New Lemonds

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

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Trek has all carbon and all aluminum bikes. Klein has all aluminum and aluminum/carbon bikes.
LeMond has all aluminum and carbon/steel and titanium/carbon bikes. And apparently all steel
bikes if you go through the trouble of making your bike shop order you a custom built model.
Some differences between the three companies, but quite a bit of similarity. They no longer
serve a separate customer base. They are all serving the latest and greatest high tech market.

Of course this is not the first time LeMond has made a non-steel frame. Their high-end racing frames
(e.g. Mailot Jaune) were aluminum for a while, until a couple of years ago I think. Anyone know why
they got into aluminum, then got out?

-ed

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Of course this is not the first time LeMond has made a non-steel frame. Their high-end racing
frames (e.g. Mailot Jaune) were aluminum for a while, until a couple of years ago I think. Anyone
know why they got into aluminum, then got out?

they also had a carbon fiber frame for a while. my guess is: brand identity. if every "make" in
trek's stable sold exactly the same frames, then what makes them, um, unique? so lemond stuck to
steel, klein kept their pre-cannondale alu identity, and trek reserved the CF for their own name.
(okay, along with steel & alu, but in much more boring color schemes than the "boutique" brands.)

i'm puzzled about how they're going to market these, though i'm putting my money on "paint jobs".

hg

"ed" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Of course this is not the first time LeMond has made a non-steel frame. Their high-end racing
frames (e.g. Mailot Jaune) were aluminum for a while, until a couple of years ago I think. Anyone
know why they got into aluminum, then got out?

They got in because it was trendy. They got out when no one bought the bikes, because they were
ugly. Have you seen them? Ugh... particularly the Alpe d' Huez model, which stupidly replaced a very
attractive bike (the orange steel one, with Campy Mirage).

Matt O.

I got lucky on my frameset. Found a 1990 Waterford Paramount OS f/f for $100. Sent it back to
Waterford and had it repainted/restored/updated for 9 speed components. Total cost with shipping was
$600 + the $100 initially so I'm into it for less than half a new one. 🙂 Cool thing is the bike is
a 59cm and weighs in at a hefy 19.5lbs without pedals/cages. Now I keep looking at that steel
threaded fork and 32hole open pros, and thinking with some boutique wheels and a carbon fork, it'd
probably be under 18. 🙂

Matt O'Toole said:

"Mark Wolfe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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I think if I went for a new steel ride, it'd be a Waterford, Heron,

Richard

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Sachs, or Rivendell. Probably in that order too, budget and patience permitting. 🙂

I'm in the same camp. Newer, mainstream bikes don't appeal to me at all.

I

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can't stand the gimmicky frame designs, wacky wheels, and garish paint

jobs.

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However, even though I lust after a Waterford or a fillet brazed Ritchey,

I

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could never justify spending what these bikes cost (new, anyway). To me,

even

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mainstream road bikes are way overpriced, considering what they are -- a

few

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tubes welded together, with some equally overpriced components bolted on. Mountain bikes are much
more reasonably priced, having felt the heat of competition. My next road bike, which I am
shopping for right now, will

be a

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used one.

Matt O.

--
Mark Wolfe wolfenet.orgwolfenet.orgOpen ↗ gpg fingerprint = 42B6 EFEB 5414 AA18 01B7 64AC EF46 F7E6 82F6
8C71 In accord to UNIX philosophy, PERL gives you enough rope to hang yourself. (Larry Wall, Randal
Schwartz: Programming Perl (aka the Camel Book))

I agree calling the bike a Tomasso is pretty lame. I've looked over one of these bikes and it looked
pretty good. I was tempted, but found a used Lemond a few hundred bucks cheaper and decided I would
rather not have a communist bike.

Mike Jacoubowsky said:

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getawaybikes.comDetail.cfmOpen ↗
&CFID=2959208&CFTOKEN=41889937

I find it sad the way names that used to be associated with high-end craftsmanship have been
sold/stolen/borrowed/whatever by people who simply contract with a Taiwan or Chinese manufacturer
for a basically stock catalog bike and slap a name on it. Tomasso is just one example (and one
that I wasn't previously aware of!); there are many others.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

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I agree calling the bike a Tomasso is pretty lame. I've looked over one of these bikes and it
looked pretty good. I was tempted, but found a used Lemond a few hundred bucks cheaper and decided
I would rather not have a communist bike.

Did I miss Taiwan becoming communist during the TDF? I kinda lost track of world events for a little
bit, but I think I would have been told about it when I got back...

