azdroptop

Late as in consistantly using full carbon fiber. To be honest, I didn't know his name was ever on a full carbon bike until a couple of years ago.

DiabloScott

That's a pre-Trek Lemond. The Trek-LeMond deal was made in 1992.
Here's an interesting ad:



Greg's riding a "LeMond" bike but it was built by Carbonframes / Calfee so they cleverly modified the photo to edit out the name and still create a neat effect and a legitimate ad. Anyway, these could have been big sellers, but Greg sold out to Trek (as well as that k-mart company). I also remember that Trek/LeMond bikes were way overpriced in the early '90s.

3MTA3

thank goodness for this happening. now trek won't kill lemond like they have with klein & fisher

pwyll99

I think the bike shops knew this was coming for a while. The LBS's had 07 Lemonds for very good prices back in December (i.e. Versaille for $1500 and Zurich for $2K).

redmist

you are so correct. trek tried to turn klein and then lemond into trek mini-me's. those companies appeal was never going to be mainstream like trek's appeal. trek doesn't know how to run a niche brand- they only know how to be everything to everybody, and consequently, neuter the character of these left-of-center brands.

riding a trek is a bit like going to dinner at the Olive Garden- the food is so-so, and it's not really italian- it just pretends to be. real italian food comes from mama's kitchen, not from a group of corporate chefs.

Point

Perfect take............

banerjek

Or maybe this picture made racing bikes with his name on them less attractive.....

Psimet2001 

Now that's not fair. Recumbents make EVERYTHING look less attractive...


...

14max

I'd bet my next paycheck GL could smoke you on that recumbent, banerjek...

elemental

Glad to see you've caught my witticism! Nothing ever gets by you!

kwrides

Careful Banerjek, you'll soon have people rallying on the Recumbent forum to kick some Road Cycling butt.

Bob Dopolina 

+1.

Greg's no whacko.

Listen to what he has to say BASED ON HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCES. He saw the changes in the early 90's first hand. His stand is not new.

Listen to the broadcast. Make up your own mind.

A must hear.

patentcad

I don't think Lemond is a whacko based on his allegations of doping in the peloton. More for other reasons. He does seem to carry a bit of the martyr complex, he fights too many battles.

But I'm down with Greg on the doping in general. But my view is since it was so widespread, accusing a cycling star of that era of 'cheating' for using EPO is a bit preposterous. If my career ended at the beginning of all that and I was clean (as I believe Lemond and his competitors generally were), I'd feel the same way. But I'm not sure I'd think it was the World's Plot to Bury Greg Conspiracy either. I also don't know what choice the riders of the Armstrong era had. I strongly feel it's a business, and that was required at the time.

If you want Sportsmanship go to the local Little League game and watch some drunk local father cold cock the umpire.

BillyD

Amen. I'd love to see Lemond bikes emerge from this rubble like the Phoenix. 853 is very high quality, luxurious-riding steel and Lemond geometry is legendary.

And who's to say if he sets up his own company, those Trek employees who made Lemonds won't switch?

And who's going to miss Bontrager components anyway?

And finally, if anything was depressing Lemond sales, perhaps it was it's association with those cookie-cutter treks.

Just sayin'!

marqueemoon

I hope he's able to step out on his own if that's what he wants to do. The LeMond bikes were definitely the most interesting of Trek's offerings, at least to me.

Chalk up another one for Lance I guess.

halfspeed

Treks are among the best bikes in the business and claims to the contrary are just silly.

I know it's fun to rag on Trek because they are the industry leader and it makes you feel "in the know" to prefer something less well-known, but Trek has done the engineering and has the bikes to back it up.

LeMond and Klein are dying because the relevance of their expertise faded. High end steel and Ti are owned by the custom builders and even Cannondale is deprecating high-end aluminum. It's all about carbon now and that's what butters Trek's bread.

botto 

was that him, or his father? as i recall, his father was his business manager, and they ended up terminating the profesional relationship, because ol' man LeMond did not always make the best choices.

mollusk

I ride a 2002 Lemond Zurich and a 2006 Curtlo.

