A bit historic as Richard Schwinn is the last member of the Schwinn family involved in the cycling industry…
I’m guessing it would be bad form to show up for the farewell ride on my Serotta-built Paramount Ti, huh? 
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I caught this elsewhere a week or so ago. Quite sad considering their place in US cycling history.
One of our locals here is a bike collector (300+ bikes) and has a few bikes from them in the collection.
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Yeah, this actually makes me sad. My first bike at 3? 4? was a bright white Schwinn that I was super proud of, and I remember lusting after a Paramount when I was a kid in the 80’s. My first bike shop job was in that same Schwinn shop in the late 80’s/early 90’s when the brand was already in decline. And Gunnar’s going with them, of course. Had to check, with just a glimmer of hope.
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My dad owned a Schwinn bike shop in the mid-late 80’s. I have his Schwinn Paramount with Campy group set and it’s in mint condition. It hung in their shed for about 20 years till I got it down and cleaned it up to ride at college.
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My first road bike was a Schwinn Varsity and that thing sucked, was a tank, and probably weighed 35 pounds!
My local Schwinn shop was the crappy bicycle shop in my town. They were mostly BMW shop in my day but had a celeste green Paramount with Campagnolo hanging in the shop forever. They had a giant price tag on it that assured it would never sell.
Long live the Schwinn 60s Stingray spring fork!
Had one with banana seat
Also a lime green varsity then upgraded to the continental. That was my early interface with Schwinn. Did buy a Tomato hard tail. Schwinn branded but made by Yeti.
Those were a lot more than just “branded” Schwinn……they were 100% designed by Schwinn. Yeti just manufactured (some of) them.
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Surprised they lasted this long. Always wanted a Paramount but never made the justification. I had a 1987 Prologue, purchased in 1998 and finally built it up in 2014. It was… meh compared to my 1989 Trek 660 purchased in 1990 and operational until I killed the rear derailleur hanger in 2016. I donated both in 2017.
My first bike shop job was in a small city shop that was Schwinn and the big BMX vendors at the time. BMX was on its way down, but was still somewhat popular. The second job I had was in the college town I lived in for beer money during the summer. I opened a low end box and found a Paramount inside. Seriously. The owner and GM freaked out more than I did, and said that it could have been a setup by Schwinn to judge dealer honesty. It was reported to corporate and they reclaimed the bike in the same box it was shipped in. No idea if it was a ‘test’, or just a screw-up on packaging.
The owner liked to tell the ‘joke’ that ‘How do you make a million dollars in the bike industry? Start with two!’, and it has been feast to famine, and now more famine given the direct to customer bent they are on. It’s sad to hear of any bike shop going down. I really loved, enjoyed, and learned a heck of a lot at the two shops I worked at. I’ve taken to building wheels and upgrades over the pandemic just to stay busy, and found it comforting to revisit the skills and experience of those days.
Can you ghost bike a bike shop? 