The Paramount

This past weekend we were blessed with some amazing weather here in the Ohio Valley. Both Saturday and Sunday were sunny, nearly cloudless days with the temperatures hovering around 65 to 70, nearly perfect riding weather. On Saturday, I decided to take the Paramount for a ride. This was the first time that I had ridden since Jack Sheehan rebuilt the wheels after I had tacoed the rear wheel last summer pulling Sam's trailer.

Jack did an amazing job on the wheels (it helped that he had just be gifted the remamants of Gene Portuesi's old bike shop from Cadillac, Cyclo-pedia). He had a set of 700cc Weinman Gentleman's clincher rims (top of the line in the late-70s), which were exactly the same as the ones that were originally on the bike, expect that those had been 27-inch rims. He built the new wheels up with some nice spokes, and now they spin like only old Campaganolo Record hubs can - they could outlast the Energizer bunny.

This was not my first time on the bike, as I had ridden it a few times on the trainer, but I was quickly reminded of the different riding style that this bike has than from my newer Croll.
It is still quick, but has a much more up-right riding style, and with the shorter cranks, my cadence took some getting used to, plus the brakes. Single-pivot Campy Record calipers might have been the best around thirty years ago, but boy did they feel weak compared with modern brakes.

But all in all, it was a lot of fun to ride this old bike again.