Partnering with Time in France to produce the bicycles, Greg Lemond is kicking off his return with three limited edition road bikes for 2014.
The pic above is just a teaser, and we’ve heard from our own insider source there’s a fourth World Championship edition that’ll be sneaking around Interbike and coming later in the year. Each of the frames graphically celebrates one of Lemond’s major victories and milestones, with color nods to the teams he was riding with at the time. The image above is the 1990 edition that borrows from the Z-Tomasso Tour de France win.
The bikes will be based on Time’s NXS road frame with slight modifications dictated by Lemond, particularly with the rear triangle. They’ll all come spec’d with Campagnolo parts. The public launch comes Wednesday morning at Interbike and we’ll be there to cover it.
Hit up the full press release after the break for the official story, and just know that these first ones are only the beginning. A full line is already in development!
PRESS RELEASE: Greg LeMond is introducing his limited-edition line of handcrafted carbon fiber road bikes, designed by LeMond and manufactured in France by longtime partner TIME Sport International, in Interbike booth number 26151 at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 18. The LeMond line will initially include three models, based on colorways from his three Tour de France victories in 1986, `89 and `90.
LeMond will be joined by Valentino Campagnolo, whose Italian company is providing its 80th Anniversary Record gruppos to the LeMond line.
“My interest in the bicycle as a machine, with its design, details and innovative possibilities, never went away after I retired from racing in late 1994,” LeMond explained. “For a time I lost my creative outlet, but like form coming back to a rider who was weakened, I have rediscovered my creativity and passion for the bike. I’ve traveled the world, observing carbon fabrication in more detail than ever before, and I’ve refined my ideas. When I landed in Vaulx-Milieu, France to meet with Jean Marc Gueugneaud and Roland Cattin of TIME Sport International earlier this year, I had done my due diligence. I spent countless hours traveling, sitting in meetings and standing on factory floors, but I saved TIME for last for a reason: I would now be able to view everything they were doing through a discerning eye.”
LeMond and Gueugneaud go back to 1985, when the young French engineer and designer built a carbon fiber bicycle for LeMond and his La Vie Claire teammate Bernard Hinault. After leaving Look, Gueugneaud launched TVT, a custom carbon fiber manufacturer, which provided production bikes for LeMond, Pedro Delgado and Miguel Indurain. LeMond won three Tours and one world championship on TVT framesets.
“I’m very fond of my history with Jean Marc and his bikes, but I needed to see what he and Roland had accomplished since the early ‘90s; I needed to see how they were doing it now,” LeMond added. “The level of design and craftsmanship poured into their products today is unsurpassed. The balance of strength, weight, durability and ride quality in what they build puts them atop the podium as the premiere carbon constructor.
“For these reasons I have chosen Jean Marc and TIME to partner with me in my newest endeavor: the relaunch of the Greg LeMond Bicycle Company.”
The website’s at Lemond.cc, but was password protected as of this post going live.
