Lemond TSX

Having more or less completed my 1978 clubman's bike, I have got a taste for building road bikes. I've done a few previously, but they have all been retromod, and the clubman's bike was a different experience.

Having decided I fancied another proper retro build, I started looking at the 1950's, but that route needs a lot more research, and also I am not sure how practical the final bike would be, as I do not have the legs to climb well using limited gears, so.

I started looking at other racing bikes, concentrating for inspiration on a large format Tour De France book that my wife gave me, it is fact light and picture heavy, so was a good place to look.

Then this frame popped up on LFGSS and I jumped at it.

Good.

Most of the paint, the chrome and all the decals are in good condition, and appreciated a pre-photo polish.
There is not a dent or dink on the whole machine.

Bad.
It has been scraped at some point (possibly on a garage wall), and the yellow paint used to repair the damaged is both the wrong colour and poorly applied. I see many hours of gentle polishing here.
There is a security number deeply etched in the middle of the top tube. Now I understand why it's there, but, in the middle of the top tube? That is going to be a bit of a b*gger to hide.

The frame is Columbus TSX and is, from what I can find, similar if not identical to the frames the team used (not on the TdF). Again, as far as I know, all the early steel Lemond frames were made in Italy by the Billato Brothers, so the quality is very high.

The planned build is age related, but not team issue identical, for any number of reasons. Never the less I will be after top quality / cutting edge components from the period. I will also be looking to build this as light as I can, although I know for climbing and other TdF stages, most of the team were on frames made of Columbus SL, the TSX bikes being used where a more robust frame was needed, like the classics. I therefore have a canvass that is, if not blank, at least open to some interpretation, as I don't think these frames were ever sold as complete bikes.









That security number. Anyone know the shade of red used?



So at this point, I go into 'expensive parts acquisition mode'.

More once I have a few bits to bolt on.

Lovely.
I have a similar colored Lemond, although it's an SL.

Re:

Most of my information has come from American forums, but my understanding is if it has a 'hand made' rear brake mount, then it is a Billato frame. They made both the SL and TSX frames, and there is a Lemond brochure out on the net that states the SL bikes were lighter and were used for climbing and fast stages.

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First job finished.

If you look at the pictures, you can see that the paint on drive side seat stay and fork leg have been 'repaired'. Trouble is, the paint used was matt and about the same colour as mustard, it had also been applied so generously on the seat stay that a trickle of it had run all the way down the back of the stay and over the dropout.

All of that paint has now been polished away by hand, using a very mild cutting compound. It's taken over three hours and it has to be said, given the relatively minor nature of the scratches it had been applied to cover, the repair was far worse than the original damage, so, there may possibly have been a story behind it. Regardless, it's gone now.

Next job is to remove the Campagnolo bottom bracket, and check, grease and adjust the Tange headset.

One of my favourite frames from back when

What pillock would put that security number there? :facepalm:

Looking forward to the build!

foz":1f00zze9 said:

What pillock would put that security number there? :facepalm:

Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly.

I need to get a photo of all the bits, as I think I have most of the parts I need now, so I need to get a painter to look at that top tube.

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Nice frame, that was mine for a while I think - it came from Belgium but was too small.

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I bought it from a guy in Nottingham, who had been living / working in London.