User Guide

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makes the bike heavier.
It takes several steps to make the LeMond
stays. First, a constant-wall cylinder is
swaged so that the dropout end is much
more thin-walled. Then the tube is tapered
from the outside. All this metal manipulation
is expensive, but the result is a constant-wall
tapered stay. This makes for a lighter bike
that rides better, and the stays blend in beau-
tifully with the seat tube and custom drop-
outs. But there’s more than looks to these
expensive stays. The shapes and wall thick-
nesses allow the stays to stiffen the bottom
bracket without a weight penalty. Like on
high end aluminum or steel bikes, the
tapered stays put comfort into the rear end
of a Ti bike, something that’s been missing
on Ti bikes trying to cut costs with ugly,
constant outer diameter stays.
While we were maximizing the LeMond
stays, we also dramatically shaped the tubes
in the main triangle to accentuate their ride
qualities. The down tube has been formed
(Fig. T4). The lower end is wider than tall.
This provides increased lateral rigidity at the
bottom bracket.
The stiffness of a tube in a given direction
is determined by the length of the axis in
the plane in which the force is applied (Fig.
T5). By using an oval shape, the tube gains
stiffness in the plane where its wider, and the
smaller axis across the oval has a decrease in
stiffness This allows us to tune the ride. In
addition, stiffness in a structure like a bike
frame can also add to its strength, since stiff-
ness is resistance to deflection, and you must
deflect the frame before you can bend it.
In addition to the performance increase
of our design, shaping the tubes has other
benefits. Tubes shaped in this way provide
a greater weld area, directly increasing the
frame strength.
As a final detail, we matched the tubing
diameters to create a consistent look
throughout the LeMond line. This thoughtful
design means the titanium models fit the
parts of the other LeMond models (except the
custom LeMond headset). This makes it easi-
er for dealers to stock the parts that work on
LeMond models. After all, any race mechanic
spending his nights prepping a fleet of team
bikes will tell you a racing bike needs to be
easy to service.
All these tubing details are expensive, but
our research showed that when done right,
the value of the extra work was appropriate
considering the added performance. In other
words, you really can feel our work in the
ride of these bikes. We’ve taken LeMond per-
formance to a new level.
Frame design: Geometry
Once we determined the best tubes for our
frames, it was time to create a design which
used those materials to their advantage. Of
course, we already knew what the geometry
should be. Greg’s geometry has a proven ped-
igree. The geometry of the new Ti frame is
identical to the popular LeMond Zurich in
angles and tube lengths.
For the mechanic
Grease threads
Titanium alloys such as 3/2.5 have a ten-
dency to create a permanent or semi-per-
manent bond known as cold welding when
exposed to certain other metals. Its very
important to adequately prepare fasteners
used on titanium threads. A heavy grease will
work, and Anti-Seize is even better.
“Drop-in” headset
Instead of pressing a cup into the head
tube to hold the headset bearings, they sit
inside the specially machined head tube.
Supported directly by the head tube, the
weight of the cups is eliminated. Without
cups, the headset becomes almost a zero
stack height, so the head tube can be taller.
The taller head tube allows greater separa-
tion between the down tube and top tube for
Fig. T4
Fig. T5