LeMond confirms new bike line is on the way

LeMond Bikes, headed by three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, has confirmed that it is on the way back with new models after raising more than $2 million in private investment.

We told you back in January that we believed LeMond would be launching bikes using new carbon technology. At the time, we expected those bikes to arrive in the spring.

LeMond Carbon, a separate business to LeMond Bikes, has been developing a new carbon-fibre production facility in Tennessee, and Composites Today announced that the company had completed a successful test of its carbon manufacturing process by independent technical auditors Bureau Veritas (BV). 

We reported that LeMond Carbon had been working with Deakin University in Australia to commercialise its technology which, it is claimed, lowers the cost of carbon manufacturing.

In a Facebook post last December LeMond Bikes said, "The last three years, LeMond has been focused on building the future of carbon fibre. This is quite a significant milestone for us. We’ve proven our technology’s ability to produce carbon fiber 4X faster than today’s state of the art, using 75% less energy, resulting in a reduction in fibre costs of 30-60%+ vs the industry’s leading fibre. Big ramifications. Pretty cool."

Now Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN) says, "In an email Thursday, Greg LeMond told BRAIN that he could talk about his company's plans in the bike market in a couple of weeks.

"A Securities and Exchange Commission filing made Wednesday shows that on July 1 the bicycle company sold securities worth $2,029,178 out of a total offering of $4,608,000. The SEC Form D filing is sometimes filed on the sale of securities to a small number of select investors. The form contains minimal information about the investment besides the offering amount and names of executive officers, board members and promoters of the company issuing the securities."

Then, in a Facebook post, LeMond said, "Looks like the secret is out. Kudos to Steve at Bicycle Retailer and Industry News for his investigative skills. But we're not giving away all the secrets just yet."

Replies to user comments suggest there's more than one new design in the offing.

Greg LeMond licensed his name to Trek Bikes from 1995, but that partnership came to an end in 2008. We reported back in 2013 that LeMond was launching three limited-edition road bikes produced in collaboration with Time, but it has been pretty quiet over recent years.

It's all happening again now. We have the new logo and everything. What more do you want, pictures of bikes? Apologies, but we can't yet help you out there. We should know more in early August.

https://lemond.cc/