1990 Tour de France Team Z Greg Lemond TVT92 Carbon

My brother came to visit me last weekend and brought an old unfinished project with him that we had in the shed.

Don't be fooled by the 1990's fluoro colours, this is a beast of a bike:
A 1990 Team Z TVT92 carbon, 56cm square.

Here is the real one he rode to victory:
http://www.bikecult.com/works/archive/06bicycles/lemondTVT90TdF.html

Here is the bike as it currently stand - it is a mix of parts as it has been (untastefully) upgraded through the year. It is a right mess at the moment as the wheel run a 9 speed Shimano cassette so not too sure where that came from.
Nice 25mm Campagnolo Aero seatpost, Cinelli bars, ugly BBB quill stem conversion
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20130506_123747_zpsbd346786.jpg

Veloce 9 speed shifters, Campagnolo Delta Brakes
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20130506_123849_zpsc644deb2.jpg

Dismantling in progress:
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20130506_141418_zps72260231.jpg

Then onto the scale - stripped frame with headset:
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20130506_150206_zps30a704ee.jpg
http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/20130506_150142_zps3aec658b.jpg

For a 1990 bike, this is extremely light coming below 2kg for frame+forks (no headset).

Next step is a good clean up then I will re-apply the original decals which I have just ordered from the very helpful DizziBird (http://www.wanit.co.uk/)

http://i1098.photobucket.com/albums/g361/lasseaux/1990%20Team%20Z%20TVT92%20Greg%20LeMond%20TdF/Lemond_Z_TVT_frame_digital_black_Pensec1_zpsd8b8999f.gif

I did a bit of research on TVT92 bikes so I thought I would share what I have found so far:
*TVT means Tubes Verre Tisse - 'tubes in knitted glass'. The original frames made in the early 80s were called TCTs
The carbon-kevlar tubes are bonded together in the lugs using CIBA-GEIGY ARALDITE epoxy bonding agents.
The engraved TVT logo indicates that this frame is made from HM - High Module carbon fibre, rendering the frame a high-end product as supplied to the Pro teams. The engraving is also found on the seat lug.
The tubes used by TVT for their frames were produced by themselves in their factory at St Genix-sur-Guiers by their sister company TCT - Techniques Carbone Tisse - which means literally the 'techniques of knitting carbon.'
There are seven layers of knitted carbon flexible 'stocking ' in the tubes plus one layer of 'aramide' - a type of kevlar fibre that resists shocks and breakages. The stockings are slipped over a steel mandrel which is then held in a split two-part steel mould that is shaped to the size and finish of a cycle frame tube. Epoxy resin is forced by a process called RTM - resin transfer moulding into the mould and around the stockings until the mould is full and all voids filled too to avoid any weakening bubbles. The moulds are set aside for the resin to polymerise to produce the very rigid tube.
Because the interior of the moulds is highly polished, the moulded tubes require very little posy mould finishing. They are sprayed with a two-pack paint and then when that has hardened to tubes are finished by hand with soft cloths and powdered chalk. That's how the fabulous finish is obtained.
TCT (the parent company of TVT) built the first generation of frames in the early 80s. more or less to illustrate that bike frames could be built from carbon tubes. Bernard Tapie, the young French entrepreneur and owner of the La Vie Claire-Look cycle team ( think bernard Hinault etc) wanted to have his own LOOK frames and convinced TCT management to supply him with the tubes. TCT having more of an interest in producing hi-tech tubes for a variety of industries than turning themselves into frame-builders, agreed a contract in 1983 with Tapie.
However at LOOK they messed up on the construction of the frames and failures of the bonded joints was a regular problem. TCT became worried that these breakages would give tubular carbon frames a bad reputation., so in 1987 they rescinded the contract of supply with LOOK and started to build their own TVTs with a moulded one-piece rear seat-stay design. Delgado won the Tour that year on such a frame.
In the early 80s TCT had provided some tubes to ALAN of Italy for their RECORD model frameset. When TVT started making their own frames, the firm stopped supplying ALAN, who then used tubes made by rolling prepreg sheet carbon around mandrels ( like rolling up wallpaper). These tubes are cheaper to make but result in very harsh riding properties ie too stiff with no compliance.. The tubes used by Vitus were completely different in their construction from the TVT ones, being made by a process of filamentary winding whereby carbon thread was wound onto a mandrel and then moulded rather than being knitted into tresses(like stockinette). The tubes were made at Anglet, by na firm called Brigantine, I think.

The number '92' in the transfer TVT92 does not mean that the frame was built in that year; normally the abbreviated date is stamped underneath the bracket shell.
The manufacturer decided for no special reason when it launched this model of frame in 1987, to call it the TVT92.
"TVT56B"
TVT56B is the frame size. I cant quite remember what the B was used for.
and
"130690052".
The second number is a combination of the date of manufacture ie 13 June 1990 together with a sequential number which probably referred to that particular model, rather than to the 52nd frame made on that date.*

The exact same frame sold last week on eBay - pretty penny!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/TVT92-greg-lemond-team-Z-1990-tour-de-france-frameset-frame-cadre-/221218031071?pt=Road_Bikes&hash=item33819f45df&nma=true&si=FaB7%252FFHlFPxWLWzSu3IatJdbHdo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

************ Tour De France Update ************
New stickers now fitted, frame + lugs cleaned and polished = Good looking frameset ready for rebuilding:

***********Revival Series************

Greg LeMond is having 'hommage' bikes made. The link below is the 1990 one:
https://greglemond.com/#!/ltd1990

*The Wave of Momentum.
Wearing the rainbow jersey of World Champion into the 1990 Tour, LeMond carried more confidence than ever. As the undisputed leader of the French Team Z, he felt all of France was behind him. It was the closest LeMond would get to his 'perfect storm'. Riding a carbon bike built yet again by Jean Marc Gueugneaud, the same carbon master that engineered all of the Limited Edition models, the 1990 event marked another milestone: The first Tour de France won by an American bicycle brand. LeMond Bicycles had by then officially added the Team Z TVT model to its production lineup.*

***The 1990 Tdf Bike
*Greg, working with TIME's carbon engineer and designer Jean Marc Gueugneaud, created this limited-edition bicycle in 2013. Greg dovetailed his 35-plus years of ride-handling and race knowledge with Jean Marc's leading edge carbon fiber design and manufacturing to produce a cutting-edge road bike that's best in class, from its Made-in-France pedigree, down to its Made-in-Italy Campagnolo gruppos, all dressed in its Team Z livery. Greg and Jean Marc worked together in TIME's factory in Lyon, France to create a modern, limited-edition carbon machine reflective of their creative relationship and Greg's love for the Tour de France, which, like his pursuit for technological excellence, has never waned.

*The 1990 Tdf Tour
Resplendent in the rainbow jersey of the reigning world champion, Greg enters the 1990 Tour a bit overweight and under trained, partly due to fulfilling his world champion duties in the off season and recurring mononucleosis. Now riding for Team Z, Greg and his crew play it cool in the first couple weeks, as the leader's yellow jersey is swapped from the backs of the original breakaway group of four who gained more than 10 minutes on the peloton following Stage 1. Bauer, now riding for 7-Eleven, wore the leader's yellow jersey through Stage 9, when Greg's teammate Ronan Pensec took over for two stages. The Italian upstart Claudio Chiappucci wore yellow until Stage 20, the final time trial. Greg played his cards to perfection and wore yellow into Paris a third and final time in his 14-year career, vaulting the iconic cartoon Z into the stratosphere, and onto the colorway of the 1990 Ltd Edition model. Greg is the last reigning world champion to win the Tour.*