Lemond spine bikes

[Bici-Sonora]

I picked up a steel/carbon one on eBay a few years ago. There was a weird issue with the rear end: when the wheel was set in the drop outs straight it was slightly out of plane with the seat tube. A friend at the local Trek store confirmed that he’d seen it on a few of these bikes. Because it was not mentioned In the description I returned it to the seller on eBay.


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[justinrchan]

I had one and it was a great bike. Loved how it rode and handled. The only reason I sold it was it was too big for me. The next owner told me a couple of years after I sold it to him that the frame failed. I think it was at one of the bond points. Thankfully he was at low speed when it happened.

[jamesdak]

I've got a Steel/Carbon one that quite honestly I hated on the first couple rides. A surprise to me since I also have quite a few other Lemonds and love every one of them. This spine one just rides so much harsher on my chip seal roads. But I got it to make it a light climber and for that it does shine. I'm running a Dura Ace Triple setup on it and spent quite a bit of time riding it up hill last year. Still if I'm going for a longer ride on a regular route this will probably be my last choice.

[dookie]

Originally Posted by avalonracing

I raced with a team that had a number of the Ti/Carbon bikes break.

This. The ti frames cracked, usually at the shifter bosses. I saw many.

[bthomas515]

I have a tete de course (61cm) that I love! They ride extremely well and are really a different feel. Stiff and race oriented but comfortable over miles. It may hit the selling block soon just because my townhome lacks space but I’m going to try and hold on as long as I can

[EricChanning]

That custom painted bike has been posted for sale on the internet multiple times over the past 5 years. I saw it offered on ebay first as a frameset years ago. I'll never forget it with that 70's custom van like paint job. It's certainly one of a kind. That's a sweet package for the price.

I was tempted the first time I saw it but bought a frame in its original non painted state.

I've been riding my tete de course spine bike as my main group ride and long distance paved road bike for the past 5 years. It survived being side swiped by a car at 20mph and another occasion of a roof rack assisted 40mph stem/handlebar decapitation from a low hanging branch. I did mixed surface rides on it before getting a gravel bike. It's not a fragile frame.

I can compare the experience of riding this bike to riding full titanium, steel and carbon frames. Taking other bike build variables into consideration, the ti/carbon spine version has a very nice feel. I keep it as my go to for this reason.

I've had no issues with cracking. The slightly older full titanium Lemond bikes had issues with cracks at the cable stop welds.

If you sweat a lot, you can end up with salt corrosion around the cable stops on the carbon top tube.