Lemond tsx or tvt?

[stringfellow1946]

this is my 1987 Look Toshiba bike It is a TVT but the rear dropouts are embossed LOOK.
It also has a completely different seat post lug to the normal TVT.
If you include this one then I have 8 complete TVT's as the Blue one in the above post has Vitus Forks so I didn't include it. its 9 frames if you do.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/q3ip4n0py1tg ... 2cxQa?dl=0

 

[Mercianbloke]

I have my frame now, bought from Ebay for a very reasonable £120 or thereabouts. It's in pretty good condition, hardly any scratches on the lugs, one bit of wear where the rear brake cable has rubbed the headtube. Chipped paint around the lugs (I'm guessing this is just water getting behind the paint). No gear cable guide on the BB shell but that's not a big issue. Italian threads. I've also bought some components, I still have a ways to go though. I'm not sure about the rear dropouts, I think they're 127mm but I haven't yet proven this by putting a 130mm wheel in.

At 58cm, the frame weighs about 1.4kg. The fork is about 400g (from memory, I weighed it a couple of hours ago). There's a slight bulge on the steerer tube, presumably where the stem has been tightened, but no cracking or anything.

Next step is to send it down to Carbon Bike Repair in Surrey to have it inspected and (barring any issues) resprayed to the old Lemond colours. From what I can ascertain, they're actually blood red, bright/neon yellow, and a clearcoat with a blue tint. Most of the pictures I've seen show the red badly faded, hence why they look pink.

Pics here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/soundman/ ... 575138671/

 

[Mercianbloke]

BTW I don't suppose anyone can decode the scrawls on the fork steerer tube? Would it be a date, perhaps? 030791? The BB shell serial shows a similar number (I won't reproduce it in full), 130691?

 

[Lemond75]

Someone who has an original Z Team TVT will be able to correct me if I'm wrong but I'm fairly sure that the bottom of the forks and the BB area were pink rather than red, similar to the Z logo itself on the jersey.

 

[Mercianbloke]

http://pages.rapha.cc/cycle-club/greg-lemond-exhibition

Modern photograph a little way down the page. That one is definitely red, although I've seen others that are more pink. You can see on other frames where UV light has done its work (via Google Image search).

 

[Mercianbloke]

Well I just tried to put a 130mm wheel in and no way was that going anywhere without a bit of force, so I'm going to assume for now it's 126mm or thereabouts.

 

[Mercianbloke]

I understand the TVT seattube is 25mm, so I bought a 25mm seatpost. I can't get the beggar in. Any ideas?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtWVHHYlAVo

 

[mj3200]

My 753 Peugeot is like that - it seems like over time the lug has gone slightly out of round, so when I'm removing or inserting the seatpost I have to remove the binder bolt and tap in a wedge to hold the lug open a tad more than you'd expect. Just a tad mind. If I don't do that is seems as though the post is bigger than the lug/tube size just like your video.

Be gentle

 

[Mercianbloke]

Thanks for the info. The frame will be sent off for repair/respray soon enough, so I may have a chat with those guys and get them to "expand" the collar back to where it should be. I've been wracking my brain trying to think of a way to do it myself. I screwed the bolt in from the other side and tightened it against a piece of metal in the slit, but that just pushed the threaded nut out. Short of using some odd variety of bearing puller, or some strange reverse pliers, I can't think of how to do it.

 

[Mercianbloke]

Just thought I'd show everyone the progress I've made. The frame is off at the end of this week to be resprayed, and a few minor repairs done (a chip near the front derailleur, some damage to the carbon behind the front brake nut, nothing major). Hopefully they'll be able to sort the seatpost lug out as it's slightly crushed, preventing me from inserting the seatpost. Not a huge issue. I still have to source a headset with a smaller stack (haven't decided whether to go for C-Record Pista or just get a nice modern Tange), the rear derailleur cable outer, a suitable saddle and pedals. For pedals I might buy some Shimano PD-R540 and polish them to bare aluminium. I can't be bothered buying another pair of shoes just to ride one bike!