Mountainbike Sniper

Pretty neat bike. This is from a run of 18 bikes made for Team Z by Calfee. Lots of nice pro details and pretty close to race build, if not race build. See the cool description and pics below.

1991 Team Z LeMond bought from Greg's brother-in-law

In late 1990 Greg LeMond licensed the technology to build his LeMond Carbon Fiber frames from CarbonFrames Inc. of Craig Calfee. The LeMond Carbon Fiber frame operation was called LeMond Composite Bicycles and they were located in Reno NV.

For the 1991 season LeMond Bikes, being the bike sponsor of Greg's Team Z, supplied these special carbon frames along with the normal issue steel frames to the French Team Z.

After the 1991 season the team bikes of Greg's Team Z were sold by Greg's Dad and brother-in-law in Reno NV. In 1992 I drove up to Reno and bought this bike from Greg's brother-in-law Pat (the president of the LeMond Composite Bicycles in Reno NV). (And yes, the guy who shot Greg!)

This bike from the 1991 Team Z has a Carbon Fiber frame (called the LeMond Alpe d'Huez model) and fork (Kestrel EMS) with the Team Z logos under the clear coat.
Campagnolo gruppo (eight speed) with 170mm Record cranks and 52 x 42 chain rings, Campagnolo Delta brakes, magnesium Time pedals, Sella San Marco Rolls seat, Scott bars (42 cm outside to outside) Scott stem (105mm), Campagnolo Sigma Strada Hardox rims with Campy hubs, Vittoria Corsa CX Squadra Prof sew-up tires.
By my measurements the geometry measures about:
53.5 cm seat tube (center of bottom bracket to top of seat tube).
52 cm seat tube (center of bottom bracket to top of top tube).
53.5 cm top tube (center of head tube to center of seat tube).
Chain stay length 41cm.
Wheelbase 97cm.
1” fork.
27.2 mm seat post.
Approximate stand over height with 700c 23mm tires: 76.5cm.

During my ownership it has been little used, maybe ridden 1 to 3 days a year at the most, spending most of the year hanging, like a piece of art, on the wall! Like any used bike or ex-Pro bike, it has some scratches: the right side of the fork - scratch about 6cm long, left side of the fork - paint chip and scratch about 4-5cm also a paint chip by the drop-out, clear coat chip on left chain stay, several small clear coat chips on the top tube in a line of about 3cm and the front of the break levers are pretty scratched up from the Team Z mechanics leaning the bikes up on the levers after washing after they'd removed the wheels. All of the paint chips are all superficial, none of them go into the carbon. So the general condition of the bike is very good. Except for the hubs (I never rode on these sew-up rims so I never regreased them), all of the parts, bearings etc. are all in good condition and smooth without any grinding or play.

Craig Calfee made 18 of these bikes for the Team Z. For the team only. There are only 18 in he whole world! No other bikes were ever made in these colors, with these stickers, rear dropouts, etc. None were ever commercially available. Just these 18. I brought this bike to Craig Calfee to have him measure it and he said it seems that this was the Mexican climber Miguel Arroyo's bike but with the frame not having the riders name sticker or frame serial number it is hard to know for sure. But Craig said that for sure this bike has his handmade titanium rear dropouts and the Italian bottom bracket threads that only the Team Z bikes had, so he is sure that this bike was one of the 18 bikes he made for the Team Z in his shop in San Francisco.

The last thing is to warn the buyer that this bike attracts a lot of attention! The buyer should be prepared to get a lot of compliments about what a beautiful bike it is, what great condition it is in and lots of questions like where did you find such a cool bike! This is a really special bike and with the slightly blue clear coat showing the perfect carbon weave layup underneath, it looks absolutely spectacular in the sunlight! Even some Euro mechanics at the Tour of California where reminiscing on and on about this bike!

Included with the bike is a copy of a bike test from Bicycling Magazine of Greg's 1991 Team Z carbon bike and some extra bar tape.

Lemond on his:

Winter is coming and so it is time to work on projects, pick up some extra needed parts, and maybe grab a bargain or two.

First, I got this nice Wicked Fat Chance. There are some scuffs on the top tube, but they look like garage wear. Fats are bigger than they look, so it was nice to find one that fits. The parts on this bike were worth the price of admission, and are all very clean. The rims show no sidewall wear, the Ground Control/S tires look great, the Magura Shorty brake levers are clean and the Deore XT M730 kit is pretty sano too!

Next, are a weirdo set of IRC X-1 tires. Why weird? Well, they are 24 inch and red. Still cool. And I have some 24 inch wheels that these would be sweet on.

I picked up a 140mm wheelset, with a Chris King hub, WTB rim and constructed by wheel artisan Gravy. This was a steal and shows why wheels are a nightmare to sell. The wheel would be perfect on a WTB Phoenix.

Got some beat Hi-E hubs. Got the set to cannibalize the rear. Charlie Cunningham can mod these into nice, classic mountain bike hubs. I have a front that is ready to be cannibalized too.

Finally, got a bunch of Campy small parts. I am doing a winter rebuild of my Moots with Super Record 11s running gear. Consequently, I needed the shockingly expensive chain pins and the proprietary cable set. While I was at it, I figured the carbone tire levers were worth a go.