Lemond ti frames? Are they any good?
Steven H. Keplinger
Does any one out there own or know any thing about lemonds foray into
Ti frames? Are they worth the money? When did he stop making them?
How many did he make?
Whatever you could tell me would be a big help.
Thanks
Mike Schwegman
I have a Lemond Ti frame from 1993. It was made by Lightspeed, and is
based on the Lightspeed frames of the same year, except some special
Lemond design features. Visible design features are a beefier brake
bridge, and horizontal dropouts with adjuster screws. I don't know if
there are other internal differences.
I'm not sure if Lemond had another supplier(s) in other years, but now
that he is with Trek, there are only steel and carbon Lemonds.
The Lemond Ti bike I got has been great. It gets about 3000 mi a year and
looks and rides the same as day one.
Good Luck
--Mike
In article <3395EA...@wavetech.net>, "Steven H. Keplinger"
Mike & Joanna Brown
I raced a Lemond RS for one month and hated it! I am a very powerful rider
and a good sprinter. The problem with lemond Ti frames is that they are,
atleast the RS, is straight gauge Ti. This means the tube wall thickness
is the same throughout the tube, even at the butted joints. When I stood
up to sprint the damn thing felt like a marshmellow (I weigh 170 lbs.) I
sold the frame and bought a custom Serotta with 753 tubing. I am going to
buy another Ti in the near future and it will be a custom Serotta Ti
because thet do not use straight gauge tubing which makes the frame
extremely stiff!
I have also ridden a Litespeed Ultimate lately and that thing is super
stiff also. Being a sprinter, I absolutely have to have my Ti bike ride
like steel. I feel Serotta and Litespeed are the best at providing this
stiffness.
Mike
Steven H. Keplinger <skep...@wavetech.net> wrote in article
<3395EA...@wavetech.net>...
VCopelan
The Lemond Titanium frames were built by Lightspeed. The Lemond Ti frames
with straight gauge Titanium may not be as stiff as some Ti frames with
butted or ovalized tubes. However, older Lightspeed Catalyst frames with
straight gauge tubing were not that stiff either. Before you decide that
Lemond did not know how to built a Ti frame, think again and blame
Lightspeed!
William Kellagher
I'm pretty sure the Lemond ti frames were built by the now defunct
Clark-Kent our of Denver. When Clark-Kent went out of business,
the Lemond Ti went with it.
Bill Kellagher
Boulder, CO
Ralph Emmett Maurer
There were two generations of Lemond titanium frames:
The first was made by Lightspeed from straight gauge tubing and was painted
in a blue/titanium fade. This was from his Z days, and was ridden in the
Tour Dupont the year he won. It was a very nice titanium frame for its day.
These were sold and marketed along with a few steel frames and the
Carbonframes Lemond frame (a wonderful frame) by Lemond cycles and were
distributed by Ten Speed Drive Imports (I think...)
The second line was made by Clark Kent when Lemond entered into a
partnership with them in 1994. The line included three different frames
(the cheapest one being the RS I believe). I own an RS and it is very
flexy. Apparently, the top two models did not have this problem and were
quite nice. The models corresponded to Clark Kent titanium models, but had
Lemond stickers and his geometry.
I have also seen and heard of a few demo bikes floating around that are
Lightspeed Ultimates repainted. I don't know much about these, however.
-Ralph
--
Ralph Maurer
rma...@nwu.edu
James L Kramer
this isn't totally true. Lemond entered into a business arrangement with
Clark-Kent several years ago and they (C-K) made quite a few of the Ti
frames.
VCopelan <vcop...@aol.com> wrote in article
<19970605062...@ladder02.news.aol.com>...
TBGibb
> The Lemond Ti frames with straight gauge Titanium may not be as stiff as
some Ti >frames with butted or ovalized tubes.
Is butting a factor in stiffness? I thought that butting was done so the
middle of the tubes could be thinner and therefore lighter but still would
not fail at the lug or weld. If this is true then the straight gauge
Lemond Ti frames would have to be "limp" for some other reason.
Tom Gibb <TBG...@aol.com>
VCopelan
Butting should not affect frame stiffness, only weight. However, I meant
to say tapered tubing. The old Lightspeed Catalyst frames and some Lemond
Ti frames had straight gauge tube sets. The Lightspeed Classics, Eddy
Merckx Ti frames and others use tapered seat and down tubes. These frame
sets are oversized like all Ti frames, but larger in diameter near the
bottom bracket and are stiffer than Ti frames with smaller diameter tube
sets.
TedHas
>The Lemond Titanium frames were built by Lightspeed. The Lemond Ti
frames
>with straight gauge Titanium may not be as stiff as some Ti frames with
>butted or ovalized tubes. However, older Lightspeed Catalyst frames with
>straight gauge tubing were not that stiff either. Before you decide that
>Lemond did not know how to built a Ti frame, think again and blame
>Lightspeed!
Sure Lightspeed built the frames--as they've built frame for other
labels. When they build for other brands, they build to specs. So
I'm afraid you can't pass off the "blame" from Lemond. I suspect
he got the frame he wanted, and felt it was stiff enough for the
market he was aiming at. By the way, Lightspeed and others
stiffen frames by ovalising the tubes and other techniques, not
butting. It's a pretty expensive process, which is why you see it
mostly in higher-end models. And stiffness isn't all that important
for many riders.
--Ted Haskell
Macsdad777
The now defunct Clark-Kent was also a supplier of Lemond Ti frames. As
for as I Know the only supplier of Ti to Lemonds many attempts to market
bikes under his name.
He knows how to ride and is the greatest but I doubt he has ever
kept a drafting board in his living room.
Me advise .... don't buy a new frame from a defunct builder
{Clark-Kent}, unless you are getting a great deal on a used one.