Concorde Bicycle Gallery (click images to enlarge)      This Concorde frame and fork was on ebay late January 2011 and I was bidding on it but just missed out. It sold for US $510.00. Nice buy to who ever bought it.
  By looking at the photos, especially the cut-outs on the Cinelli bottom bracket, it was likely an old PDM team bike. This was done by the PDM team mechanic to enable the removal the running gear without having to undo the cables for cleaning and transport.
     A nice example of PDM time-trial or funny bike found on ebay. Not the original forks however, but still a nice buy. Most of the time-trial Concorde bikes were called Astore. Below is an actual PDM team bike, note the matching chrome forks.
                            Ebay never ceases to amaze me with the unique things that turn up there. Have a look at this strangely familiar vintage Paganini racing bike with Campagnolo Record groupset on ebay 14 April 2010. Here's a link
 Another great example of the 1989 PDM Concorde Squadra recently sold on ebay for just over $2,500, very nice buy!
       Concorde PDM Team Replica Road Bikenow for sale at Wiggle for £945.00. Check it out at www.wiggle.co.uk
   Was on ebay April 2010 and sold for £56. Quite scratched. 58cm c to c.
 CIÖCC (Church) one of Concorde's frame builders.
    | A great cyclist gone,
but his bike lives on.
 Rudy Dhaenens was a Belgian professional cyclist who excelled in the spring classics and achieved consistent results in races such as Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix; finishing second in 1986 and third the following year. But Rudy Dhaenens's greatest success came in 1990 winning the professional World Championship Road Race, held in Utsunomiya, Japan, ahead of fellow countryman and PDM team mate Dirk De Wolf and the Italian Gianni Bugno who later went on to become World Champion in 1991 and 1992.
 Dhaenens spent most of his professional years riding for the very successful Dutch based PDM cycling team, who won the Worldcup classification in 1988 and 1989. During 1986 to 1992 the PDM team had some of the world's best professional cyclists and among Dhaenens included Pedro Delgado, Steven Rooks, Gert-Jan Theunisse, Greg LeMond, Sean Kelly, Erik Breukink, Dirk De Wolf, Adrie van der Poel, Raúl Alcalá, Jean-Paul Van Poppel, Peter Van Petegem and list goes on.
 All of whom dominated the professional cycling season year after year with victories in all the major tours and one-day classic races. The PDM team, sponsored by Philips Dupont Magnetics (P D M), rode a Dutch branded bicycle named Concorde, which was made by the highly regarded Italian manufacturer Ciocc, who still makes bicycle frames today.
Dhaenens, as well as his team mates would of had their Concorde frames custom made to suit their height and riding position. The Concorde team bikes were mostly made from Columbus SLX or TSX steel tubing, but in later years aluminum frames were used by some team mates, especially in the Tour de France mountain stages.
Many professional cyclists during the 1980s and 1990s were able to keep their bicycles, to have as their own as a part of a collection, or to sell off if they so wanted to. Dhaenens, like many riders would have kept certain bikes because the bike means something to them, perhaps a good result on that particular bike, or maybe because of the way it rides and feels. People throughout the world sometimes come across these professionally used bikes and Luc Van Vossel from Belgian has been lucky enough to find one of Dhaenens's early PDM Concorde bikes.
 Dhaenens raced the bike with PDM during 1988 to 1989. Luc who lives in Dhaenens's home town tells how the bike was stored in Dhaenens's garage for many years. The reason most likely why the bike ended up in Dhaenens's garage is because PDM updated their Concorde bikes in 1990 to a new colour scheme. At this time the bike sitting in Dhaenens's garage would have been like a new bike and Dhaenens would have been racing the newer Concorde of which he won his world title. The bike sat there in Dhaenens's garage until 1998 around the time of his tragic car accident collecting dust until Dhaenens's father gave it away to his neighbors son. The son rode the late Dhaenens Concorde for 10 years where it was treated poorly and sustained most of it current scratches and rusty chrome. Luc who considers Dhaenens to be a local hero found the bike listed on the net for sale for 100 euro, and just had to have it and bought the bike in 2008.
 Over the years Luc has been searching ebay for NOS Campagnolo parts and plans to restore Dhaenens's old Concorde to its original former glory. The Concorde will be re-chromed and repainted, get NOS original PDM Concorde decals and be assembled with the period Campagnolo Record. Luc sees the restoration as a tribute to the great cyclist Rudy Dhaenens once was, and to remember the days of Concorde and the PDM team during their finest years. Luc says he might occasionally ride the bike but would like to see it in a museum one day for all to see.
My time at Le'Bourg d'Oisans, France
I purchased my Concorde secondhand from Hillman Cycles in 1990 and built it up with Campagnolo Chorus, Mavic rims, Cinelli stem and bars and Turbo seat. At the time it cost about $3500 to build. I raced the bike for about 5 years before taking it to Europe where it got badly damaged and scratched up. I spent most of time in the French Alps riding all the famous climbs and discovering great roads not seen from watching years of the Tour de France, like the road to Villard Notre Dame at Le'Bourg d'Oisans. Below are some photos I took of the Concorde looking over Le'Bourg d'Oisans in 1994.
  My most favorite climb was a climb that the Tour de France would never climb. It was a very narrow climb that was cut into the side of a cliff face, and halfway up there was a very long and dark tunnel. It was so dark you couldn't see your own hand right in front of your face. I had to walk through feeling the sides until I could see light. Thinking back now I wish I'd taken more photos of the great climbs surrounding Le'Bourg d'Oisans.
  This photo is on the way to Villard Notre Dame 3000m or so above Le'Bourg d'Oisans. The early section of this climb is cut into the cliff face in a "C" shape, and in some sections there is rock just over your head. Its truly amazing how they built these roads back then.
  For 10 years after that I used the Concorde to ride to work, but mostly it hung in my garage collecting dust.
Just recently I decided to restore it, and to have it as a museum piece and a reminder of the great pro team PDM of 80s and 90s.
Gen 1 Concorde Aluminum
Featured below is Willie O'Sullivan of Ireland first generation Concorde Aluminum. Concorde was quick to see that aluminum frames was to be the future in cycling and released a range of frames made by Ciocc in the early 90s.
 Note the way the tubing is lugged together similar to that of the early carbon and aluminum Look bikes of the late 80s, and the oversize tubing to gain rigidity for the traditional geometry style.
   The bike is heavy by todays standards, but 20 years ago there wasn't the demand for aluminum bikes and many frame builders used readily available and affordable materials which weren't as stiff and as lightweight as today's advanced alloys. Although Willie states"To ride the bike is a real experience. The frame is stiff but not harsh, very responsive and not to bad going up hills."
Great to see another Concorde still being used and turning over the miles. The Concorde is one of those bikes definitely worth holding onto, even more so as traditional steel frames are making a come back.
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