The thing that I will miss if the Lemond bikes go under is their frame geometry. I really need to ride a bike with a long top tube compared to the seat tube. For me it was either buy a stock Lemond used (at a great price) or go custom. Used Lemond was a no brainer vis-a-vis the pocketbook. I got a great bike for well under $1K.

The Curtlo I bought was also used, but the frame geometry was really close to what I would have ordered custom. I also bought it as a bike to take to the mountains (light components, compact chainrings). While the Curtlo is a nicer bike, I generally chose the Lemond for the local "hammerhead" ride. It just works a wee bit better for me on those kinds of rides.

amillhench

What?? That seems a bit crazy to me. If we go by this line of thought, we will always do "whatever" makes us more competitive.

Mariner Fan

I don't have a problem with Trek bikes.

Klein's were a very nice aluminum framed bike with fantastic paint. Trek bought it and it stagnated. Too bad.

Lemonds were unique with their geometry in my opinion. Seems they went all over the place with frame materials. I never liked the latest carbon fiber models. Maybe the paint job reminded me of a Trek.

Well, I have my Maillot Jaune and I think I'll hang on to it for a good long time.

redmist

indeed, trek makes a great bike. the all-singing, all-dancing madone bear this out. it's just that they seem- (IMHO) just a bit boring- especially with all that bontrager littered about. a good bike? yes, a solid performer? no doubt- but where's the character?

since trek owned lemond, why didn't they apply their "expertise" to lemond and position the brand to flourish? if high end steel was out, why couldn't they apply their carbon techniques to the lemond brand? there are many italian brands historically known for their steel frames that have changed with the times and have flourished- while still offering a few steel frames to boot.

where trek failed was in marketing and positioning the lemond brand. they applied the trek formula to lemond, and it ended up watering down the image of lemond. ride an old lemond today and see how many looks and questions you get from other cyclists. lemond has the name and the image. trek failed to capitalize on this.

halfspeed

They =did= apply their carbon expertise to the Lemond brand while still offering steel, not to mention the 'spine' experiement. But it's hard to carve a niche for separate but very similar bikes, especially when the guy whose name is on one brand is hurting sales with his mouth.

JeffS

Think about how many models Trek manufacturers across all categories. You're lucky if you see 20% of the catalog represented in a typical Trek dealer. This puts dealers in a difficult situation.

When purchases are made, I'm sure it's the safe bikes that make it to the showroom floor and if you want something else you have to order it. Yes, if Trek was advertising the Lemond/Klein/whatever line more there would probably be more of them sitting on the floor, but if you're a dealer do you really care? You just want something that's going to sell - regardless of whose name is on it.

I would love to see some of these manufacturers pare down their lines. Does Trek REALLY need 25 models of road bikes? I almost wonder if their ever growing linup is a strategy to push other brands out of the showroom.

Jed19

Think about it! When you buy a business or brand, to make it thrive, you capitalise on that brand's strength, address its weaknesses with sound action plans, and, hopefully, that brand should thrive.

Trek has bought three outstanding cycling brands (Gary Fisher, Klein and Lemond), and I posit that none of those brands are doing exceptionally well today. And they were all innovative brands in their own ways.

WHY?

Well, I do not know the whole story, but as a cycling enthusiast, I am sad about this turn of events.

In my view though, I think Trek has succeeded in using the cash flow from the "Armstrong Pull" to buy up competitors, run those brands shoddily, and we are now where we are at.

We, cycling enthusiasts, that is, are all gonna pay big time.

Just watch.

Full Disclosure: I do own a Lemond Buenos Aires that I like very much.

Regards,

RFC

I tend to agree that Lemond filled an earlier market niche (steel and Ti) while Trek went in another directions -- AL, then carbon. For example, this 1989 Trek 660 was probably the last or close to the last of the higher end steel racing bikes offered by Trek: