Austro Daimler
 

I have a Vent Noir serial number 5623055. Wondering what year it was manufactured?

Austro Daimlers are kind of tough to pin down that way. There's a serial number registry at Classic Rendezvous, but I regard it as being somewhat unreliable. My impression is that it's a bunch of people who don't really know what year their bike was made telling you what their serial numbers are. It's either that or AD serial numbers were out of order, which seems very unlikely.

Based on a critical reading of the Classic Rendezvous registry, I'd guess that your bike is about a 1976 model. There's a guy with Vent Noir 5599620 who says he's the original owner and bought it in 1976. That seems like one of the more reliable data points. Some of the people in that list seem to have bought NOS bikes years after they were made.

Weren't there two versions of the Vent Noir that were produced?
first version, the Vent Noir and second, later version, the Vent Noir II?

Pix would help - curious to see if this is one of the flat black ones with gold pinstripes and black Dura-Ace, or one of the later ones with the black chrome effect.

Yep there's a Vent Noir II, but there's many variations even amongst the Vent Noirs. Smoked chrome, black chrome, matte black finishes. Some headbadged Puch, some AD. Several different dropout makes. For 1 or 2 years there's even a model outfitted as a sport tourer with a TA triple, etc.

If you have the original components, there may be date codes on some of them.

1981/82 AD Olympian
Serial # = 6836885 (i think), sorry but the code is not something i know.

Shared the same 531 frameset w/ Vent Noir those years.

Have you viewed the catalogue pages for AD at: Hi from Mark Bulgier and Laurie Foster!

As far as I'm concerned, it's as sweet a sport tourer as I've ever ridden.
That tall head tube makes riding in the drops sooo easy.
Guess that's why it's a keeper.

edit: this link is faster: http://www.bulgier.net/pics/bike/Catalogs/

I bought mine new in 78, flat black, gold pin stripes and a "AD" badge on the headtube. Drilled black Dura Ace chainring, Crane rear derailleur, 531 frame, gold anodized Fiamme tub wheelset, gold anodized Silca pump, suede Unicanitor saddle.

Later versions had "Puch" badge on the headtube and black chrome finish.

Lots of confusion between AD models and Puch models, not that it matters much. Didn't they come out of the same factory?
When I sent my info to Classic Rendezvous, with a pic or two - they listed it as Puch Olympian. My headbadge (and all decals) = AD

A-Ds from the 70's/80's were pretty much just re-branded Puchs. IIRC, the A-D brand was just used for the US market to make the bike's more sellable as I guess, the thought was "Austro-Daimler" sounded much more impressive the "Puch".
Whether A-D/Puch had anything to do with the old car company Austro Daimler, I don't know. There might have been some old historical connections in Austria.
Modern Austro-Daimler bikes are presently being made in China...
The company could be Chinese owned these days.....

As I understand it Austro-Daimler-Steyr-Puch is/was a single company (I might have them in the wrong order). There is an article somewhere (probably Classics Rendezvous) about an American marketing guy who was responsible for the A-D branding/color selection/specs for the American market. The Superleicht pictured in the 1976 catalog is actually a one-off that AD/S/P made for him. A guy on this forum used to own that particular bike, but he has since passed it on to the guy (also an American) who currently owns the rights to the A-D brand.

That bike is worth a long look. Check out this thread: http://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vi...ht-part-i.html

There is a trail of links there to the rest of what I've said, I think.

They very well could have came from the same factory, I just know the early bikes were all badged "AD".

The Vent Noir was a middle range model with two Campy equipped bikes above it if I remember correctly.

The bike shop gave me a catalog wth my receipt when I picked the bike up. There was no mention of Puch on any model in the catalog at that time. I don't remember seeing Puch mentioned in the catalog either, not even in the small print.

To be honest I just assumed they were bought out by Puch when the Puch badged bikes showed up in the 80's.

Probably more info than anyone but the most ardent AD fan wants to read...

