My Team Z bike raced by Greg L

[Walter]

I have been exchanging some emails mails back and forth with some of the folks in the forum on some old bikes and thought I would post some info and photos on a Team Z titanium bike I have that was raced by Greg LeMond.

I attended the '90 Tour de France and saw that at the end of the event the teams were selling off the race bikes in Paris. I had no money left after three weeks of following the Tour and could not get one, but thought that it would be a nice acquisition later. Greg LeMond later retired and I started searching for one of his bikes. His Dad and brother in law had some they were selling for what was very serious money to me and I passed on the notion.again. Then in '93 I saw a small ad in Velo News for a bike parts import company called Renegade Sports Ltd. that had a sentence at the bottom saying that one of the Team Z bikes that LeMond rode was for sale. I called, finally pulled the trigger, and bought it.

The fellow who ran the company, Brian Searchinger, told me the story of how he came to acquire the bike. Bob LeMond first sold the bike to Werner Bautista in Florida as part of a deal for Bautista to became a distributor of Greg LeMond clothing. Searchinger had done some PR/advertising work for Bautista and took the bike as part payment for his services.

I later contacted Merlin to get the history of the bike, got some information, and was referred to Tom Kellog. Tom was most helpful, checked the serial number on my bike in his records, and related that he designed the titanium frame in '90 for Greg LeMond at his request. Merlin made it. The first two bikes were shipped to Greg in November of 1990 for his own use. My bike is one of those two bikes according to Tom. In the early Spring of '91 Kellog shipped more titanium bikes to France for Team Z to use. They were first raced in the Giro. A total of 16 bikes were made for the team (all by Merlin).

The plan was to then make a titanium production bike to be sold by the first LeMond Bicycle company. Bob LeMond decided, apparently for economic reasons, not to go with Merlin as the supplier of the production bikes and went with Sandvick instead. The first LeMond Bicycle company later went out of business and LeMond bike company #2 started up with Brian Searchinger as one of Greg's partners. That company went away when the Trek deal was put together relatively shortly thereafter.

I have a bill of sale and affidavit of authenticity from Searchinger and emails from Tom on the history of the bike.

It has hung on the wall in my law office for years. Definitely not your average law office decor, but pretty pleasing to my eye!

I also have a LeMond TVT World Championship Replicas (one of the 300 made) that LeMond used to train on prior to the '90 Tour de France. The history on this one is at http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/Walter/LeMond+TVT/

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0260.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0259.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0261.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0258.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0262.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0263.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0264.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0265.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0266.jpg

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...i/DSC_0268.jpg

[fourflys]

very cool!

here is the bike from above:

[jr59]

Nice wall art!

[Tony Edwards]

Awesome! Obviously this is a great piece of memorabilia (and presumably an excellent bike to ride if it fits), but I also like the looks of it. I really like some of the brightly-colored bikes of that era, like Serottas and Kleins.

[Hawker]

Great story and pics, thanks for sharing. How does it ride?

[Climb01742]

i love the team Z colors. not exactly subtle but very cool nevertheless. wonderful bike.

[bfd]

Agree, excellent write up! I would also like to hear how they ride. Back in the early to mid 90s, I was looking at a GL Carbonframes (now Calfee) bike. My LBS wanted like $3500 for it. Too much for my pocket book. So, I later found a newer Calfee tetra custom that fitted me exactly. I built it up with the C-Record parts and still own it, thou most of the C-Rec parts have been replaced over the years.

Go find yourself a GL Carbonframes to add to your collection, like this one:

http://www.mountainbikes.net/carbon/Lemond_Team_Z.jpg

Greg rode these for his last tour win in 1991. Good Luck!

[Fixed]

red blue and yellow
will make you a fast fellow
beautiful bike cool law office
cheers

[FlashUNC]

That is astoundingly cool.

[Walter]

Originally Posted by Hawker

Great story and pics, thanks for sharing. How does it ride?

The bike rides like a dream. Typical Kellog expertise in the design area with the slightly longer LeMond TT.

I rode it for a time, but was afraid I would get smacked by a little old lady in an old Buick while astride it.

I really wasn't concerned about me...rather what it would do to that beautiful bike!

[Walter]

Originally Posted by bfd

Agree, excellent write up! I would also like to hear how they ride. Back in the early to mid 90s, I was looking at a GL Carbonframes (now Calfee) bike. My LBS wanted like $3500 for it. Too much for my pocket book. So, I later found a newer Calfee tetra custom that fitted me exactly. I built it up with the C-Record parts and still own it, thou most of the C-Rec parts have been replaced over the years.

Go find yourself a GL Carbonframes to add to your collection, like this one:

http://www.mountainbikes.net/carbon/Lemond_Team_Z.jpg

Greg rode these for his last tour win in 1991. Good Luck!

I gather the Calfee carbon GL bikes came after the TVT (which was in '90)...???

OK...so where does one find one of the old Calfee team bikes?

[bfd]

Originally Posted by Walter

I gather the Calfee carbon GL bikes came after the TVT (which was in '90)...???

OK...so where does one fiind one of the old Calfee team bikes?

Yup, GL rode TVT bikes first (1988/89 and 90), then switch to Carbonframes for the 1991 season. He won his last tour using a Carbonframes when he entered into an exclusive agreement with Craig Calfee. Here's Craig's version:

1991: LeMond Alpe d’Huez
Carbonframes filled a big purchase order from international cycling champion Greg LeMond who wanted 18 frames for Team Z. Carbonframes relocated to Reno after entering an exclusive licensing agreement with LeMond Bicycles. LeMond rode in the leader’s yellow jersey on his Carbonframe. The companies parted amiably two years later.

link: http://www.calfeedesign.com/history/

Where can you purchase one? They're collector's items now, so may be ebay? Good luck!

[Kontact]

Originally Posted by Walter

The bike rides like a dream. Typical Kellog expertise in the design area with the slightly longer LeMond TT.

I rode it for a time, but was afraid I would get smacked by a little old lady in an old Buick while astride it.

I really wasn't concerned about me...but what would it do to that beautiful bike!

Hey Walter,

Neat ride. Does it have the Merlin pressed in BB?


I had heard the Clark Kent made Ti Lemond frames somewhere in there. Had you heard anything about them?

[Walter]

Originally Posted by Kontact

Hey Walter,


I had heard the Clark Kent made Ti Lemond frames somewhere in there. Had you heard anything about them?

The second LeMond bicycle company was a relatively brief partnership (ended by the Trek deal) with a couple of fellows in addition to GL (so I am told). Brian Searchinger was one of those partners. They outsourced the bikes they sold. The ti bikes were made by Clark Kent in Colo.

[AngryScientist]

Walter - cool story and great bike, thanks for sharing.