When i was a kid my father gave me a black Sears road bike made in Austria. Did Puch make these & is there any collector interest? Thanks.

Yes, Puch bicycles were sold under the Sears brand. A little more information would be helpful to determine its value.

I remember that bike. Yeah, Styr Daimler Puch is the manufacturer. If it is complete, it goes for quite a bit on Ebay. Time frame is from maybe 1961 or 2 to about 1964. Not sure what Sears did after that.

Some of the bikes came with Campy components--the funny little front derailleur built in an alloy box, the Campy whatsit model name bronze rear deraillleur with adjustable bearing pulleys, etc. Might have Weinman 999 brakes? I own one, but with a fresh paint in a different color--Emerald Green and Old English Cream, the frame is on display at CyclArt. Rides beautifully and handles really well. Heavy sucker, though.

The metal is really funny stuff, it has a spring to it. When cold setting, it eventually works its way right back to where it was before you paid all the money to get it changed.

I've got one, but it's probably a little more recent than yours. It's got Simplex gearchange on it. Don't really know any more about it than what I've learned here -- it was made by Austro-Daimler-Puch and sold by Sears. Eventually I want to clean it up, maybe get some dates off it. Currently it sits in the state I found it.....

Yes, some of Sears bikes were made in Austria, presumably by Puch, at late as the mid 70's. They were as common as dirt in my town and I knew someone who regularly rode the woman's 3-speed version (Torpado gears) until recently. The Sears catalog had more models of bike than the local store and one could tell the Austrian ones as they were listed as 'imported'.