Concorde, once a famous Dutch bicycle brand

Anyone who has ever ridden a steel racing bike in Belgium or Holland in the 70s, 80s or 90s or is a fan of vintage steel racing bikes, will undoubtedly have already come across the Concorde bicycle brand.

This Dutch bicycle brand is, or rather was, a resounding name in the racing bicycle world. Especially the model in black and white with which the Dutch professional cycling team PDM rode is the best known.

Establishment of Concorde bicycle brand

The Concorde brand was launched in the early 1970s by the bicycle importer Veltec/Rentmeester, itself founded in 1965 as Rentmeester. The sale lasted until 2009 and the company that was now called Veltec went bankrupt in 2012. With the new owners Intersens Bikes & Parts BV, located in Almelo a new attempt was made in 2015 to relaunch Concorde, but in 2018 the brand disappeared from the market again.

De frames van Concorde werden gemaakt in Italië, namelijk door Ciöcc uit Bergamo en Billato uit Padova. Later leverde ook het Belgische Martelly frames aan Concorde.

De frames werden wel gelakt en afgewerkt in de lakkerij van Concorde die gevestigd was in Gavere in België. Concorde had ook een systeem ontwikkeld (Cyclefit) dat hielp om een kader op maat te maken.

De frames van Ciöcc waren van hoogwaardigere kwaliteit in tegenstelling tot die van Billato die gebruikt werden voor de goedkopere Concorde modellen. Op de frames is zelfs een Italiaanse vlag in de horizontale bovenbuis gegraveerd wat een garantie is voor de productie in Italië.

In addition to racing bikes, Concorde also produced mountain bikes, cyclocross and trekking bikes.

Concorde sponsor of PDM team

The Concorde brand was also active in professional cycling for a while when it sponsored the Dutch cycling team PDM from 1986 to 1992, which included great cyclists such as Pedro Delgado, Greg Lemond and Sean Kelly. The other main riders were

• Peter Rooks
• Gert Jan Theunisse
• Erik Breukink
• Raul Alcala
• Gerry Kneteman
• Adrie van der Poel
• Jean Paul van Poppel
• Peter Van Petegem
• Rudy Dhaenens

The sponsorship was stopped when the PDM team was discredited for doping use in the Tour de France in 1991. After a bad day where the entire team could not follow the peloton, they got out of the stage and left the Tour in silence the same day. .

Supposedly due to food poisoning by Salmonella, but according to the French physician Jean Daniel Fleysakier, the symptoms (high fever, muscle and neck pain) were typical of an overdose of EPO.

This doping scandal received full attention and the letters PDM, which stand for Philips Dupont Magnetic, became the center of ridicule in the international press. For the Dutch press it became Prestaties Door Manipulatie (Performances by Manipulation), for the English press Pills, Drugs and Medecins and for the French press Plein de Manipulation de Dopage.

The following year, the then Tour boss Luc Leblanc also excluded the PDM team, which immediately meant the end of the cycling team and the end of the bicycle brand Concorde in the professional peloton.

Most important Concorde racing bikes

Aangezien de frames van Concorde uit Italië kwamen kregen de meeste modellen dan ook een Italiaanse naam. Hieronder de lijst:

• Concorde Squadra, the bikes of the PDM racing team
• Concorde Aquila
• Concorde Mistral
• Concorde Lombardia
• Concorde Stelvio
• Concorde Poggio
• Concorde Classic
• Concorde Capo Mele
• Concorde Gavina
• Concorde Astore
• Concorde Colombo
• Concorde Alura
• Concorde Alutech 903 en 905 STI
• Concorde Cromotech 902
• Concorde Prelude
• Concorde Olympic
• Concorde EL35
• Concorde Max
• Concorde Genius

The frames were mostly made of Columbus tubing, but Tange and Oria were also used. The final assembly could be done with Campagnolo, Miche or Shimano.

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Een bericht gedeeld door Oud vrouwtje (@oudvrouwtje) op 13 Jun 2019 om 7:59 (PDT)