bonechiller

Over the weekend, I picked up a Greg Lemond Le Vanquer track bike. It's lugged steel, definitely hand-made, but I'm not sure of the country on origin. It's definitely from 1989, because the steerer tube is dated. I've been searching all over the internet, and literally the only reference I can find to the Le Vanquer model at all is an old thread on the Road forum. Here's a photo (I stupidly did not photograph the logo in any detail, but you get the idea).



So what is the deal with this frame? A one-off, or something mass-produced and sold be Lemond? I'd love to know more.

tinydr

very nice, closeups of the lugs and fork crown might help, if nothing else they'd be appreciated!

bonechiller

I took a bunch of photos, but they all suck. I'll try to get some more today, while it's still sunny.

bonechiller

Ok, here are a ton more pictuers I snapped today.






(this one reads "Ten Speed Imports." I told you I suck at photography.)

tinydr

if you do a google seach for "lemond vanquer" there's a little more out there, although nothing definitive...

bonechiller

Yeah, that's what I've seen so far. A few references to a 1990 road model somewhere, but nothing about this track bike. Someone claims it was made by Guerciotti, but again, nothing remotely definitive.

cyclotoine

well I can tell you alelle is a lower end tubeset... other than that I have nothing... but the front wheel is crooked.

sop

You might call John Dacey at Business Cycles, he knows a lot about older track stuff.

https://www.businesscycles.com/about.htm

bonechiller

Are you guys at all familiar with the early history of Lemond (then Greg Lemond) bikes? Track or otherwise.

Otis

I don't know, but would assume it's an Italian built production frame branded for Lemond. Looks like a nice entry level track bike. As far as which shop built it I have no clue.

tinydr

Rossin was also suggested, although there didn't seem to be any obvious Rossin elements...

tinydr

Thought this was interesting, found it in an old thread at the Serotta forums, about a pre-Trek Lemond SL road frame:

"It was built by the Balato brothers in Italy and was hand-made. During the 1980's and 1990's these guys built frames for a number of Italian brands including Bottechia."

This too, in a different thread at the same site:

"I am selling my Lemond LeVanguer Billato Bros frame. Made in Italy. Distributed by Ten Speed Drive of Florida. I estimate year to be 86-88..." Cromor though, rather than Aelle.

Billato is apparently the correct spelling.

bonechiller

I just stumbled onto the same thread, actually. And I also found this:

LeMond - Greg LeMond is the first American to win the Tour de France, winning in 1986, 1989, and 1990. LeMond also won three World Championships and the Tour DuPont. His career was cut short by lead poisoning from a hunting accident. LeMond's early bikes were made by Roberto Bilatto in Italy and distributed by a now-defunct company named Ten Speed Drive Imports. The Bilatto-made frames are somewhat collectible.

I also found a few more references to the Bilatto (or Balato?) brothers building frames for import, and a post from someone who worked at Ten Speed Drive Imports saying that lugged steel Lemonds were made by them, so that sounds pretty good to me.

Now, what do you know about the Bilatto brothers? I'm also still wondering if this was a regular production model. The reason why I'm so curious is because it seems like, with all the interest in track bikes these days, that other Le Vanquer track bikes would have bubbled to the surface somewhere where Google crawls.

moki

it does kick ass. nice score

tinydr

If you do a google search for "Bilatto Lemond" you'll find a number of sites... it seems the Bilatto brothers made frames for a lot of other manufacturers.

If they made an Aelle and a Cromor frame at some point they were probably doing decent business in the frames...

bonechilling

Thanks for everyone's help on this, I was able to learn a lot. Hopefully this thread will help any future Le Vanquer owners learn more about their bikes. Here's the finished product.

pacifico

"Billato" is the correct spelling.