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Austro Daimler / Puch bikes

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Austro Daimler / Puch bikes

Old 09-20-19, 01:28 AM
  #26  
martl
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Originally Posted by wastl46
And also the Puch G. Now mercedes is producing the G-class.
i thought the Puch/Daimler/Peugeot G is still produced in the old Puch factory (now Magna)?

There are some nice Puchs around for sure, i saw a lot of them when i went to the "in Velo Veritas" and they had a factory booth too. I got the impression Puchs are a matter of national pride in Austria, a bit like Opels or Bauers or Dürkopps in Germany. Funnily enough, one of the Puch guys told stories about how troubled production was in the 70ies and eighties, when there were big fights bewtween management and staff ("UK strike culture" style) and workers would deliberately do sloppy jobs on building the bikes to punish the company...
I believe there also was a racing department (bit like Bianchis or Atalas "reparto corse") where the best frame builders worked and they put out some very fine bikes.

Last edited by martl; 09-20-19 at 01:37 AM.
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Old 09-20-19, 02:26 PM
  #27  
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My puch
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Old 09-20-19, 10:30 PM
  #28  
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That Superleicht looks quite close to my ride, but mine has an "Ultima SL" decal on the top tube. Photos coming in a few more posts.
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Old 09-20-19, 10:52 PM
  #29  
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This is a good thread to ask for AD advice.
building a smoke chrome Vent Noir

which crank do you prefer visually: the black drilled Tuens or the silver Stronglight currently on a black Harding.



In any event, the Olympian will suffice until the VN is built.
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Last edited by Wildwood; 09-20-19 at 10:55 PM.
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Old 09-22-19, 10:16 PM
  #30  
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Here it is...

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Old 09-23-19, 06:04 AM
  #31  
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Mistral

Here's my Puch/Bianchi Mistral Leader, picked it up the other day
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Old 09-23-19, 11:27 AM
  #32  
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The first bike I fell in love with back in 1980 was a Puch Royal Force. It was literally my first visit to a bike shop that carried something other than Schwinn and they talked me into a test ride. I just did a couple laps around the parking lot and my mind was blown! I couldn't afford it and so never got it but I love it to this day. I now ride an Austro Daimler unnamed 531 frame with mostly Campy Super Record components circa 1984 so i don't feel short changed...!
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Old 09-23-19, 11:36 AM
  #33  
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I came so very very very close to buying a Puch Royal Force as my first 531-tubed bike - but in the end I got a better deal on a Royal X. Now I understand why - we bought it in '78 and it was a '76 that had been hanging around for a while -



- I need to take a more recent pic, though - the Shimano 600 rear derailleur has since been replaced with a correct SunTour Cyclone with an incorrect but very functional VXs cage that allows use of a 28T rear cog, Brooks B17 instead of a Gillux 3000 saddle, Nitto Technomic stem instead of the 8 cm SR, Mavic Module 3 rims instead of basic Weinmanns - buttery smooth ride, though.
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Old 09-23-19, 11:51 AM
  #34  
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That is one sweet looking bike! I'm trying to recreate the AD Ultima. My frame is right- Bordeaux Red with hand painted gold paint around the lugs (1977ish?)- and the Super Record components it has are correct circa 1984 but it has other components that are incorrect and I haven't so far found what was really used. The vintage catalogs seem a bit vague and somewhat contradictory when attempting to Google the actual items!
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Old 09-23-19, 01:30 PM
  #35  
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Originally Posted by alexihnen
I’ve searched high and low and found very little about the Puch Austro Daimler Ultima SL in smoked chrome. Most of what I’ve found is about the Vent Noir. Anyone here seen or have an Ultima SL?
1983 Puch Austro-Daimler Ultima SL

Here's a thread to the '83 I once owned in Smoked Chrome

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Old 09-23-19, 02:18 PM
  #36  
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Hey thanks - some great information in that thread. The serial number on my ride doesn't conform to other Puch numbering schemes I've found online. Perhaps it's because it was a frame-only run? Anyway, I love the bike but imagine parting with it eventually to fund other purchases!
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Old 09-23-19, 07:12 PM
  #37  
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Austro-Daimler Info

I just recently overhauled an AD-SL, which I purchased in 1975 at the Austro-Daimler flagship store in Greenwich, CT. This was a lower mid range bike in the lineup, while the Ultima was the most expensive bike in the line. My wife and I bought matching bikes; otherwise I could have gotten one of the more expensive bikes. My SL has been garaged since new, looks great after a thorough cleaning and overhaul, and is a nice riding bike.

