Classic & Vintage - Austro Daimler Vent Noir-information?

I picked this bike up last night on e-bay. Looks like a nice road bike. The guy had a Motobecane listed also but I liked the A-D. I tried a search here but not much info on these. Any information and history on this beauty is appreciated!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=7298&item=3620888389

Here's your site: http://sheldonbrown.com/vrbn-a-f.html#austro-daimler

I'll excerpt a bit but you should read the whole article:

"The company also introduced the Vent Noir. A step below the Team frameset, it had a very unique feature. The frame went through a "secret process" which made it impervious to scratches. It was not painted. From what we could tell, it was hard-chromed (the type of chrome you use on engine crankshaft journals, not the kind for hubcaps), and then some sort of anodizing on top. You could take a knife or a file, and you couldn't scratch it. The factory never did tell us what they did. But it worked!"

Nice bike! One of the better looking ones I've seen. Btw I have a thread going about the Moto. you passed up. While partial to Motos I can't blame you. Vent Noirs don't show up that often.

Very Nice bike, I loved the smoked Chrome look
when it came out, still love it today.
Like Walter said you don't see very many of these
around so its a good find.
You can check out the Classic Rendezvous site for info
about AD bikes, and I think there may be some
catalogues hanging around on the net but need
to check on that one.

Marty

Thanks alot for pointing me in the right direction to learn some more about the A-D's! I'am poking around now trying to find a manual. It looks like a great bike to ride and probably a very comfortable ride as well. I've started picking up some older bikes when I see them at garage sales and front lawns for sale and this one will be a nice addition. I want to preserve these and I have a nice barn to store them in. I made the seller an offer on the Motobecane too and I would take both of the bikes if he wants to sell them both to me. We'll see.
I had a Peugeot and many other bikes as a kid but that Peugeot with its orange paint and half chrome front fork was the nicest bike I ever had as a kid. Bought it new in 1976. Stolen at school one day and never seen again. Love to find one like that someday.

Well, I ended up getting the Motobecane the seller had too:) I'll post some more pics of both the A-D and the Motobecane Grand Record when they arrive. I love these bikes from the 70's.

Change your name from Devil Dog to Lucky Dog, or maybe just Dog!

I'm jealous!:p

A very nice start to a collection.

:beer:

Thanks Walter!

I feel very lucky indeed. Looking forward to riding them too-on nice days only though:)

Austrian bikes are great! :) Mine is still going strong after 44 years.

"vent noir"...the black wind...defintly a cool name for a bike.

My LBS sold Austro-Daimlers during the 1980s. Fred claims he has never seen an A-D frame come back for fatigue-induced breakage, in contrast to the other brands, including Bianchi, he has sold.

My wife has her eye on the Vent Noir I think. She's 5"11" with long legs and likes the bigger framed bikes. She keeps asking me when it will get here and I think she's already made plans to claim it as her own:) I'll end up with the Motobecane GR which is OK too! I'll post pics of both bikes when they arrive, I'll probably have a question I'm sure about getting them put back together properly. I am a little concerned about dis-assembly/re-assembly of bikes that are that old and perhaps have never been taken apart before. Any thing to be careful of when re-assembling them? The seller said they will take the stem and bars off, the pedals and the front wheel. The cableing and rear wheel will be left intact which is good. Really looking forward to them both!

You have a great bike. I love the finish!
I have enjoyed mine since 1978. It came painted black with black Dura Ace/Shimano Crane parts. Bicycling! Magazine did a review of this bike in 1977.

Although I ride a custom Waterford these days, I still use my Vent Noir for a loaner bike and for trail rides. The large clearance allows the use of 35c cyclocross tires and this bike is very comfortable for this use.

I saved the original sales brochure. Dale Brown of Cycles de' Oro has it posted on his Classic Rendezvous site.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com./main.htm

I noted that bike on e-bay and always regretted not bidding. If you ever are thinking of selling it, please let me know.

howard.bloch@yale.edu

Hope youre digging your Vent-Noir. Ive had mine for 20 years. Shifted to a mountain bike for the last 12. Dug my ol' road bike out of the garage. Washed off 12 years of dust (from the bike :o ) and did a 150 mile 2 day road trek. The bike felt great! A bike mechanic along the route looked it over and said it was His Pleasure to help me tune up such a Fine Bicycle! I'm back on skinny tires again! P.S. The finish of the bike still looks NEW. Believe it... Rob

Speaking of Vent Noirs, apparently they're gaining some collector's value, or something...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=98084&item=7160021282&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

They've been collectible almost since they were new... At least drooled over. That ebay bike looks like an extremely clean example... Besides, what would you pay for a like new, 28 year old Dura-Ace group?

I was surprised to see this old thread rise again.

That's a very clean A-D and I'm not surprised it's getting so much play. I guess the market is increasing though b/c the bike that started this thread way back then didn't get that kind of attention. The early D-A might be a factor. I think the other bike was Campy.


:beer:

Brain fart!!! I finally remembered the name of the font used for the Vent Noir logo: L'Auriol.

Well -- that only took two months...

thanks for providing the name of vent noir logo.
2 Month ago i bought an AD Vent Noir with complete black dura ace for about 150 Buck s in Germany. The restauration is almost finish. The last things i do is to replace the Spokes on the golden Wheel Set and install an new "Vent Noir" decal´
Enclosed an picture of the bike with mavic cosmos wheels installed in the meantime
Golden Saddle is available from Fizik, Handlebar tape from de rosa, and chain from kmc
regards from Austria

A very nice bicycle. I have never seen black DA brake levers, are these aftermarket anodized or were they stock somewhere, sometime?

