Erhard “Butch” Neumann’s 1954 Schwinn Paramount
This is Erhard 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 at the 1956 games held in Melbourne, Australia. Butch competed in the road race that year, and later made the U.S. national team where he raced the 1957 World Championships.
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.