Amanda GDR National Team Track Bike 1988

This is one of the most special and rarest bikes which we have ever featured.
That is partly due to its history and partly due to its technical features.

In 1987/1988 the GDR ordered 10 bikes from Japan as test bikes for its national team. These track bikes were made by the small specialised brand named Amanda with special materials and with an uncompromising geometry.
It is not unlikely that the GDR wanted to have those bikes as a backup plan should their own carbon fiber frames be banned by the UCI (which in fact happened occasionally).
The Amanda geometry was proven to be conform with UCI regulations.
A number of ten bikes would fit perfectly for four riders of a team pursuit squad with an additional stand-by and a substitute bike for each rider.

But let us talk about the specifics of this pursuit track bike: what might be the most obvious detail are the wheels. This machine runs on 24"tires! Not only allow these small wheels to pedal lower speeds at a higher cadence, they also improve aerodynamics and on top reduce the distance between riders in a team pursuit. To bring the small wheels to a proper rotation, a combination of 60t chainring and a 14t cog is necessary.
In a typical Lo-Pro style the top tube is falling down to the head tube, where the rider finds hold on a bullhorn handlebar, thus riding in an aerodynamically improved position.

But what is the frame actually made of?
In the mid 1970s Mr. Chiba, Amanda's main frame builder was experimenting with carbon fiber tubing. When it came to security and the best way for him to build a frame with carbon fiber, he settled on a combination of steel lugs and carbon tubing. The long contact surface of sleeved steel lugs provided a large bonding area for the carbon fiber tubes and made for a safe avant-garde frame. In 1975 Gitane ordered 100 frames from Amanda which was a major success for such a small workshop and found the young brand some fame.
The following years saw improvements in the fiber construction and Mr. Chiba was eager to turn better raw material into more refined frames - and later-on even into disc wheels.

Our frame is made from carbon fiber by Mitsubishi and Ishiwata steel with Shimano dropouts. The thin and strong Ishiwata tubing, including an Ishiwata aero fork crown, is partly responsible for the light weight (6.8kg) of this machine.

The parts include some specialties like the TEXTIMA front wheel which was made solely for competition purposes by specialists of the GDR. Aero profile rims, self-made bladed spokes, hidden nipples and self-milled hubs made such wheels as unique as efficient. Numerous championships and titles have been won on similarly constructed wheels which were only available to the top athletes of Eastern Germany.
Another typical Textima feature is the modified Campagnolo crank which was aerodynamically improved by filing its sides down.

Small details like the D.D.R. (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) markings and the great condition of the frame make this rare piece of cycling history even more desirable.

This is one for the collectors and coinoisseurs!