Unique Didier Louis Classic Road Racing Bike

[VintageCourse]

I'm selling what is perhaps one of my favorite bikes from my collection through the years: a 1979 custom frame and bike built by French frame builder Didier Louis.

I listed it on eBay in July but the buyer failed to pay, and I viewed it as a sign I should perhaps hold on to it. I've watched similar stock Cinelli and Didier Louis bikes of $2,000 and up, and I picked up the bike years ago for a steal at just under $1500 shipped from France. Asking price for CABEr's is $1400. I will be asking $1800 on Craigslist.

Below is the writeup I did for the original eBay ad:

Custom Cinelli/Didier Louis Race Bike (approx. 55-56 cm)

This is an extremely rare opportunity to own a truly unique, very light, classic French racing bike.

The frame was custom made by famed builder Didier Louis in 1979 for a racer who competed on the bike from approximately 1979 to 1983. Frames by Didier Louis of this era are extremely rare and collectible.

Bike Details

This is not your everyday collector's bicycle -- it is one of a kind and the frame was handmade. Notice the curved seat tube, internally routed rear brake line, and fillet brazing -- absolutely beautiful. This bike is a work of art and rides as good as it looks. Super light and great handling. Also notice the "DL" engraved on the custom forks and the interesting red decals on the grey Mavics, likely denoting the rider's team. Additionally, the bike is 100 percent original and unrestored (excluding pedals), adding to its value. This is not a repainted Colnago with an assortment of NOS components. This is a time capsule. It currently is mounted on display in my home.

The bike has Columbus tubing and Cinelli lugs, and top of the line components throughout: Campagnolo Nuovo Record front and rear derailleurs, Cinelli stem and bars, Modolo Equipe brakes, Spidel Pro hubs laced to Mavic GP4 rims, Spidel crankset, Super LJ shifters, San Marco Turbo saddle.

History

I purchased the bike from a vintage collector in France who purchased it directly from and personally knew the racer himself. I have the name and contact information of the racer and will provide it to the new owner. The racer said that he competed on this bike in the Tour de France during those years.

Some history on Didier Louis: He started his frame-building business in Le Flers, Normandy in 1975, and in the early 1990s moved to the Parisien suburb of Montreuil where he took over the workshops of the renowned builder Bernard Carre. Didier also supplied frames to better-known riders such as Marc Madiot, Thierry Marie and Charlie Mottet.

 

[Major Taylor Archive]

Size ?

 

[VintageCourse]

I just remeasured and found the effective top tube to be just about 56 cm to the best of my estimates. I also measured the standover height from the middle of the top tube and it's around 79 cm. If you'd like me to measure anything else, please let me know!

I forgot to mention that this bike would make a very competitive Eroica steed! Bike is located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

[VintageCourse]

Happy Holidays everyone!

 

[corbettclassics]

It's a beautiful and interesting machine. The curved seat tube has been around for over a hundred years in this style of racing frame.
I think I have a picture or two in my archives of Didier built frames.

But, during these years in the Tour de France, weren't all the bikes that were raced covered with the logos of the bike manufacturer???

You can google the Tour for those yrs ( or any year really! ) and see that all teams were sponsored and that all bikes had the names
of the bike maker on them. The manufacturer of the bikes wouldn't be sponsoring them and giving the teams all that money without
any recognition in order to sell bikes to the public etc. It seems odd to me that a bike would be ridden plain like this ( no markings ) when
all the other riders on the team were on a different bikes for example showing the bikes name manufacturer (like Gitane for e.g. - all teams
were sponsored)

Would you happen to have a picture you could post of him on the bike in the Tour de France?? You can cover out his face if
you like so we don't see the rider. I can also research my old "Cycling Weekly" from this era too and try to find the bike but my
experiences with going to the tour over the last couple of decades and following it through the yrs mentioned, I'm not sure I will
find any picture of this bike being ridden in the Tour de France. I'm not saying it wasn't ridden in the Tour as he states but my experience
is that all bikes had marking from the sponsors etc. This one you said is 100% original as raced.

Thank you and look forward to seeing a pic of it in the Tour amongst the other racers and teams etc..( if you would be kind enough to post one ).

 

[VintageCourse]

It's a beautiful and interesting machine. The curved seat tube has been around for over a hundred years in this style of racing frame.
I think I have a picture or two in my archives of Didier built frames.

But, during these years in the Tour de France, weren't all the bikes that were raced covered with the logos of the bike manufacturer???

You can google the Tour for those yrs ( or any year really! ) and see that all teams were sponsored and that all bikes had the names
of the bike maker on them. The manufacturer of the bikes wouldn't be sponsoring them and giving the teams all that money without
any recognition in order to sell bikes to the public etc. It seems odd to me that a bike would be ridden plain like this ( no markings ) when
all the other riders on the team were on a different bikes for example showing the bikes name manufacturer (like Gitane for e.g. - all teams
were sponsored)

Would you happen to have a picture you could post of him on the bike in the Tour de France?? You can cover out his face if
you like so we don't see the rider. I can also research my old "Cycling Weekly" from this era too and try to find the bike but my
experiences with going to the tour over the last couple of decades and following it through the yrs mentioned, I'm not sure I will
find any picture of this bike being ridden in the Tour de France. I'm not saying it wasn't ridden in the Tour as he states but my experience
is that all bikes had marking from the sponsors etc. This one you said is 100% original as raced.

Thank you and look forward to seeing a pic of it in the Tour amongst the other racers and teams etc..( if you would be kind enough to post one ).

Thank you so much for the info and kind words! I do agree -- this bike is absolutely beautiful and interesting. I wish a had a photo or confirmation that this bike was raced in the Tour. That would be amazing to have, and would significantly increase the value of this bike! But as I do not, I am not advertising the bike as one that was definitively raced in the tour. Rather, I felt it worth mentioning that it was stated by the bike's original owner. For someone with more time, it would indeed be fun to reconnect with the owner (if you're up on your French!) and do some digging through some photos circa the time this bike was built and raced. Nevertheless, still a gorgeous build and piece of history with likely an interesting story and pedigree to go along with it.

 

[Mercian]

Hi,

That is Beautiful, even though I live in France, I've never seen one until now.

The VCA on the wheels probably stands for Vélo Club A.... I just had a quick google, the A could be one of several clubs, including Avranches, Ardennes, Amiens or Annecy (where, incidentally, I am), which has a good reputation for club cycling.

Best Regards,

Adrian

 

[VintageCourse]

Hi,

That is Beautiful, even though I live in France, I've never seen one until now.

The VCA on the wheels probably stands for Vélo Club A.... I just had a quick google, the A could be one of several clubs, including Avranches, Ardennes, Amiens or Annecy (where, incidentally, I am), which has a good reputation for club cycling.

Best Regards,

Adrian

Thank you, Adrian!

 

[VintageCourse]

Bike is still available, thanks for looking!

 

[bikejunk]

Well over 20 years ago I worked in a high end bike shop in New Jersey -one of these came in for a tuneup -could not resist taking it for a "test ride" as it was my size _____Wow what a great handling bike !!! ,and if my memory serves me it was this steel grey color just a wonderful bike !!!