The seller doesn't list the model name, but the finish and components lead me to think it's a Superleicht. Superleichts were second in the line, just under the Team bike, the Ultima. I have an '82 Superleicht just like this one, and a catalog from 1984 which sets the price at $1400. That's not cheap, but it's nowhere near the $3grand this seller claims to have invested.
They're nice bikes, the workmanship is decent - the plating shows every joint and all the tool marks. The mitering in the bottom bracket is nothing to rave about, though.
If you look closely at the poor photos of this example, you'll notice the top tube is relatively level and that the bottom bracket slopes down from the rear wheel. These bikes have a nice low bottom bracket. It's also interesting that A/D was using 130mm spacing long before the advent of 8 speed components, my bike has it, as did the other early eighties Puchs and A/Ds I've owned and worked on. - Oh yes, this is a Puch-A/D, the merged branding seen in the later years before Puch sold out to the Italians (Bianchi), who killed the marque.
Rumor has it that Austro Daimler's primary interest in importing bicycles into this country was based on a desire to sell firearms here - the parent company Steyr Daimler Puch was producing Steyr weaponry. Unconfirmed, but interesting to me... Anyone know more about this?
Anyway, with a starting bid of $400, a claimed investment of $3K and an unknown reserve, I'd guess that his price than market value for the bike. I paid $600 for mine in '94, it was virtually unridden and bone stock. I'll be curious to see where it goes.
This is rather like the Campy equipped Lotus - worth no more than the sum of it's parts.
Ed.
> Ran across this smoked chrome AD, no connection to seller. I remember
these
> in the shop I worked in in 79-81, just couldn't remember where they stood
in
> the AD hierarchy. The finish was always interesting.
>
> Tony Z
>
> http://ebay.com/