Greg LeMond is greatest recognized for being the one American to formally win the well-known Tour de France — a feat he completed 3 times. His success hinged on his obsession with each single element of the race, from the carbon fiber within the body of his racing bikes to the aerodynamics of his helmet and past.
His ardour to trip on the reducing fringe of biking expertise hasn’t slowed down since successful the Tour, and he’s introduced quite a few bikes bearing his identify to the market since founding LeMond Bikes in 1986. In 2014, he first encountered e-bikes and located the expertise to be the proper method for him to proceed using bikes whereas doing battle with the barrage of well being challenges he confronted.
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To rejoice the launch of its latest e-bike, LeMond invited CleanTechnica out to Sarasota, Florida, to be taught extra in regards to the model and trip round city on its first three e-bike fashions. At their core, the LeMond e-bike line takes Greg’s ardour for high-tech racing bikes, electrifies them, and makes them reasonably priced for the lots. “I imagine within the energy of e-bikes to cost individuals’s lives,” Greg mentioned to us on the opening presentation.
The Firm
Including electrical motors and batteries to the light-weight carbon fiber bikes he liked turned a method for him to trip simply as quick as he all the time had, no matter whether or not he was using right into a headwind, uphill, or feeling underneath the climate. With a renewed ardour to get individuals’s butt’s on bikes, Greg launched the primary of many LeMond e-bikes simply because the COVID 19 pandemic arrived on our shores.
Underpinning the brand new LeMond electrical bikes was a brand new carbon fiber course of pioneered on the Oak Ridge Nationwide Laboratory in Tennessee. Greg occurred on the expertise on one in every of his many journeys around the globe to seek out the newest and best expertise. He employed one of many key supplies engineers who helped develop the expertise, bringing him in to their small crew because the Director of Operations at LeMond.
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Carbon fiber is utilized in LeMond’s e-bikes nearly all over the place attainable, from the body, forks, stem, and handlebars right down to the fenders and seat put up. The electrical bike parts and batteries had been tucked into the body, integrating seamlessly to each the aesthetics of the bikes and the using expertise. A 250 watt Mahle motor is tucked into the rear hub of the bike, with a 36 volt Panasonic battery array housed within the down tube.
From the manufacturing facility, LeMond’s e-bikes present from 40-70 miles of assisted using and had been designed to all however get rid of the powertrain drag from the electrical motor for seamless transitions to unassisted using if the event requires it. For longer rides, LeMond added the power so as to add an optionally available Mahle vary extender battery pack that provides 70% extra vary to the social gathering and clips into an outsized water bottle fashion holder on the body.
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The key sauce that every one three bikes share is the gorgeous integration of ultralight weight racing bike expertise. Selecting carbon fiber because the bones of the majority of the bike does imply a better price ticket, however is single-handedly answerable for making LeMond’s e-bikes look, really feel, and deal with like a standard guide bike. The burden the carbon fiber saves makes room for the e-bike motor, batteries, and wiring that make them so succesful.
And after they say gentle, they imply it. These items tip the scales at 26, 27, and 28 kilos, relying on the bike. That’s an insane weight for a motorbike that’s able to 40 to 70 miles of electrical assisted vary for the 250 watt rear hub motor. Second, in addition they needed the bikes to look actual, like a traditional bike. Consequently, the batteries are all constructed into the bike and the motors are all however invisible on the bike.
The Prolog
Unlocking this new expertise was a lifehack for LeMond and enabled the corporate to construct an e-bike that made Greg’s imaginative and prescient of an ultralight weight bike that simply occurred to have a battery and motors inside a actuality. At simply 26 kilos, the LeMond Prolog triggered chaos on this planet of e-bikes, and at $5,495, it’s absurdly reasonably priced for a excessive efficiency, ultralight weight e-bike.
It’s the last word city avenue slayer, constructed with carbon fiber parts all over the place you look and a flat bar up high for maneuverability. Its slim street tires make it nimble, and its 250 watt motor pushess out as a lot energy as the common rider’s legs can muster once you want it.
Did I point out it’s solely 26 kilos? The sunshine weight of the bike means it’s simple to load onto a rack, into the automobile, and up a flight of stairs with out blowing any gaskets alongside the way in which. In comparison with the 40-50 pound weight of most premium e-bikes and the 60-80 pound weight of the overwhelming majority of e-bikes in the marketplace, it’s a featherweight.
The sunshine weight additionally interprets to being nimble and responsive once you’re ripping down the street or in your native bike path. It doesn’t seem like an e-bike and even with the facility off, it doesn’t trip like one both. It has extraordinarily low rolling resistance when the motor is off so it may be ridden even in the event you overlook to cost the battery.
