2007 LeMond Reno (*modern content*)

N/B

Retro Guru
Acquired this frame, forks and sundries from a friend about a year ago, he'd purged it of useful parts and shoved it in his basement long ago so I decided to give it a chance at being my first road bike. I liked how relatively 'classic' it looked, the antithesis of my lairy team-issue Cannondale.

NB_LeMond_Reno_FF_LR.jpg


It's Aluminium, and I think it was probably made by Trek. Somebody also recently told me that the CF fork is probably a LeMond-branded Bontrager item.
I moved to the USA not long after I got the frame & forks, and decided pretty much straightaway that the drivetrain was going to be all new, so out came the old square-taper BB. I had found a SRAM Rival OCT compact double chainset on UK 'Bay for 45 quid before I left, so when I arrived in the US I had the local shop supply and fit a SRAM Team GXP BB.
Happy I found it because when I went shopping for new Shimano chainsets I came across some of the ugliest components known to man. Just awful.

Meanwhile, I waded through the pre-Christmas sales (oh how times have changed!) to find a set of Mavic Ksyrium Equipes for $299 and a Fizik Arione saddle for $89.
KsyriumsArione.jpg


Gathered together new tyres & tubes, and threw together what I had so far.
LeMond_Reno_Build_01.jpg


Deliberated some more over groupsets. I'd test-ridden a few SRAM double-tap bikes and hated them, preferring Campag or Shimano. Then after talking to several local shops I learned that the US-resident Campag devotee lives in a world of back-orders and "Sorry pal, we don't carry those cables in stock", so I decided it had to be Shimano.
A superb January sale deal netted me a black 105 5700 group (minus chainset) for about $500. Went for 12-27T on the 10spd cassette.

Shimano1055700Group.jpg


When the 105 stuff arrived I finally built it up
LeMond_Reno_Build_03.jpg


and then went for a spin to get the bar position right. Awful. Stem felt about two inches too long, and the curve of the bars didn't feel tight enough to use the drops. I decided to cure one ill at a time and go for a shorter stem first (the one I'd originally put on was 120mm), and the local shop let me test-ride a couple before I settled on an 80mm.
Better, but still not perfect.
ITMBars1.jpg


I decided I should ride it for a few months to see how my position on the bike evolved.
The bars I originally fitted were ITM Road Race 300s donated by a kind friend - months of riding (with lots of climbs & descents) showed me tha they were wrong for me in two ways;
- The reach to the hoods/levers was too far, even on a relatively short 80mm stem.
- The drop curve was too gentle, the drops felt too far away and too steep for me.
So I messed around with the cockpit a bit and found that;
- Moving the levers up the bars towards me rendered the levers inaccessible once on the drops.
- Rotating the bars towards me made the drops even steeper / more uncomfortable.
- Rotating the bars down and moving the levers up did little to improve things.

So, with the above (and a limited budget) in mind, I headed down to another local indie bike shop hoping to find out if they had something suitable. Along with new stuff, they deal in good used bikes, used/NOS parts and have generally pretty high standards when it comes to inventory. Nice guys too.
They found me a pair of 3TTT Forma SL Ergopower II handlebars - A (slightly) more modern design with a less sharp (but tighter - if that makes sense) shoulder curve, and longer more useful drops. Same width as my ITMs, 42cm.
They were in amazing nick - no damage, not even any marks from old brake levers. Still fetching upwards of $100 on US eBay, they were mine for $40.

Got back home and took the old bars off for a compare/contrast - new 3TTTs on the left, old ITMs on the right:
3TTTBarsvsITMs.jpg


Whilst rebuilding the cockpit I also sorted out a schoolboy error I made during my first setup of the bike - I had done the cabling so that the Left lever was Front Mech + Front Brake, and the Right lever was Rear Mech + Rear Brake, despite my left hand having operated the rear brake on every other bike I've had in my whole life :LOL:
A quick fix when the bike's stripped down, but a rookie roadie mistake that really p!ssed me off that day I first taped the bars up!

Anyway, new bars on, this was the new position
3TTTBars1.jpg


Made a few tweaks after the maiden test-ride, taped up the bars, went on another test ride and it almost felt like a different bike - so precise, but comfortable. The new bars made my old ones feel stiff, buzzy and vague in comparison. Stoked.

A few weeks later, I decided to partially de-sticker my wheels to reduce the 'rolling billboard' effect. Took a cue from the more expensive SSC-series rims. Since then I've also switched from Vittoria Rubino Pro Slicks to Diamanté Pros for winter.

Ksyriums_DeStickered_2_LR.jpg


My apologies if this is all a bit too boring/modern, but it's been a learning curve and I'm now firmly 'into' 700c-based bikes!
 
Really nice looking bike.

Follows the KISS (keep it simple stupid) principle perfectly.

I to, am now a convert to the thin wheeled variants, and have gone down a similar track in working out what fits me best. In terms of bars I've ended up plumping for some FSA Compact Pro bars which allow me to use a 120mm stem but still have a comfortable reach on the drops.
 
Minor update:

Been riding the hell out of this. Switched to 700x25c tyres back in May. Also replaced a recently-bent 50T chainring.

9609194169_c1171722b0_b.jpg
 
That's a nice looking bike,my Lemond is pre Trek and in old fashioned steel. I think all Lemond's are understated but well made and going to be collectors items.
 
Noticed you also swapped the saddle from the Arione to the Selle Slr? Any reasons why?
Also on the bars, I had some similar bars on a bike I've just bought, Dedacia Magics, which were very light but had a huge drop and of the Ergo style, so no real hand hold straight down, only forward, which put me uncomfortably low and forward.
After a bit of research, (having been out of the road scene for 20 years :facepalm: ) I noticed that a few manufacturers were now making short reach/drop bars (like they used to do eh :roll: ) and these were being adopted by a few of the pro riders too.
I plumped for some of the Bonty race bars, which were also light, but a much better shape for practical use in all 3 hand positions.
 
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