" was born from youths who had cut their teeth on Schwinn's very popular youth bikes like the ubiquitous "Sting-Ray".
Jim Cloud On Tuesday, December 17, 2013 9:13:29 AM UTC-7, Montclair BobbyB wrote: > > I think you're right.. Schwinn (Paramount) was the only company (at least > that I can recall) manufacturing lugged racing/touring frames in the US in > the 60s. There were other US brands in the mass-market (like Rollfast, > Columbia, Huffy, etc), but I don't recall any of them focusing on racing or > touring bikes as much as Schwinn. The Varsity and Continental were > introduced in 1960 (I owned a 1963 2-tone blue & white Conti up until a few > years ago); these were fillet-brazed, heavy steel (not of the same quality > as the Paramounts). > > I loved the Raleighs of the early to mid-70s (including the Competition, > and of course the International & Professional), and even the earlier > Record/Grand Prix. > > Wonder why (back then) lugged bikes were so prevalent outside the US and > not so popular here? But then again, you never could have convinced me to > buy anything other than a Varsity or Continental... to me (back then) > everything else seemed *too cheap* (funny... ) > > On Tuesday, December 17, 2013 9:51:20 AM UTC-5, Ron Mc wrote: >> >> I agree Paramounts are gorgeous handmade frames, and is likely the >> pinnacle of American handmade bicycles during the time - and maybe the only >> example we'll come up with.. Does it count the same as the branded >> Waterford frames? >> But if you look at the flagships, Varsity vs. Grand Prix - there are two >> different manufacturing approaches from opposite sides of the pond to >> produce a bicycle in the 70s. >> >> On Tuesday, December 17, 2013 8:30:50 AM UTC-6, Eric Norris wrote: >>> >>> Schwinn was making beautiful, lugged Paramounts back in those days. >>> Those bikes are very collectable and are still ridden today. >>> >>> Eric N >>> www.CampyOnly.com >>> CampyOnlyGuy.blogspot.com >>> Twitter: @CampyOnlyGuy >>> >>> On Dec 16, 2013, at 10:27 PM, Michael <john1...@gmail.com> wrote: >>> >>> Who made the USA's finest lugged, steel, frames back then and what were >>> the prices like? >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
