TVT Lemond

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Want
Actually i would be happy with just the group.

love it! if this goes for under $1500 AUD it’s great buying, that group looks like it’s in awesome nic.

i’d be pretty happy with the whole thing

“sexy and you know it”

If I didn’t already have a crazy early naughty 90’s fluoro team bike with c-record, I’d be all over this :wink:

Of these era’s I would actually prefer the DuraAce 7400 group to the C Record. Lord knows I’ve had a lot of C Record stuff, maybe more than anyone here. It’s beautiful, it was incredibly expensive when it came out and it was too die for. But the Dura Ace stuff of that era works better, is easy to set up and is far more affordable.

On any TVT, Look or Vitus of this era I’d use 7/8 speed DuraAce without any qualms or reservation.

Yeah I know but I just love the aesthetics of it and I want to ditch the modern group on the Tom and go period group.

ugly forks - do.not.want

Even better than Rikki Martine (the eBay seller) … the history of TVT includes the very interesting and multi-faceted Bernard Tapie !!! Politician, businessman, singer, actor, owner of Marseille football team, Adidas for a short period, La Vie Claire (who sponsored the cycling team) and also LOOK who made ski bindings and as we know cycling pedals. There wasn’t a lot that Tapie didn’t do … hated by some, adored by others, very interesting cat imo

Bernard Tapie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Who Is Bernard Tapie? (2001) - IMDb <<< most interesting doco, fascinating public stoushes with le Pen !!

Fwiw, the TVT frames that were made for the earlier LOOK La Vie Claire team aren’t rated as highly as this later Team “Z” TVT 92 frame, so if you’re interested in the above auction go for it knowing this is the one to buy. I’ll quote frame builder, and TVT insider Norris Lockley …

As for the carbon frame that Hinault is riding in the second stage…this
looks like the prototype TVT/Look that the team were testing. The frames
were made by TCT -“Tubes-Composites-Tisses” a firm that had pioneered
this design in 1981. I had imported three of the first six made and then
got the strange idea of becoming the UK importer. At the 1983 Paris Show
I tried to negotiate the sole rights to the frames but discovered that a
certain French business tycoon, Bernard Tapie- the owner of the La Vie
Claire- Look team -was also on the TCT stand negotiating sole World
rights…so I didn’t stand much of a chance. As the triumphant Tapie said
to me “Tant pis!”

Tapie negotiated a 5-year contract to build the black carbon frames that
bore the LOOK transfer. TVT did not make the frames, just simply
manufactured the tubing, and forks, and a small foundary/machine shop in
Lyon,.Lyon-Raccords, supplied the lugs and ends. The LOOK-built carbon
frames quickly gained a a reputation, certainly in the UK, for
de-bonding, so much so that TCT revoked the contract after three years
because they feared that de-bonding frames would give the newly-born
carbon frame market a very bad name, and the company had great ambitions
to become the Reynolds or Columbus of the carbon frame industry.

TCT dropped that name and became TVT “Tubes-Verre-Tisse” and started
building frames in its own right…the design being altered, the
seat-stays being curved in above the brake-bridge…and Delgado rode the
new model with “Pinarello” transfers , and a red livery, to victory in
the 1987 Tour de France.

Needless to say, Tapie did not take the rejection and annulment of the
contract lightly, setting up his own company…and embarking on a long
and very expensive law suit…but that, as they say, is another story.

and …

Although the TVT is more likely to be associated with riders such as
Indurain, Kelly, Lemond and many other top continental Pros - even Colnago
had badged up TVTs in the early 90s - the brand does fall within the CR
time-line.

The first TVTs ( Technique Verre Tissee) were produced at the very end
of the 1970s, but only became available to shops in about 1980. At that time
they were called *TCT *which is thought to mean either Technique Composite
Tisse or Tubes Carbon Tisse or some combination of the two.

The firm specialised in the production of tubes in composites made by the
resin-transfer moulding system and built such products as masts for yachts,
power masts to hold up electricity cables etc etc. They saw the opportunity
to use their extremely strong tubes in cycle frame applications, by bonding
them with epoxy adhesives to high quality aluminium alloy lugs.

The firm, under the guidance of M Foret, the Managing Director, prototyped
the frames and then released small quantities into the cycle trade where
they proved very succesful. About that time French business man and
entrepreneur Bernard Tapie who had just bought out the LOOK ski company and
developed the LOOK clipless pedal, decided that he wanted his own LOOK frame
to equip his LOOK-LaVieClaire team

He cottoned on to TVT - the parent company of TCT - and, in 1983 signed a
three-year deal whereby TVT would supply LOOK with carbon-kevlar tubes and
LOOK would bond them into frames. All LOOK frames from that period had
chainstays with the TVT brand moulded into the chainstays.

Unfortunately the LOOK company made a mess of building the frames with many
of them debonding during riding, sometimes causing serious injuries to the
rider. The new Managing Director of TVT, Alain Darrin decided that the
TVT/TCT frame design was basically extremely good, when the bonding was
carried out effectively. Not wishing the carbon-aluminium bonded frame
concept to develop a bad reputation - thereby depriving TVT of future sales
of its tubes - Darrin took the very bold step of cancelling the contract
with Tapie and LOOK in 1985.

WIth threats of legal action by Tapie ringing in his ears, Darrin undertook
the next development of the TVT frame - this time to be called the TVT 92.
The first TVT/TCTs had seat-stays joined together by an aluminium brajke
bridge, whereas the TVT 92 had a one-piece moulded seat stay unit shaped
like a letter H. eliminating the bonded and screwed bridge.
This is the red
frame ridden to Tour-de-France success by Pedro Delgado in 1988.

And some more info on the following flickr comments … TVT 92 Label | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Fwiw, La Vie Claire was a health food store/chain and Z (pronounced zed) were makers of childrens clothes. Both cycling teams had legendary outfits/colour schemes. And now you all know about TVT, Tapie and the early LOOK connection.