eBay Finds: 1990 Greg Lemond TVT 92 carbon-fibre Z team frame

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Our latest discovery in the wonderful world of eBay is this 1990 Greg Lemond TVT 92 carbon-fibre racing frame – the same model ridden to victory by Lemond at the 1990 Tour de France. 

Lemond's third and final Tour victory in 1990 is perhaps the least well known – versus his Bernard-Hinault-battling 1986 win and his 1989 win over Laurent Fignon by eight seconds – but it was in fact no less exciting.

That year, Lemond had to chase a third title for most of the race after a four-rider breakaway – made up of Buckler's Frans Maassen, Stev Bauer (7-Eleven), Carrera's Claudio Chiappucci and Lemond's Z teammate Ronan Pensec – was allowed to finish stage 1 with a massive advantage of more than 10-and-a-half minutes.

Maassen won the stage, and Bauer and Pensec both wore the yellow jersey before Chiappucci took over the maillot jaune, and the Italian proved the most difficult rider to shift, with Lemond finally wresting the race lead from him in the race's final time trial on the Tour's penultimate day at Lac de Vassivière.

And this wonderful eBay find is a fine example of the racing frame that Lemond won that Tour on: a carbon-fibre Greg Lemond TVT 92, painted in his Z team colours, in a size 57cm – with a few extras thrown in, too.

Carbon fibre as a frame material had been used before – notably by French manufacturer Vitus in the 1980s – but French aerospace company TVT made some of the very best, which were badged by various bike-frame manufacturers in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For the 1990 Tour, Lemond plumped for a TVT 92 carbon frame, badged as being a model from his own bike company, and in the colours of his new Z team – the French squad managed by Roger Legeay, which later became Gan and then Crédit Agricole.

The seller is providing the frameset complete with a pair of Lemond's Scott special Drop-In handlebars, which he started using in 1990, as well as a pair of his famous Scott clip-on 'tri bars'. There's also a saddle and Campagnolo C-Record seatpost thrown in, plus a headset and a bottom bracket, and an optional – and very beautiful – Mavic Starfish chainset, as used by Lemond. All in all, a very nice package, and yours for US$2,499 (£2,030) – with $150 lopped off if you don't want the chainset. But, believe us, you do.