I said good bye to a good friend today...BLUE has been passed on to a TRI-virgin, never to be ridden again by me or my girlfriend (BLUE's last rider). I received the bike two summers ago from a buddy in town who had raced it 15 yrs prior. He had since moved on to MT bike racing, leaving old BLUE (as she came to be named) lonely and dusty in his Aunt's garage. Old BLUE was my first ever road bike was a Mid 90's-ish Schwinn Paramount "PDG 3 OS" Road bike.
BLUE was decked out in Miami Vice colors. The frame was Bright Blue and had lettering in neon Pink and Yellow (and also Neon Yellow grip tape and bottle cage). It was ugly as hell, but I was happy as a fat triathlete on a new bike. My buddy sold it to me for just $100. It was a hell of a deal considering my other option was a MT bike with road slick tires (maybe half as fast as the 'new' bike), or to shell out $1K+ for a new tri bike (which I eventually did anyways).
So I raced three Sprints on her my first year then BLUE went back into retirement for the '06 season until AUG, when my GF competed in her first sprint on her. So as my bike collection grew in size (to SEVEN total this summer) and I ran out of room, I decided that I'd pass old BLUE on to a budding triathlete so that they may get the same boost from her fast ride that I did just two summers ago.
So, I just got done writing the specs and cautionary advice to my buddy who's busting w/ joy with regards to his "new" hookup. The only thing I asked in return wasthe cost of shipping ($50) and a promise that he'll pass her on to a 'needy' roadie or triathlete when he gets a new ride himself. Here's a the paraphrased email in short...
___________________________________________________________________________________
!!!CAUTION!!! Please read the following safety tip so your wife doesn't kill me for getting you hurt on your first bike ride. Riding a road bike vs. a mountain or BMX type bike is a huge change. At first the position will feel weird and bike a litle wobbly, learning a new center of gravity and balance will take some time. Also, the seat will hurt your ABC (Ass-Ball-Connection, or Taint) for a good 10-15 rides...have faith, the pain will dissapear as your undercarraige adjusts.
Take it easy on the bike till you get a good feel for it. Don't ride near cars or traffic until you're used to the brakes, shifting and taking your feet in and out of the cage-pedals...IE- no screaming down any steep hills the first day. BLUE is set up very moderately right now (ie - handlebars raised and seat lowered), but as you get a better feel, you can readjust it for a better racing position. I nearly killed myself the first few times I rode it, so be careful!! And always take at least one foot out of the cages on the pedals before coming to a stop...I never fell on that bike, but the clip-in pedals I have are a little more tricky. But alas, you must learn to crawl before you learn to walk, young grasshopper.
---------------------
Buddy,
I dropped your bike off at the shop today...they'll disassemble it and ship via UPS tomorrow. So, you should get it delivered to your house on Tues/Wed next week. I sent a helmet (it's a little old and you might look like a SPED kid for a while, I figure that'd save you some money at first) and some mags and a swimming book called "Total Immersion" (This will help unlearn your habit of 'beating up' or 'muscling' the water too much) in the bike box too. Enjoy.
Bike details-
1990's (Don't know exact year) Schwinn Paramount PDG 3 - Road Racing Bike
- Here's a similar one for sale on EBAY...
http://cgi.ebay.com/1992-Schwinn-Paramount-OS-Series-2-Road-Racer-Bicycle_W0QQitemZ300038949434QQihZ020QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Your's is one model up (a PDG 3, not PDG 2) from this one and might be a couple years newer...but you can see he added aero bars for triathlon (you could do this too for under $100)
- I think your bike size is 54CM (from head stem to seat stay- a standard measurement on bike size). I think it's about 30" standover height. I'm not sure how great the components (although it shifts very well and never skips a gear) are since they don't make those parts anymore (but you could buy new ones that fit the bike if anything breaks).
- I just had new handlebar tape put on, new brake and shifter cables installed and a good tune-up around mid-summer. Tires and tubes are about a year old, but don't have a lot of miles on them. You should be able to get another 500-700 miles out of them (barring a crash, flat or broken glass). Also, you've got a SIGMA bike computer that works pretty well. It picks up speed from a magnet attached to the spoke. To reset it, hold the primary button (there's only one) for about 3 secs...that'll reset the trip odometer (but not the total odometer) and time. It shows Spd and Av Spd, Dist (trip and total), and Time (sorry no cadence). The computer was about $25, so if you want to upgrade that's cool.
