Erhard “Butch” Neumann’s 1954 Schwinn Paramount
Erhard Neumann’s Schwinn Paramount
Butch Neumann is the one with waterbottle on his handlebars
This is Erhard “Butch” Neumann’s Schwinn Paramount.
A beautiful green track bike built for a racer who primarily tasted success on the road.
“Butch” cycled as part of an Army athletics program, and along with George van Meter (see photo) was a member of the U.S. Olympic team for the 1956 games. The Summer Olympics were held in Melbourne, Australia that year.
Butch represented the United States in the road race in Melbourne. While He didn’t medal at those games, Butch was impressive enough at those summer Olympics that the coaches selected him for the U.S. national team and he raced the 1957 World Championships the following year.
Adjustable Paramount handlebar stem
Schwinn made gear all over the bike
Early Paramount decals featured the top hat
Paramount decal on top of the downtube
Simple rear dropouts
Bottom bracket oil port, keyhole lugs
In the 1940s and 50s, most Paramounts were built by Oscar Wastyn in his Chicago shop, but as post-war demand for racing bikes (as well as interest in racing) fell dramatically, Schwinn hired a builder named Ovie Jensen, and attempted to bring production back in-house. We aren’t quite sure if this is one of Oscar’s or Ovie’s builds.