In the 80s and 90s of the last century you saw a lot of young cyclists in the youth categories with a racing bike from the Diamant brand. They were decent affordable road bikes of good quality, good enough to take the first steps in the cycling peloton.
Nowadays you see them for sale a lot on second hand websites and all kinds of facebook sales groups related to vintage steel racing bikes.
Diamant frames
Diamant was a Belgian bicycle brand from the Simons family from Bekkevoort who sold their bikes under the name Cicli Diamanti. They did not make their own frames, but mainly bought them from Eddy Martens, producer of Martelly racing bicycles. They also worked together with Chromage Central in Ghent for the chrome plating. In other words, diamond was an adhesive mark.
You also had a German manufacturer, from East Germany more specifically, who sold Diamant brand bicycles. This was taken over by the American Trek a while ago, they still exist and today mainly produce e-bikes and trekking bikes.
Histor Sigma Diamant cycling team
Diamant sponsored many cycling teams, especially smaller ones, but from 1987 a collaboration started with the paint manufacturer Sigma and later also Histor and Fina. Diamant supplied the bicycles to this professional team for several years.
Sports director at the time was Willy Teirlinck and Etienne De Wilde, Paul Haghedooren, Roger Illegems, Lucien Van Impe, Hennie Kuiper, Wilfried Peeters and Danny Clark were part of this team and had some successes on their Diamant bikes.
Diamant was also active in cyclo-cross with Albert Van Damme, Henk Baers, Ludo De Rey, Rudy Thielemans, Yvan Messelis and Wim Lambrechts, among others. Diamant once came on the market with a cross frame with a bent upright tube, but this turned out to be a complete flop and labeled as uncontrollable by the riders.
Diamond frames with eye-catching colors
Diamant bikes are characterized by their striking colours, some frames also have pantos but these are rather exceptional.
If you are lucky, you can find a Diamant racing bike in titanium. These were made in Russia.
Diamond racing shoes also exist, but whether they have anything to do with the brand is not clear to me, all information is welcome.
Prachtige Diamant racefiets uit 1995 van het profteam Collstrop Lystex
In addition to the Belgian and German Diamant, there are also French bicycles of the brand La Franςaise Diamant, but this has nothing to do with the above and is historically much older. Their first bicycles appeared as early as the 19th century, this brand passed away in the 1980s.
Also have a look at the article Bicycle in the look: the Diamant racing bike from Tom Desmet from the Belgium pro team Collstrop Lystex
Do you also have a Diamant road bike that you want to share with other collectors, send a message with photos to info@vintagefiets.be