Gen 1 DA was an all black gruppo, very cool.

okay. i neeeeed some black DA brake levers. I have what I thought was a complete black DA grouppo on a trek 959. now i realize that i neeeeeed 'em...

the pics are not avaliable now. Can youy post them please? Is it a Vent Noir or a Vent Noir II?

I'm pretty sure I still have the manual, might have the brochures.
Certainly I could take a pictures.
I bought mine after AD had dicontinued it.
My brother owned a bike shop and when AD had an inventory sale at their warehouse before leaving California, I went and saw 3, asked my brother to buy me one, and he bought them all.
I bought one for $300 in 78, he had no trouble selling the other 2 in his shop.

I bought 2 extra black shimano hubs, and built up new wheels, since sew-up are such a pain.
I could not find gold clicher rims that matched the original wheels though, but I still have the
original wheels, they just dont get used.

Its not the bike I usually ride to work, normally I ride a mountain bike, but today I was in the mood
to ride fast.

Anyway if anyone is still looking for pictures or manuals, let me know.

You post your pix and I'll post mine :)

This thread was from 2003????

This thread was from 2003????
A/D Vent Noirs are timeless. :)

To bad the pictures were lost in one of the server crashes, any chance they could be reposted?

Original black paint Vent Noir with first gen Dura-Ace: http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/AustroDaimler/76/Vent%20Noir.jpg

The Vent Noir II: http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/AustroDaimler/78/AD-vent-noir.jpg was the smoked chrome frame with Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport bits. Both are very nice bikes, but neither as nicely built as the Superleicht or Ultima frames.

:rolleyes: ..

I remember participating in this thread when it first started. The OP had a beautiful Vent-Noir. And also had what should have been a very nice Moto Grand Record, but it was damaged in shipping as I recall. I have not seen or heard from the OP for quite sometime and do not know what happened in regards to the Moto. Hopefully the AD is still rolling.

I too was pretty surprised to see this thread come back from the dead.



:beer:

Hey, it's good to see this old thread pop back up!

poopncow,
I don't see many of these down here in Alabama! Here is mine (1976 frame, hodge-podge of parts including Campy and Suntour Cyclone). I'd like to see more pics of your bike.

John E,
I must respectfully disagree with you, my fellow Austrian bike owner! Vent Noirs were beautifully built, just like my Ultima and your Capos were, but the Vent Noir was more of a sport frame instead of an all out road racing frame. My high school/college buddy raced an Ultima through the LBS but bought a 1st series Vent Noir as his own bike. It was a great bike - still very fast but with a slightly longer wheelbase (longer chainstays) and, quite important for him, it had brazed-on eyelets for touring racks. In the early 80's he switched all the Dura-Ace group over to Campy Super Record and had the frame painted metallic blue Imron. Very nice - I wish I had a picture to post.

Best wishes to all and keep posting all those beautiful steel bike pics!
Drew

Bike being overhauled and thoroughly cleaned after another rainy windy and salty Seagull Century.

Not sure that mine is a VN, it was most likely a 90's bike since it has 130 OLD spacing and "ULTIMA SL" on the top tube. Also the badge and seat stay panto is "PUCH". I found it NOS as a frame set 3 years ago, it came with a NR headset and BB. Will post pix when it is cleaned up and reassembled.

Check out the 1982 Ultima Superleight on the site below. This may be similar to your bike.
http://bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/AustroDaimler/82/
I think your bike is older than early 90's, especially if it came w/ NR. My '76 was originally fit with the SR group, but the lbs owner kept most of the components and sold me the nos frame/fork/crank/headset.

Well, you all have certainly piqued my interest in the Vent Noir smoked chrome.

It has braze-ons for fenders as well? I may have found the perfect replacement for my stolen Miyata.

"My LBS sold Austro-Daimlers during the 1980s. Fred claims he has never seen an A-D frame come back for fatigue-induced breakage, in contrast to the other brands, including Bianchi, he has sold."

I've got an AD with fatigue breakage (not to spoil the sample or anything). Got it free. Too bad it had all those useless Campy parts on it... I've also a Vent Noir II, beautiful freakin' bike, love that smoky chrome.

"Gen 1 DA was an all black gruppo, very cool."

Not sure on this; I've got a couple sets of first gen DA stuff, and the levers are not black (?) Did they make the black stuff for levers? The brakes on my CID are black, but the levers silver... are my levers later or were there plain ones as well? (The rest of the bike is first gen DA, excepting cranks and HS).

Not sure on this; I've got a couple sets of first gen DA stuff, and the levers are not black (?) Did they make the black stuff for levers? The brakes on my CID are black, but the levers silver... are my levers later or were there plain ones as well? (The rest of the bike is first gen DA, excepting cranks and HS).
My first gen DA levers are also silver, and came off of my Vent Noir; I sold the frame (too tall), but kept the black DA group. The hubs were also silver on that bike, but I've since found some NOS large flange DA hubs in black to match...:)

My hubs on the CID are small flange in black. I like the group a lot, very purty.

Funny, co-worker just offered me a Mistral

I hope no-one minds if I revive this thread...

I just collected an Austro-Daimler Vent Noir frame I won on eBay.co.uk for 99p. I have no idea how a frame that (as I understand it) was only on sale in the USA managed to end up in Sheffield, UK. It's definitely an AD through and through though. No mention of Puch on it.

From what I can tell it's structurally sound but in dire need of a clean up and new paint job. Being a Vent Noir, rather than a Vent Noir II, I'll be going for matt black with gold detailing rather than the "smoked chrome".

My replacement decals just arrived from a guy in Australia. Now I just need to find some of those awesome '70s black Dura Ace parts. Very excited....

I have a chance to buy one of these from a bike collector in town. Can someone tell me what these usually go for? Its a 1976 with dura ace components.