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

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They got in because it was trendy. They got out when no one bought the

bikes,

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because they were ugly. Have you seen them? Ugh... particularly the

Alpe d'

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Huez model, which stupidly replaced a very attractive bike (the orange

steel

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one, with Campy Mirage).

Oops, not quite! The orange Alpe d'Huez with Campy was one of the hardest-to-sell LeMonds ever,
while the red & white aluminum one with Shimano '105 did quite well. Or maybe it's just our
proximity to Stanford that makes red & white bikes popular...

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

"Mike Jacoubowsky" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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They got in because it was trendy. They got out when no one bought the

bikes,

Quoted message said:

because they were ugly. Have you seen them? Ugh... particularly the

Alpe d'

Quoted message said:

Huez model, which stupidly replaced a very attractive bike (the orange

steel

Quoted message said:

one, with Campy Mirage).

Oops, not quite! The orange Alpe d'Huez with Campy was one of the hardest-to-sell LeMonds ever,
while the red & white aluminum one with Shimano '105 did quite well. Or maybe it's just our
proximity to Stanford that makes red & white bikes popular...

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

Hah! Down south the bike salesmen were telling me they couldn't get enough of the orange ones. A
friend of mine in LA has one, which I borrow when I visit. It's still a cool bike, and people still
ask where they can get one. And I still enjoy riding it, plastic Mirage shifters and all!

Matt O.

Hah! Down south the bike salesmen were telling me they couldn't get enough of

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the orange ones. A friend of mine in LA has one, which I borrow when I

visit.

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It's still a cool bike, and people still ask where they can get one. And

I

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still enjoy riding it, plastic Mirage shifters and all!

It just goes to show you, doesn't it? Scratching my head to figure out *what* it goes to
show though!

The reality is that certain designs & colors are going to have very strong niche markets and arouse
passionate feelings both pro & con. Unfortunately, it's difficult to make a living serving
relatively small markets. It can be done, of course... Rivendell being an obvious example. But
generally a middle-of-the-road approach is the most-profitable for a larger company.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles chainreactionbicycles.comchainreactionbicycles.comOpen ↗

The new spine bikes as they are called save little weight. The new Zurich saves only .25 of a pound!

The geometry is the same but the top tube is shorter YET the effective top tube length remains the same on each size. So the fit is 100% the same.

Personally I do not like the looks of the new spine bikes AND why the hell would you mix steel or Ti with Carbon?! The web site says that the new spine bikes are stiffer laterally but I highly doubt it. Also the joints where the different material meet are going to weaken in time and that doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

My advice is to stick to steel, Ti or Carbon as complete frames.

Unfortunately the very best deal in cycling is no longer available from Lemond and that was the classic Zurich with the 853 pro butted and shaped steel frame! Good thing you can still order this frame by itself though.

Mark Heiple <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

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In article <ZSK6b.10430$Fe6.8788@pd7tw2no>,

Jon said:

Not true. They still make full steel and full Ti bikes. They're now known as the 'classic'
series. Avoid any carbon/steel/al/ti if at all possible.

Jon

I must have missed the classic series, or it wasn't in the catalog I saw. I think I did see one of
the low end bikes (Nevada City?) has the 853 select frame (853 with 525 stays). I didn't see any
853 Pro frame bikes in the catalog.

Hopefully they haven't discontinued the old frames. I would rather have a 2003 Zurich than a 2004.

If you really want an '03 Zurich,they're not that hard to find. Wheat Ridge Cyclery in Denver has a
bunch of 'em. On Sale, too. I bought one last Saturday at a great price and couldn't be happier.

I was considering having a frame built, but when I found that I could get basically the exact
geometry I wanted, in full 853, with NO waiting, for hundreds less, how could I pass it up?

Scott

"Scott Hendricks" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

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Mark Heiple <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In article <ZSK6b.10430$Fe6.8788@pd7tw2no>,

Jon said:

Not true. They still make full steel and full Ti bikes. They're now

known

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as the 'classic' series. Avoid any carbon/steel/al/ti if at all possible.

Jon

I must have missed the classic series, or it wasn't in the catalog I saw. I think I did see one
of the low end bikes (Nevada City?) has the 853 select frame (853 with 525 stays). I didn't see
any 853 Pro frame bikes in the catalog.

Hopefully they haven't discontinued the old frames. I would rather have a 2003 Zurich than
a 2004.

If you really want an '03 Zurich,they're not that hard to find. Wheat Ridge Cyclery in Denver has
a bunch of 'em. On Sale, too. I bought one last Saturday at a great price and couldn't be happier.

I was considering having a frame built, but when I found that I could get basically the exact
geometry I wanted, in full 853, with NO waiting, for hundreds less, how could I pass it up?

Scott