Call or email if you have any questions...
BLUE was decked out in Miami Vice colors. The frame was Bright Blue and had lettering in neon Pink and Yellow (and also Neon Yellow grip tape and bottle cage). It was ugly as hell, but I was happy as a fat triathlete on a new bike. My buddy sold it to me for just $100. It was a hell of a deal considering my other option was a MT bike with road slick tires (maybe half as fast as the 'new' bike), or to shell out $1K+ for a new tri bike (which I eventually did anyways).
So I raced three Sprints on her my first year then BLUE went back into retirement for the '06 season until AUG, when my GF competed in her first sprint on her. So as my bike collection grew in size (to SEVEN total this summer) and I ran out of room, I decided that I'd pass old BLUE on to a budding triathlete so that they may get the same boost from her fast ride that I did just two summers ago.
So, I just got done writing the specs and cautionary advice to my buddy who's busting w/ joy with regards to his "new" hookup. The only thing I asked in return wasthe cost of shipping ($50) and a promise that he'll pass her on to a 'needy' roadie or triathlete when he gets a new ride himself. Here's a the paraphrased email in short...
___________________________________________________________________________________
!!!CAUTION!!! Please read the following safety tip so your wife doesn't kill me for getting you hurt on your first bike ride. Riding a road bike vs. a mountain or BMX type bike is a huge change. At first the position will feel weird and bike a litle wobbly, learning a new center of gravity and balance will take some time. Also, the seat will hurt your ABC (Ass-Ball-Connection, or Taint) for a good 10-15 rides...have faith, the pain will dissapear as your undercarraige adjusts.
Take it easy on the bike till you get a good feel for it. Don't ride near cars or traffic until you're used to the brakes, shifting and taking your feet in and out of the cage-pedals...IE- no screaming down any steep hills the first day. BLUE is set up very moderately right now (ie - handlebars raised and seat lowered), but as you get a better feel, you can readjust it for a better racing position. I nearly killed myself the first few times I rode it, so be careful!! And always take at least one foot out of the cages on the pedals before coming to a stop...I never fell on that bike, but the clip-in pedals I have are a little more tricky. But alas, you must learn to crawl before you learn to walk, young grasshopper.
---------------------
Buddy,
I dropped your bike off at the shop today...they'll disassemble it and ship via UPS tomorrow. So, you should get it delivered to your house on Tues/Wed next week. I sent a helmet (it's a little old and you might look like a SPED kid for a while, I figure that'd save you some money at first) and some mags and a swimming book called "Total Immersion" (This will help unlearn your habit of 'beating up' or 'muscling' the water too much) in the bike box too. Enjoy.
Bike details-
1990's (Don't know exact year) Schwinn Paramount PDG 3 - Road Racing Bike
- Here's a similar one for sale on EBAY...
http://cgi.ebay.com/1992-Schwinn-Paramount-OS-Series-2-Road-Racer-Bicycle_W0QQitemZ300038949434QQihZ020QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
Your's is one model up (a PDG 3, not PDG 2) from this one and might be a couple years newer...but you can see he added aero bars for triathlon (you could do this too for under $100)
- I think your bike size is 54CM (from head stem to seat stay- a standard measurement on bike size). I think it's about 30" standover height. I'm not sure how great the components (although it shifts very well and never skips a gear) are since they don't make those parts anymore (but you could buy new ones that fit the bike if anything breaks).
- I just had new handlebar tape put on, new brake and shifter cables installed and a good tune-up around mid-summer. Tires and tubes are about a year old, but don't have a lot of miles on them. You should be able to get another 500-700 miles out of them (barring a crash, flat or broken glass). Also, you've got a SIGMA bike computer that works pretty well. It picks up speed from a magnet attached to the spoke. To reset it, hold the primary button (there's only one) for about 3 secs...that'll reset the trip odometer (but not the total odometer) and time. It shows Spd and Av Spd, Dist (trip and total), and Time (sorry no cadence). The computer was about $25, so if you want to upgrade that's cool.
Call or email if you have any questions...
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