Schwinn Paramount

[Chuck Miller]

Time to clean, lube, and adjust the bikes………..

Starting with the ’88 Fisher…

Not much for those waterless washing sprays on cars… however they REALLY seem to work on bikes…

A non-solicited BIG plug for the best community bike shop I know…
I’ve been traveling to northern CA. for Thanksgiving for the last 37 years. For last 25 or so I’ve been visiting Pullins Cyclery in Chico CA.
Steve O’Bryan went to work for the second owner of this 1918 bike shop when he was a kid… And he and his lovely wife Katy have owned for around 30 years.
Steve was an old USCF racer that got in on the mountain bike deal at the very beginning, and was one of the founding members of NORBA…

Of all the high-end/boutiquey bike shops in a collage town like Chico, Pullins is the one everyone finally gets to ….
Friendly chat and usually some cold Sierra Nevada in the fridge…
And when all else fails, Duffy’s Tavern is a short walk…….

Tell Steve (in the last pic) I sent’ya………

[sithot]

Here's one a friend just picked up.

This is his note to me:

The original owner bought bike new in '64 or '65 & won youth nationals on bike '66 at 16 yrs old .
I D # Z 21 I think it is a 1962 , rear wheel hub lock nut or washer dated '62, Campy hubs, seat stem, pista 165 crank, French track pedals, Cinelli handle bar stem w/original Cinelli painted badge, track bars chrome unmarked have ends trimmed to a shorter length , Fiamme longhi track rims, campy chrome/steel head set
Paint decals original almost perfect.

I've seen it and it is super nice. Came all the way from Hawaii.

[Chuck Miller]

Today I cleaned my old rough ‘69/’70 Peugeot PX-10E. I got this bike in ’73 as my ‘fast sew up bike’ after riding the wheels off of an old Peugeot steel crank U-08. In ’76 I got hit (hard) by a car on this bike…. Anyway, around ’77 I turned it into a comfortable touring bike….. and it still is…

The last pic is this bike next to my buddy’s Bob Jackson on a San Diego tour 36 years ago……..

I guess I like to hold onto stuff...

[Strato 102]

Was at the Lime Rock Historic Festival. The original owner had this Gitane in the back of his Volvo Amazon. All Campagnolo with Brooks saddle and Silca pump. Point is, no Stronglight, Simplex, Mafac, etc. which is what you always saw on French bikes. I thought it would make a good picture because of the full-on Armco.SANY0088.jpg

[Dmill]

Chuck: Love that crank...I remember as a kid, my best friend and I decided one summer afternoon that we didn't need to buy a new crank (we couldn't afford it), we would just drill out our cranks.....somehow, we decided that I would go first.....I don't have any pics of how it came out....but let's just say..Chuck's drilled crank is a whole lot better looking than what two 14 year old boys with a hand drill could do......After we drilled mine, it took me a long time talking my buddy into drilling his....in the end, we both got holes drilled in our cranks, but they were way but ugly.....I will never forget the look on my dad's face when he got home from work and saw what we did.....His words exactly....Why in gods green earth did you spend all afternoon drilling holes in your bike....how much weight did you actually save and now it looks horrible...why didn't you guys just go ride your bikes...once and engineer always an engineer

[Chuck Miller]

Thanks Dmill,

After getting hit on the Peugeot in '76 I got a used '74 MASI Grand Critierium and started to build it up with the ultra lightweight stuff of the day....

I really liked the period Zeus cranksets back then, so me and a machinist friend did what we thought was weight saving and cool probably back in '77......... I sold the bike 11 years ago after 27 years.... and it, and the crankset is still going strong..........


What we did to mine -
Zeus crankset -

[CurtEgerer]

Yet another fantastic video on the golden era of American cycling:

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[Chuck Miller]

Curt,

Thanks so much for that... some of the best 15 minutes I'm spent for a long time...


I was there in '84 with my bike buds about half way around the road race course scream'n my lungs out lap after lap....

It wasn't hard to miss Connie in the women's race with her red hair..... So strong

But I think what I remember the most was Alexi Grewal's on the last laps of the men's race. I had seen him in pictures and magazines so you could pic out this very olive Indian/American racer with his USA stars jersey in the pack... however on the second to the last lap, and particularly the last lap, his complexion turned grey... I'm not kidding, with foam coming from his mouth.

I was equally shocked after preparing myself for a PA announcing his 'heart attack'... that actually announced his VICTORY........... wow......... to this day, wow

[CurtEgerer]

Davis is an inspiring person to listen to! What a fantastic approach to a disability that most people give up on.

[Jim Garfield]

Yet another fantastic video on the golden era of American cycling

Nice video. Kind of puts things in perspective huh?

Takes me back to the late 70s. I had always ridden bikes, but didn't especially follow racing. I knew who Eddie Merckx and the top riders were, but didn't pay much attention to the races.

I had designed a restaurant in Westport, CT, and one of the investor's, Peter Clark, had grown up on Long Island with this guy Wyck Hay. Peter would see me riding my bike, and tell me I had to meet his friend Wyck who was really into bikes too. We never were in the same place at the same time, and I never did meet him, but it turned out his buddy Wyck was one of the founders of Celestial Seasonings, and the guy who was instrumental in starting the Red Zinger Classic, which morphed into the Coors Classic, and has been revived as the US Pro Challenge.

That's what got me interested in bike racing, and the next 15 or 20 years were pretty magical for US cyclists and teams. Kind of a tsunami that came pretty much out of nowhere.