Since this 753 team frame originated from me, I thought I'd add some info; not all that important but it will add some background! If not completely on-topic, i hope its amusing.
The DAF-Cote d'Or-Gazelle team was definitely 1981, and since that was the year Marc Dierikcx rode for that team, so thats the vintage of the frame . In 1979 and 1980 it was DAF-Lejeube, in 1982 the team rode Rossin frames (not bad either I'd say, in terms of ride quality). I'm pretty sure it was essentially the same team that was called Aernoudt-Rossin-Campagnolo in 1983 (Marc Dierickx, Adrie van der Poel, etc, and of course Hennie Kuiper who won Paris-Roubaix that year. Who can forget the image of Hennie standing at the side of the road, slamming his saddle, waiting for the team car and a new bike, while on his way to a great solo victory?)
Now, who or what is DAF you might wonder. (Cote d'Or is maybe better known, its Belgian chocolat.) But DAF, what is that? It was, and still is, a truck manufacturing company. Right now it is owned by the American Paccar concern, but then it was a privately owned family operation. The brothers Van Doorne started it, and evolved the company pretty good, the big trucks are well-known and respected in Europe. The have always been big in sponsoring sprot events and teams I think, and in 1982 a DAF truck won the famous Paris Dakar rally. The truck company also ventured into making saloon cars in the 50s and 60s, and pretty small ones at that: f.i. the DAF 33 and 44, and the so-called 'Daffodil ' (I have to admit that when I was young, I'd be a bit ashamed if my father had owned a DAF!). These small cars had an automatic transmission of a very unique design, developed by the Van Doornes, the so-called Variomatic. I'm not going to explain it here, but it worked with belts and pulleys. Those DAF's could attain the same speed going forward or backward, it didnt matter. In the 80s there were 'achteruit rij races' (backward driving races) on the Zandvoort racetrack, and I have to say that was pretty funny. The design of the Variomatic has evolved into something with a kind of metal chain belt (and probably computer assistance), called the CVT, and while DAF is not making saloon cars anymore (after a period when they were taken over by Volvo), there is a separate company now called VDT (Van Doorne Transmission) that is producing those pretty smart automatic transmissions. So thats it, a Gazelle frame with some pretty unique features at the time, and a kind of truck history ...
Enjoy the Easter weekend!
Freek Faro Rotterdam Netherlands
2009/4/8 Rich Pinder <rpinder@usc.edu>
> Hi all,
> Regarding this lovely Gazelle, a fellow called Jan N has a great resource
> on Gazelles, and has posted some helpful history and information on the
> frame. Thanks Jan ! Check it out:
> http://www.fivenineclimber.com/
>
> For other Gazelle owners out there, Jan has a serial number
> database/resource also yu might wanna see:
> http://www.fivenineclimber.com/
>
> And the 'Front Door' to Jan's Gazelle site (which is also linked on Chuck's
> exhaustive link page!), is up at:
> http://fivenineclimber.com/
>
> Rich Pinder
> Van Nuys, CA
>
>
>> I got the frame from Freek F yesterday and it cleaned up nicely !
>>> I'd love to get in touch with Marc as I work on this project, and learn
>>> more about the bike as it was build up back in 81
>>>
>>> If anyone has information, or possibly a way to get in touch with the
>>> Belgium rider today, I'd appreciate to hear from you offline
>>>
>>> Pics of the frame, and some other shots, up at:
>>>
>>> http://www-hsc.usc.edu/
>>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________