Waterford/Gunnar closing up shop

[wooglin]

Welp, if you were planning to get a Waterford or Gunnar, you missed your opportunity. Happy I've got mine.

Waterford and Gunnar are Closing Their Doors

After 30 years of building bikes in Wisconsin, Waterford Precision Cycles will shut down its operations at the end of next month...

bikepacking.com

 

[scott43]

That's unfortunate. I was looking hard at a Gunnar before getting my last bike. Lotta history there.

 

[Bill Talbot]

Richard Schwinn was the glue that held some very skilled builders/restorers/painters relevant for over 40 years now. When the Paramount production went to Waterford under Marc Muller in around 1981, to get a new production line going.

Thing is, they all stayed at it for a very long time now. And once some of the boys and girls in the shop were starting to think about retiring, Richard thought that sounded like the time to 'go out on top'.

They did some wonderful work over all the years and the standard was high.
My '85 Waterford built Paramount is my part of that legacy.

Thank you Richard for keeping it going all these years!

 

[wooglin]

Richard Schwinn was the glue that held some very skilled builders/restorers/painters relevant for over 40 years now. When the Paramount production went to Waterford under Marc Muller in around 1981, to get a new production line going.

Thing is, they all stayed at it for a very long time now. And once some of the boys and girls in the shop were starting to think about retiring, Richard thought that sounded like the time to 'go out on top'.

They did some wonderful work over all the years and the standard was high.
My '85 Waterford built Paramount is my part of that legacy.

Thank you Richard for keeping it going all these years!

I grew up on a Stingray (and then a Varsity but we won’t talk about that), and then coveted a Paramount. Having Richard answer the phone himself when I called to order my Gunnar was quite a thrill. I sent the whole crew a note of thanks yesterday via their website.

 

[Dougb]

Wow, what sad news. Pinnacle of steel bike production from that factory.

 

[bpratt]

My new bike is my 1997 Waterford with Campy Record. Still ride it every few days, still love it.

 

[wooglin]

I like it that some custom builders appear to be filling in the "stock" frame gap left by Gunnar's departure. Breadwinner is now offering six different stock sizes in their A-Road frame as the Bread and Butter (drool), and Sklar is offering a stock Super Something gravel frame in multiple sizes as well. $2995 (ouch, hopefully that will come down) for a Bread and Butter frameset, but the Super Something is a very reasonable $1599.

A-Road Bread & Butter – Breadwinner Cycles

breadwinnercycles.com