4Rings6Stars

Picked up one of my "grail" bikes yesterday. If you haven't guessed it from my lame title it is an Austro Daimler Vent Noir II. Appears to be all original minus the saddle/consumables. Smoked chrome Reynolds 531 frame/fork/stays with Campy drops and full Nuovo/GS group. Good condition but certainly not showroom. Original owner rode it very little but it has some scuffs from storage and he threw away the brake hoods because they were dry Needs new tires, brake hoods and bar tape and she'll be gorgeous.

I only have a teaser shot right now as I haven't had any time in decent light to take some proper pictures but I will surely have a photoshoot this weekend.



Anybody else have one of these? Is it rare or just cool? I saw one posted here a year or so ago and have lusted after them ever since. I would love to find one with the black DA group but I guess this one will do for now

Bianchigirll 

nice bike. I younger rider I used to ride with in Boston had an Olympic (purple/gold, SR)and I always thought they were great looking bikes. nice AD seem to be very popular and ones like this Vent Noir have cult status I believe. can't wait to see it clean and shiny

sillverchevy

I have one, an 81 with full Campy GS as well. Very nice bikes (though mine is a tad small for me-looks to be the same size as yours actually). Pm me if you have any questions or if I can help in any way.

4Rings6Stars

You can help by posting some pics as inspiration for me to clean mine up. Any idea how to tell the year? SN is 6799301, I'm guessing similar to yours as the component group varied from year to year I believe.

Fletch521

Vent noir

sillverchevy

Here are some pics. I have to get the serial number to compare, as well as some better pics.
Ron

SingeDebile

perfect

Straightblock

Translates as "Je pète dans votre direction générale."

Nice score!

4Rings6Stars

Nice bike. I'm doing a little research on how to clean the frame up, from what I've read the finish is pretty scratch resistant but very thin so I'm going to start with some fine bronze wool and go from there. I'll let you know how it comes out.

I feel your pain about the bike not being the right size... I'm most comfortable on a 54cm frame but for the right bike I can make it work.

All I'm seeing on ebay for hoods are cheap-looking generics and SR / Record hoods. Anybody know if either of those mentioned hoods will fit the GS levers?

Straightblock

I put the repro Campy hoods from Loose Screws on the Gran Sport levers on my wife's Trek 640. Should be no problem.

4Rings6Stars

Your mother was a hamster.

tugrul

I wish more bikes came in black chrome... figure the only one I'll ever run into is a Schwinn Sierra.

Chombi

Be careful with the decals on that bike, they scratch off when you just breath on them. I think the smooth hard chrome finish made it hard for any decals to stay on these ADs.

Chombi

cs1

Wow, just like the BD's bike. Now, that's a coincidence.

miamijim

In the past week 'black wind' in French has beeen:

cendres volcaniques noires

rhm

Schwartze Wind?

All in all I guess it's a good sign that European bicycle and component manufacturers used to name their products in foreign languages, but frankly I've never understood it.

4Rings6Stars

Yeah I was thinking about that too. Non French and Italians pretty much just labled things to make them sound French and Italian though right?

rhm

Yeah... well, I was thinking of Stronglight which seems more English than French.

And then there's centerpull brakes:

Racer (France)
Vainqueur (Switzerland. Okay, they speak French there, so I guess I give 'em a pass, but Weinmann is a German name)
Coureur (England)
Universal (Italy)

bikerosity57

Vent noir.

bikerosity57

I have one from the mid seventies, and it is all original Dura-Ace. It's a great bike, and I still ride mine often.

luker

Noir has more of the flavor of "dark" rather than "black" in this context, I think.

Bianchigirll 

back in the late '80s early '90s Univega used to make some nice black chrome MTbs and Hybrids. not exactly Vent Noir level but a hybrid frame would make a great randoneurerer

my understanding is that as causic as the chroming process can be the black was about 20x worse.

Zaphod Beeblebrox 

Here's a short listing of Serial Numbers on CR. https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Aus...al_numbers.htm

They're keeping it updated so send yours in.

It would appear that their serial numbering scheme is simply sequential.
The trend seems to be that Serials starting with a 5 are mid-70's (thru around '77), starting with a 6 would be approx 77-81 and with a 7 would be approx. 1981 thru when they stopped.

I've been riding the hell out of my A-D Inter 10 lately and Its a really great frame. I can only imagine the Vent Noir, especially outfitted like that, is even better.

Fletch521

I used an online translator. Whenever I do I always check my math and translate the answer back to english to make sure it remains in context. It is surprising how often I get something almost unrecognizable from the original entry. English is my only language and I'm not real good at that one either...

4Rings6Stars

She's almost there. Here are some pics of the bike as it sits right now. All it needs now to be perfect is some bar tape and brake hoods (and new tires eventually).

I am going to post a thread in the appraisal subforum to get an idea on value and rarity. Not because I want to sell it but I just want to know how careful I should be with it.