telebianchi

So I was on a work trip in South Bend, Indiana and ended up driving through the town of Three Oaks, Michigan on my way to Warren Dunes State Park on the Lake when I had a little free time. Driving through town I see a sign pointing to a Bicycle Museum. So of course I had to stop. About 15 bikes dating back to the late 1800's.

But hanging on the wall was one of the Bottecchia's that Greg Lemond road to victory in the 1989 Tour de France. The bike is on loan from a local doctor. There was a signed photo from Lemond to the doctor saying something like, "enjoy the bike".

I couldn't get any closer to the bike because of some other one's on the floor in front of it.











If you're ever in South West Michigan, stop by the town of Three Oaks and see the bike for yourself.
https://www.facebook.com/deweycannontradingcompany

Lazyass

He was riding a carbon Time frame before that, '86 I believe. I think he also rode titanium frames.

jerrycan42

That's pretty cool. And that 89 TdF was one to remember too.

mkadam68

Umm... Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that was Lemond's '89 Tour bike. The only photos I can find of his road bike in the '89 Tour, it's a yellow/black bottechia, like so...



The only red & white Bottechia photos show him on a Time Trial frame, like so...



Plus, the stem is waaay too tall. Of course, it's possible that particular bike was ridden by someone else who adjusted/put on a new stem. It's also possible it was a back-up bike (but I doubt that as all the bikes would have been painted the same by Bottechia when delivered to Team ADR at the beginning of the season), but then he never rode it in Le Tour.

canam73

Then again, maybe he did.

merlinextraligh

I would assume they put him on the Yellow bike when he had the Yellow jersey.

canam73

Not always, but could be that back up thing:

merlinextraligh

Lemond was also know for riding bikes other than his sponsors that were rebadged. Perhaps the yellow bike is not steel, and not a Bottecchia?

eja_ bottecchia

Lemond and his Bottecchia have nothing on me and my Bottecchia.

merlinextraligh

^ Athena was a good choice for that frame.

eja_ bottecchia

Thanks. I spent a long time thinking about whether I wanted to keep the bike's original Campy or to upgrade to a more modern set up. When I saw the Athena groupset in the silver finish I knew it would be a the right upgrade.

Interesting, the Mavic hubs on the Lemond bike are the same hubs my Bottecchia originally had. I think that Mavic may have been one of the sponsors of Lemond's team.

By the way, how is your Wilier doing? It continues to receive great press reviews.

mkadam68

Oh good. I couldn't find one, thought maybe someone got sold a bill o' goods.

canam73

Well, you could still be right on that. Although I did find a pic of him on a red road bike, that one fully painted stays unlike the museum bike. I think in that market it is buyer beware as even if you find one that looks identical it doesn't mean anything. And as Merlin pointed out, he might not have actually been on Bottecchias.

equinoxranch

Carnielli built two red/white models for him that year in addition to his TT frame.

merlinextraligh

No problems. I'm very happy with it, and love the way it rides and handles.

I think a lot of other bikes are catching up with it though, particularly for the price.

canam73

So like, they are almost as fast as a Wilier?

merlinextraligh

Well, nothings as fast as a Willier.

But, sub 800 grams is not so unique anymore, and other manufacturers are incorporating elastomers in their carbon layups similar to Wilier's SEI, such as a Canondale Super Six EVO.

canam73

Yeah, but everyone knows how to pronounce Cannondale, so what's the point in riding one?

Bicycle1966

LeMond used several different bikes during the '89 TdF. This red & white Bottechia was one of them. (that tall stem could easily still be "correct," since it is easy to raise a quill stem -- also, there appears to be a mark on the quill which would probably correspond to the height where LeMond had it set) The yellow bike shown here was badged as a Bottechia, but was actually built by TVT with carbon fiber tubes with aluminum lugs. I'm pretty certain the TVT bike was used in the mountain stages, with lightness being the goal. There was also the famous red & white Bottechia time trial machine. I actually take a good look at LeMond and Fignon's bikes from the '89 TdF on The Retrogrouch Blog: The Retrogrouch: Tour de France Bikes 1989

cb400bill

Reviving a Zombie thread here. Greg's bike is still on display at the Museum. Here are some pics that I took today.

Three Oaks Spokes Bicycle Club clubhouse, store, and museum


LeMond's Bottecchia


Interesting engraving 1


Interesting engraving 2


Front Derailleur


Rear Derailleur


Poster 1


Poster 2


The first bike made by area builder Doug Fattic


Ratty looking Viscount Aerospace GP

eschlwc

uh ... dr hyde? isn't it mr hyde? and i thought he was an *******?



i just hope he's not a psychiatrist.

Henry III

They must of moved the museum out of the library. When I took Doug's framebuilding course in 2011 the museum was upstairs in little room of the library and was a sad looking display of bikes. Doug's bike was all dusty and looking kind of ratty. The bike was crazy light also at something like 15 to 16 lbs if I recall? It's one of the things he tells the students to checkout when the shop is closed on the weekends. He won't tell what tubing is used on the frame or fork or how he got it so light. It's a mixture of SR, Campag and Suntour components.

cb400bill

It's in the extension at the right side of the building.

. I could not get close enough to see all the components but Doug's bike had a Dura Ace rd and cranks.

crank_addict

Back to the LeMond Bottecchia. The choice of Mavic components look correct, especially interesting to see the extra engravings. Little extras too, such as the red Avocet computer seem appropriate. If one does an image search, it could likely be legit but there's lots of variations of his bikes and who really knows if he actually rode this very specimen?

Possibly someone else was tooling around on it. High raised stem plus curious why the seat pin has the tape / height reference on. Edit: I do see the Mavic / Modolo brakes.... disregard my comment on the Delta's.

I'll have to keep this museum in mind and hope someday to visit.

dcsix

It's too bad they have Fignon's name misspelled on the museum info doc of the bike, perhaps they don't have Filet Mignon out there. Great story though, thanks for the posts on the bike.

Somewhat OT, but here's quite an interesting obit on Laurent Fignon from the New York Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/sp...gnon.html?_r=0