cycledog1

you said orig campy c record. what is it now? mines' converted to Dura Ace 7800.

the logo was always yellow on black field with the TEAM PRO.

Phatman

Oh, what's that? You want to see mine too?

Mine is a 2002 Alpe d'Huez. I bought it new and rode the crap out of it until I got a team deal on a Cannondale. It wasn't until I quit racing that I decided to sell off the Cannondale and rebuild the Lemond with 10-speed SRAM Force parts. I let my brother borrow it for a couple years while I was Cannondale-ing, and in transit from Europe, courtesy of the military PCS movers, the fork got a little crunched and I had to put a new one on. I put a Columbus Minimal 1" fork on, and it looked AWESOME and dropped a ton of weight from the bike.



For the people that were interested in the tire clearance, it really seems like Lemond wasn't terribly consistent in the goals and aspirations of Lemond frames. I recall people saying that Lemonds were really slack and laid back, but you can see from the pic above that the geometry was *tight*. There's a sub meter wheelbase and a 73.5° HTA. The front-center of this bike is shorter than my CAAD8 and CAAD10's, this thing is a race bike through and through and it handled AWESOME. Unfortunately, it means that the tire clearance is tight too. This pic below is when I tried to put a 28mm tire on, it was too close for comfort and went back to a 25mm.



I rode it for a couple years with the SRAM stuff, until I noticed a creaking that happened every time I stood to climb. Turned out there was a crack in the head tube weld HAZ. I used a boroscope, and there was a ton of rust in the frame tubes, I think the weld crack was caused by the corrosion.

RIP Lemond. I stripped the parts down, and its currently hanging in my home office.

force10

Do you recall how much weight the fork saved, approximately?

Phatman

I only did the scientific "heft in hand" weight method. Maybe a pound? The old fork was a carbon blade/steel steerer that was probably at least a pound or so heavier than the all carbon columbus fork. I also replaced the steel headset with an aluminum one, I'll bet that saved some poundage also.

force10

Oh wow.

bikenraider

I have been slacking this month and haven't been able to get into the garage or ride as much. I did make it to the shed though to start cleaning it out and found two more frames that were projects way back when. One is a 2001 Lemond Buenos Aires and the other is an 06 Lemond Mallot Juane. The MJ isn't a steel frame per se but a spline bike. Once I get the shed cleaned up I'll be able to get more pics of the stable and get them posted.

Calsun

These were made using Reynolds 531 steel and this is a great material. Only problem with older bikes is that they were engineered for 5-speed cassettes and there may be a problem with going with a 7-speed one. But then again 10 speeds is all one really needs even for tours of thousands of miles. I had 12-28 cogs on the freewheel and 52/45 on the chainrings and had no problems in the high sierra with a touring load. At my age a inner chain rind of 35 teeth would work better and possibly a 30T to replace the 28T "granny" gear.

All I would change on an older bike is going to brake shifters and a compatible deraileurs and new wheels with rims that could take 28mm tires.

I would be careful though as in the old days the "race" bikes often had very steep head tubes and tight geometry with very little fork rake. One notable exception were the Dave Scott Centurion Ironman bikes made for sale to triathletes. Best used 10-speed steel bikes you can buy for general riding in terms of the frame geometry. Very stable at high speeds up to 50 mph which was as fast as I ever dared to go with mine. I rode mine for 33 years and only sold it a year ago to make room for a new road e-bike.

cycledog1

what size is the 06 Lemond Mallot Juane.? thats one I've been looking for.

SpectrumTi

I’m riding a 2003 LeMond Zurich as a temporary replacement for my under repair Ti bike. I hadn’t ridden steel in 20 years. It felt great. Snappy and comfortable. The slightly longer wheelbase you find on LeMond bikes makes for a very stable ride, especially descending.

bikenraider

It was a nice day today and I needed to clean up the garage for another project and was able to get the stable out in the sun. The only one missing is the 2004 Zurich. There are two 853 Buenos Aires in the collection, a Maillot Jaune (the spine bike with OX Platinum tubing), a 520 Nevada City, a 525 Tourmalet. I put in the Alpe D'Hueze even though it's an Aluminum one just cause I haven't found a steel one in my size yet

Mr_Stop

Nice collection

freeranger

Always hears "steel is real" and while I understood it, never fully grasped it until a neighbor asked me to look over a bike he is selling. Turned out to be a 2002 Alpe d'Huez. Said he hadn't ridden it in last 15 years (no doubt-it's like new). All original. While it was too small for me, took it for a short ride anyway. Now I get it!! Sure is a smooth riding bike. While I like my '06 Reno a lot, the 853 steel frame of the Alpe is in a "league of it's own".

SpeedyBlueBiker

Can you post a pic of the 2004 Zurich? Thanks!

bikenraider

Thanks. I've been wanting to add a bike from the Lemond titanium line. I've had a couple leads on them, but have always come up a day late and dollar short

bikenraider

Very cool. I've always liked 853 bikes; Lemond or otherwise. A buddy of mine rode one of the Buenos Aires and loved how nimble it was. I have enjoyed riding these bikes.

bikenraider

Can do. I'll get a couple of pics of it when I open up the shed to start swapping out rides.