Greg Lemond Frame identification

[Boscarn]

I am trying to find any information on this Greg Lemond frame, when I acquired the frame it had several layers of paint covering any details. The final layer of paint was red and a few traces can still be seen, this was the hardest paint that I have ever removed and I have stripped many frames. The drive side chain stay is chromed, but is dull.
The frame has 55 stamped on the BB, but measures nearer 56cm (seat tube centre to top), has Columbus ends on both frame and forks. The original front mech hanger has been removed and has internal cable run for the rear brake. The frame weighs 2070g and the forks 779g.
Please look at the photos, someone out there will know something about this frame!!

 

[oonaff]

its a gan lemond gl early 1990/s . look in retrobike scan/s Chris Boardman gan . IT looks like they used two diff lug/bb shell/fork crown/s
Built by Billato brother's italy, maybe GL was a slightly lower grade tubing to my GLX i dont know
I dont think there is a data base for frame i d ing mine is 370198 54GLX . It is 54cm c/bb up seat tube to c/line of t/tube.gregs signature is also engraved on the top of the bb/shell.
they are damn good frames ,described as 'stable enough for t/trialling yet flickable through the peleton,a rewarding ascender and a fast descender,i guess the only true american tdf champion new what he was doing when he dimension d these baby/s.
But what does GL and GLX stand for ?
and what became of excell tubing ? <supposedly a french aero-space company>

 

[oonaff]

hi , i do beg your pardon , red was not the gan team colour.
any chance of a close up the top of your seat stay/s
mine has a number holder under the top tube about 100mm
behind the head tube.
your s has a pump pip directly behind the head ??
did ede buy a lemond red/white nos once ?
with the same style lettering as the tvt
would'nt that make it earlier than gan
or was there a parallel builder besides the billato works ?

 

[oonaff]

well going by the lemond archive it looks like a team z tsx replica, is'nt the peg behind the head tube giving it away ? The SL model looks red all over however that does'nt explain the GL fork which could have been a later replacement & a pure coincidence that the drop outs are both columbus.
Or was it a later team z replica having struck a deal with excell and changed the tubing to acier <special ?>

 

[Boscarn]

Thanks for all you thoughts, please see the photo of the seat cluster.

I have found these other images of other Lemond frames with different tubing decal, both Columbus.
Both frames look identical to mine, but are in the team z colours. The tube decal reveals that the most likely answer to what does GL stand for, Custom Greg Lemond tubing?

As has been highlighted, the orginal colour was all red, same as the last picture of a 1992 SL, but that did not have the chrome rear chain stay.

 

[oonaff]

hi, great you cracked it then do you reckon getting the sticker's might be a challenge. that one with tour de france usa looks wicked ! but tell me, we know that bilato built his gan frames but what about these ? where did bottechia and scapin fit in ? did scapin have a build base in the us ? and hey thanks for the GL info i was thinking greg... how could you pinch the initials from the car and scootering industry and call it Grand Luxurios then shove in a silly 'x' rated !
i got to find some one who can take some good close ups of my Acier special badge it has the stars and stripes but also the french tri colour in the design..i love it ! many pleasent sunny evenings were spent on my glx. a college in exeter to torquay, then the coastal ride east and back,stunning views and fresh sea air!

 

[Matt_wood55]

You can get the decals you need - just do Lemond search on Ebay. Plenty around. Z replica one of my favourite bikes / colour schemes going.

 

[oonaff]

hi yeah , thanks, they come from france, ive messeged that decal guy . he has even got a copy of the gan excell sticker although the gold comes out light blue on my screen .
I see there is someone selling a freshly painted team z tsx & he is saying , built by billato.
this would sort of explain the chrome chain stay, a prelude to all the gan glx/s . although the quality of the chroming on these is good.
I was also interested to see a lemond glx on e-bay at the mo <gan team issue colours> but no little
GAN sticker,s on the top tube , but that <pump ?> pip thing behind the head tube ,same as on tsx 's and sl,s . Can any one please explain these to me ? are they for a different type of race number holder ? mine has a small oblong piece of steel welded to the underside of the top tube with a hole in it on my glx . does this mean it was a pro peleton team issue ?

 

[Herbivore]

Hi Boscarn.
Your Lemond seems to be identical to my 1993 GAN frame, although yours was red. The frame number of my frame is 316034, 13 lower than yours, Mine is a 56cm btw and there are photos of it on this forum, which you've probably seen. I have since stripped it of components and have taken a few pics if you'd like me to post them.
Before I bought my frame I read an article on them in an American magazine; it said that GL frames were built from Columbus SL tubing, I think the top of the range was made from French Exelle tubing, or something like that. It also said the paint job was bomb proof!

 

[Jamiedyer]

Bilato built a lot of the high end Lemonds not just the Gan models. For the public the Gan was one of many colour schemes available over the years. Lovely frames and had an early GAN model in Excell tubing. Will try to dig up some pics.

Jamie