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However that’s no enjoyable, so we charged them up and ripped on down Sarasota’s Legacy Path. They reworked our group’s trip down the flat, absurdly straight Florida path right into a spirited dash with nearly everybody in a position to hold tempo with LeMond himself.
Working an organization within the midst of a world provide chain disaster compounded by a raging pandemic wasn’t simple, and it was doubly so for a brand new firm transferring into e-bikes with out the energy of long run provider relationships to lean on. The launch of the Prolog in 2020 was muted consequently, however the firm stored its head down and only a yr later, launched the Dutch.
The Dutch
Greg and his spouse Kathy lived in Europe for years throughout his racing profession and so they each mirrored fondly on the convenience of cruising across the cobblestone streets of European cities on a basic Dutch bike. The basic low step frames and swept again handlebars make them simple for everybody and anybody to simply hop on and trip. They’re absolutely the workhorses powering the Dutch transportation system and are nearly synonymous with Dutch inhabitants facilities like Amsterdam.
The second e-bike from LeMond was the Dutch and was designed to deliver the convenience of biking that the LeMonds skilled within the Netherlands to the world of contemporary, light-weight e-bikes. These designer bikes appear and feel like a contemporary interpretation of a standard Dutch cruiser bike, however with Greg’s fingerprints all through. Director of Product Improvement at LeMond, Invoice Stephens, mentioned, “We needed to make it intuitive, not intimidating.”
That begins with a carbon fiber body and a barely narrower set of handlebars that give the bike a particularly gentle and correct really feel with exact controls, due to the compact handlebars. The LeMond e-bike powertrain brings its energy and unobtrusive design to the Dutch with the simplicity of the one button interface. It incorporates a very easy management system that lets you see the remaining battery capability and swap between totally different ranges of pedal help whereas on the fly with ease. House owners also can hook up with it with the Mahle cellular app, although it’s not vital for regular operations.
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Swapping out the standard Dutch metal body for LeMond’s signature carbon fiber construct interprets to a particularly gentle bike that’s additionally absurdly robust. The sunshine weight makes it simple for almost anybody to tug the bike out of a automobile or storage with out having to blow any gaskets alongside the way in which. In any case, the Dutch’s 27 kilos is what a typical mountain bike weighed not that way back, and that’s with none motors or batteries!
The All-Street Prolog
The LeMond All-Street Prolog is the model’s tackle an ultralight gravel bike that leverages the sturdy, light-weight carbon fiber body expertise and electrical powertrain in a gravel bike format. Its tires are barely extra bulbous than on the street-focused Prolog, with small strings of tire nubs to offer it some traction when it’s time to go out onto the path. The nubby tires even have a bit extra quantity in them, which gives extra cushion, permitting them to soak up extra bumps whereas nonetheless conserving the general bike tight and light-weight at 28 kilos.
The All-Street Prolog can also be the primary e-bike from LeMond with a extra conventional set of drop-bars. It is a far more pure place and retains the wrists straight, guaranteeing hours of consolation, whether or not on a motorbike path in South Florida or romping round on the dusty fireplace roads within the mountains flanking Southern California.
General
Greg LeMond and his crew have put a ton of labor into the expertise, design, and luxury of their new e-bike lineup, and it reveals in how properly they trip. These bikes ship the perfect quality-to-weight-to-price ratio of every other premium e-bike in the marketplace, fingers down.
The worth tags — $5,495 for the Dutch and Prolog and $5,995 for the All-Street Prolog — seem costly when in comparison with the lots of funds e-bikes with their backside of the barrel parts. However when they’re in comparison with e-bikes with comparable specs from Specialised, Trek, and the like, the LeMond e-bike lineup appears like an absolute discount. A comparable bike could be upwards of $8,000, $10,000, and even $12,000, relying on the spec from different builders.
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On high of that, they arrive with Greg LeMond’s a long time of expertise using on the reducing fringe of expertise, taking American biking to a brand new stage, and bringing house awards that no different American has achieved earlier than or since. Keep in mind, these bikes don’t simply ship electrical bike parts slapped onto a carbon fiber body. They had been designed with the perfect supplies on this planet, supported by time-tested, world-class geometry outlined by probably the greatest biking racers and bicycle designers on this planet.
For extra details about LeMond’s e-bikes, try the video under or head over to their web site.
Disclaimer: LeMond paid for the creator’s journey and lodging to attend this occasion.
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