I always read on the C&V forum about people finding these crazy deals on vintage bikes.. the type of story that usually starts with “I was in an old lady’s garage..” and end with “.. so I got this NOS Merckx complete bike from the 70′s for 20 bucks.
I was always skeptical about how often this really happens, or if the circumstances are fictitious. Well, yesterday I had my own similar experience. Though it didn’t involve a little old lady’s garage, it did involve a redneck who was missing both his shirt and some of his teeth.
Long story short: I picked up a 1975 Schwinn Paramount P-13 complete bike for..well, let’s just say it was next to nothing. It needs a lot of cleaning, but save for that only the seat and brake hoods actually need replacing. Everything else is in fantastic condition.. components are all Campagnolo Record, with Cinelli stem and bars. I doubt it’s ever been ridden very much. Just grimy from being hung in a garage for years. Some slight surface rust on the chrome but that’s easy enough to take off. No dents, just a few nicks in the paint. Overall, it’s an absolute amazing find.
The frame is one size bigger than I usually go for, so I’ll try it out for a few months once I clean it and make it rideable..and if it doesn’t fit well then I’ll sell it on eBay for something like 10x what I paid for it. Here’s the pics of it at the moment.. I’ll document the cleaning and build-up as it happens slowly over this summer.
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