Puch initially developed the A-D’s as a stand-alone high end line, but then began to undermine their their US marketing plan by introducing Puch branded bikes alongside Austro-Daimler as a value brand. Then they started to intermingle parts and some of the frames, and ultimately co-branded the bikes in the 80’s, cutting corners and lowering quality and switching names of the different bikes, apparently without a clear marketing strategy...

I located some in depth background on the company’s history and on how they developed and rolled out the A-D brand and found it fascinating. (Unfortunately, I can’t post the links)

I can’t post a pic of my bike either due to low post count but will circle back to the thread once I can. The Ultimas show up once in a while on eBay. Make sure you get one of the early ones without the Puch tagalong branding. The good ones are generally priced $1200-1500, but I’m sure there are some outliers being sold by someone who doesn’t know what they have. Cheers!
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Old 09-23-19, 07:52 PM
  #38  
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“Smoked Chrome” Frame Austro-Daimler

in follow up to my earlier post, the Vent Noir was the only smoked chrome bike in the original A-D lineup. It was an extremely unique & impressive looking bicycle. As Puch began meddling with the Austro-Daimler brand, they introduced a Vent Noir II with the same frame treatment, but I believe it had lower quality components, and down tube decals that read: Austro-Daimler-Puch. Later on, Puch mixed and matched the original A-D bike model names in a
confusing manner that didn’t make much marketing sense. I suspect that putting the Ultima SL name on a smoked chrome frame was just more of the same, whereas the original AD Ultima was top of the line with all Campy
components and a beautiful translucent blueberry/purple-ish paint over chrome.
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Old 10-18-19, 08:26 AM
  #39  
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Posting a couple more photos here (as well as other threads).



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Old 10-18-19, 07:53 PM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by alexihnen
Posting a couple more photos here (as well as other threads).



Beautiful AD/Puch!!
Exactly spec'd out as I prefer (Campy, instead of the more usual Shimano components).
I had always had a soft place in my heart for AD's, ever since I saw a pic of one in a book with then AD pro rider, Jaques Boyer standing next to one, in the early 80's. Never could find the right AD all these years and so far only thing AD I have is a nice AD jersey, I bought back in the 80's, anticipating that some day I'll get to own one of these nice smoked chromed framed race bikes.
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Old 10-18-19, 10:07 PM
  #41  
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Originally Posted by Johnnybikes
Here's my Puch/Bianchi Mistral Leader, picked it up the other day
I have the "twin" to this frame (Bianchi-made Mistral, GPM dropouts and ColuMbus SLX tubing, same paint and graphics) except for the fork. Mine now has a Bottechia all chrome fork (Columbus blades). I'll take some pix someday.
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Old 10-18-19, 10:43 PM
  #42  
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I never did post my updated Bergmeister to this thread. I've since sold it, but I really enjoyed it while I had it. Just ran out of space, and I got a hold of some different interesting projects.

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Old 10-19-19, 10:21 AM
  #43  
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Originally Posted by Chuckk
Looking at the catalogs, it looks to me that the Ultima was also labeled as the Ultima Superleicht, with the Superleicht model below it. The catalog I found referenced different lug sets (not on the original bike compared to my Superleicht). BUT, the Ultima SL seems to be speced with Super Record rather than Record components.
The CR page of a Ultima SL example.
Austro Daimler, Scott Ryder's Ultima SL







0
Yes, my Ultima was the first one off the "assembly line". No serial number, it was the bike they photographed for the calendar and was given as a gift to Gene Ritvo of Life Cycles in Boston/Cambridge. His initials are on the seat tube "ER". It hung in the boardroom most of it's life and now resides
in the offices of the new Austro-Daimler in Maine.

Cheers,

Scott


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Old 10-19-19, 11:24 AM
  #44  
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Jumping into an old Austrian bike thread with an old Austrian bike:
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Old 10-22-19, 05:19 PM
  #45  
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1981 Olympian, looks extremely original. Far too small so I won't keep it, just couldn't pass up at the price point, if only to ride once and cop a general feel.

Probably posting on the frame-doesn't-fit thread in the near future to see what pans out in trades.








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