My Austro-Daimler "Vent Noir II" Bicycle And Brief History of Steyr Daimler Puch

...but it's better than my pre Internet memory. :)

There's some really fun stuff here: www.bulgier.net - /pics/bike/Catalogs/AustroDaimler/76/UltimaSuperleicht_info/

The press release in image 5 shows both the Steyr and Puch logos on the letterhead. It also glories in these being "the world's most expensive range of production bicycles." That kills me. I bought mine from a guy who had turned it into a fixie, complete with rack and fenders. I guess he didn't realize what a symbol of prestige he had on his hands. ;)

"Symbol of Prestige" that was one purpose of the AD branding in the USA. Catalogues were classy. Puch, foreign made Puch was a tough sell. 'How do you say that?' No thank you, no Puke for me!'

The paint on mine has held-up very well; decals and striping were delicate and held up less well (but better than Pinarellos!). I just love mine for it's fit characteristics and for taking the fenders and 25mm tires - so it gets offseason miles.

As to place in the AD line-up ('81&'82), there were full-on Race models up the line, with lighter framesets, but butted 531 f/f and 73degrees parallel is 'timelessly classic' for us non-racing, fast tourers who appreciate some tire clearance, by roadie standards of th day. For more general riding applications, especially in the larger frame sizes, these 'fast touring frames' were ideal.

edit: these frames were ahead of their time = now rediscovered as Endurance bikes, Whodathunkit?

I think my AD is the Team model, same frame as the Superleicht but a different color and sold as frame and fork only -- at least that's as close as I've been able to recreate from the sparse online materials. Mine has parallel 74 degree angles, with full butted 531. I guess that's crit geometry? I've built it up with a triple and high handlebars anyway. It's a somewhat light bike (~22 pounds) and a lot of fun to ride.

Yeah -- 74 degrees was popular in the 1970s, for the criterium craze. I am more comfortable with a traditional sports touring 72 or 73 degree head tube.

I agree about 10kg being light enough for fun (coincidentally the weight of my Bianchi), but I guess that is heavy by today's standards. :)

My memories of these bikes come from c.1978 or so - my father bought me a Puch Royal X - 531 throughout, Bocama lugs, Shimano dropouts, chromed dropouts but not socks, chrome crown. Mine came from George Crook at Bikeways of Atlanta, and was white, with the weird blend o' parts they put on them - Weinmann Carrera sidepulls, SR stem and bars and seatpost, Dura-Ace cranks, SunTour Cyclone derailleurs (the one in the picture has a long-cage unit with a wider freewheel, but they came stock with the short cage unit), 14-22 Regina Oro 5-speed freewheel and chain, some sort of generic pedals and I misremember the stock saddle - I had an Ideale 90. Anyway, the same frame was used for the Puch Royal Force, which was silver-grey, black head tube with black Dura Ace parts.

The A-D Vent Noir that I remember came with tubulars, and was marketed as a race bike back then and was geared accordingly. My memory is that at least one edition of Richard's Bicycle Book listed it as an example of top-line production bikes, and that he thought the flat black and gold pinstripes was "sexy." I have a dim memory of someone in Atlanta selling them, but I am not positive.

I missed out on the Vent Noir II with its black chrome and its Campy GS parts kit ...

What was interesting about the A-D/Puch line back then was, unlike many other Euro made bikes, they were definitely not beholden to just use European made components on their bikes, so even the top models had Shimano (Dura Ace and 600, IIRC) groups installed on them. Could be the first Euro bike company that really realized how well the Japanese components were made and how they most of the time, functioned better than their Euro counterparts.

year?
 

Is it the matte black version? Or the smoked chrome?

It's brown in my estimation. Definitely not black, but that said, I'm unsure of what matte black looks like. Does it have a brown tint and is it possible to post a photo on this thread? Thank you very much for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it.

It is an A-D model.

Here's a good view of the flat finish...

http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/...ecal500667.jpg

The whole enchilada...

http://www.company7.com/bosendorfer/...Noir840558.jpg

Inter 10 had a brown/wine kind of color. If that is any help.

Here's a couple photos (I hope they attached)

Take a look at the photos at the bottom of the link in post 12, there is also some info on the brownish tone Vent Noir II in the text.