Norris- OK, you laid down an excellent foundation of what had always been rather hazy in my mind. Allow me to add a little more of what I know and see if this dovetails with what you understand in regards to "VELTEC". Either before or after this VELTEC dynasty, I am aware of a very similar wholesale/ marketing group called ULTIMA. As far as I know, it consisted of CAMPAGNOLO, SIDI shoes and CONCORDE, plus maybe some other Euro company. ULTIMA = ? = VELTEC at some point? I dunno, but if you recall, they both had the same logo and both had the Concorde company as the common link between themselves. I didn't know about the Boyer connection to Veltec, but could have sworn that ULTIMA was the creation of some importer down in Texas. Apologies in advance for those that could give a hoot about this historical minutia, but I find it interesting to dig up facts about little know marques that really deserve a lot more attention and respect. Cheers- Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT
In a message dated 2/2/2004 5:25:03 PM PST, Norris.Lockley@btopenworld.com writes:
This is my second attempt at filling in the blanks.. last time I pressed the mouse to "SEND" and the email ceratinly went but doesn't seem to have arrived in the States. I may have let a small error slipinto my first contri on this subject, so put it down to vivid recollections of Ghent getting the better of me. In the strictest of senses Paganini was not the brand of Plum Vainquer in Ghent, although the shop was full of them. It was the marque owned by the owner of the shop for his wholesale company VELTEC ( .that rings a bell I bet) based down the road near Oudenaarde. The Desnaerke family ( I think that's the Flemish way to spell it) owned both set ups and Mme Desnaerke, an impressive and very good-looking blonde as only Belgian middle-class ladies can look impressive, ran the Ghent shop It was in the 80s when Ciocc were building the Paganinis, and perhaps they gave way to Billato towards the end of that decade because Ciocc, like SOMEC and other small builders went through some reorganisation. Billato were also Padua based and would know Rizato the lug-maker. Towards the end of the 80s there was a move by three of the largest wholesalers in the Benelux and France to form a company with the aim of killing off the opposition. the triumvirate was Veltec of Belguim, Weltmeister of Holland, and Jose Alvarez, the Naploeon of the French lightweeight industry from Auch near the Pyrenees. The first two went ahead with the venture and formed CONCORDE, while Alvarez declared himself bigger than the other two.. and went on his own very successful way.At the start of the 90s, I can't be exact the new alliance backed Sean Kelly with Concorde frames for the PDM team. These frames were sprayed by Van Tperzeele at Geraardsbergen near Ghent (the Flemish name) or Grammont (in Walloon) some 1km from the foot of the famous Mur de Grammont of Belgian Classics fame.
The VELTEC name was taken over to the States by your own Jonathan Boyer, with as his partner.. so the story went at the 89 Milan Show.. Patricia Gourmand, the daughter of the owner of MAVIC. boyer set up Veltec-Boyer Sports, in Sand city, California. The Veltec company also developed aggressively into other countries. Think that's about it..
Norris Lockley.. dreaming about visiting Napoleon's treasure house in Auch