Its the only road bike I’ve ever ridden. Feels fast… but I’m used to mountain bikes.

I would say that it has a steel feel to it, it’s not harsh like I’d expect an aluminium road bike to be and I’d imagine some of the cheap carbon ones too.

It’s a touch stretched for me (I’m 5ft10) but feels right in terms of saddle heinght, but I have long limbs. I’ve never known anything else so probably not the best person to comment.

Paul

What tyres for an old Laurent Fignon bike?

I’d ride it. Thing was built to be ridden.

That’s a lovely bike and a lovely story.

His biography (translated in to English) is supposed to be a good read, it’s on my list to read.

It is a very good book.

So what should I ask for then?

£700, £1500, £3000? I have absolutely no clue what it’s value is.

Might try and get on 4 rooms with this.

ask on road.cc and retrobike about values perhaps?

Well it’s defo worth 700 quid.

I’d give you that for it

I would drum up as much publicity as I could, contacting French cycling mags perhaps, then auction it and give the proceeds to a French cancer charity.

chilled, you’ve had some good fortune, IMO if you sell it for much more than you’d initially have accepted in ignorance, pay some of that forwards and keep the karma flowing with a charity donation of a portion of the extra, or some similar gesture. send the guy who identified it a bottle of wine, or ask for his idea on where to send the donation.

I gave him a couple of beers on the spot. Said thank you and didn’t know what else to do.

I plan on sending him something if I get a decent whack for it.

Depends on what I get for it as to how much goes to charity. I’ve raised thousands for charities in the last decade and am currently not in the best state of finances myself.

Wow.. I looked at this and thought it may be a tad small and discounted it. No idea what it actually was. Missed a bargain there! 😉 In all honesty I’d have got back to you if it became clear what it was after buying, but glad you realised before selling it at the original asking price!

chilled, you’ve had some good fortune, IMO if you sell it for much more than you’d initially have accepted in ignorance, pay some of that forwards and keep the karma flowing with a charity donation of a portion of the extra,

+1.

I note your comments about personal financial situation. If it were me I’d do a load of research, maybe get it in a mag, get it sold at the sort of auction or with the sort of publicity where it will realise its true potential value, then split the “profit” (ie, what it goes for minus what you were going to sell it for in ignorance) between you and a charity. A cancer charity would be very apt given the bike’s apparent provenance.

You end up financially and spiritually richer, someone who is an afficionado gets a piece of cycling history.

fair enough, perhaps it’s working the other way around then, you’ve done your bit already and the karma spirits have smiled on you!***

good luck & let us know what happens.

*** obviously the whole karma thing is nonsense really, but it’s an enjoyable thought-toy all the same

Your other option, if you are unsure of selling it, would be to contact a Tour de France museum and see if they would put the leg-work into confirming its heritage. If it is found to be Laurent Fignon’s frame, then you could offer to allow them to display it on loan for however long you want/need, until you decide you want to sell up. It would give the bike an audience.

Fignon’s book is well worth a read. Won’t tell you any more about the bike, but puts the whole thing in context. email me your address if you want my copy, I’m not likely to read it again.

Fignon is pretty much a household name in France. I think he was involved with some charity work towards the end but not sure. I also think he had a cycle holiday/ training camp business.

Either way I’d try to get in touch with his organisations/ family/ former team/ leagcies in France.

£2k?

blimey.

http://road.cc/content/forum/87824-raleigh-castorama-laurent-fignon-1990-bike-daytonaveloce-%C2%A32000

Yup £2k is my asking price. Considering ebaying it.
I don’t think it belongs in a museum, if it was original paint then maybe, but not as it is.

Needs to go to someone who wants to ride it as a piece of history rather than sit unused.

He is probably the coolest dude I’ve ever seen in my life

It’s either Magnum PI or Hora.

It’s either Magnum PI or Hora.

Nonsense. It’s quite clearly Freddie Mercury. He obviously wanted to ride his bicycle

Nah, it’s Giorgio Moroder

The delta brakes on it are worth loads ,even though they are poor

Is that Raquel Welch wearing a Nigella-style strangle bangle round her neck?

I wasn’t looking at her neck initially…

I’ve emailed Cyfac for confirmation and history of what they know.

Also took some pictures with the SLR.

When I did a race in Normandy an old boy came up to me and started talking to me about his best friend, Laurent Fignon, he started crying and needed some help calming down. With that sort of passion for the man it might be prudent to advertise in France once authenticated, maybe that way it will go to the right person.

It’s got Delta brakes, Veloce shifters, Daytona mech and a Shimano headset.

The frame number is the interesting bit, the rest is a right old mish-mash.

I’d be checking it out carefully before asking £2000 for it.

…and despite the rarity of the Delta brakes, they were well known for being less than efficient at the job of reducing speed.

Yep, thanks for the additional negativity crikey.

The mish mash came from my mates dad having owned it for years and used it pretty much daily.

Just had the worlds biggest telephone chain of asking for peoples numbers but finally got hold of my friend who I haven’t spoken to in 4 years.

He’s going to ring his dad and get the frame history and ring me back.

I’m also going to pull the forks out when I get 5 mins. Someone has suggested to me that some of the old team bikes may have had the rider initials on the steerer tube too.

Will report back.

Paul

Just got off the phone about half an hour ago from Dave March at UniversalCycleCentre. He thinks the code indicates it is genuine and also thinks he might know the guy who sprayed it from the original colour. His colleague worked on these back then..

I’ve emailed him back and he’s promised to get back to me with what information he can offer and will hopefully throw insight into some history.

If it is the one he thinks it is a guy in Leicester had it sprayed and they tried to advise against doing it..

Will post up the email he sends back.

Also interestingly he reckons these weren’t actually built by RSP but the team frames that were custom geometry were made by smaller bespoke frame builders to the riders specification and then stamped up by the RS division.. well interesting reading and researching this!

Crikey seems to have a bit of an axe to grind?

Anyway, lets wait and see what the real experts say.

Cool looking bike though.

Whoever fitted the cables wants strung up! 😮

So does your old English teacher 😉

Only joking, yes I agree. I’ve never flipped it upside down to look under the BB until I came to pass this on.

The previous owner was the last person to do the cables. As I say I’ve owned it 4 years and barely touched it.

Sorry if it comes across that way, I was just trying to look at the bike as a whole package.

I’ll go.

Have you thought about getting it re coated in the original colours?

Funnily enough I’ve just been looking at it in my kitchen and am considering removing the ebay ad and just keeping it but getting it sprayed back up… but then that will lead to attempting to find all the original parts that would have been on it and that’s going to get expensive!

Gonna take it for a blast in a bit when the traffic calms down, I’ve become pretty attached to it now I’ve started finding out what it really is.

Crikey seems to have a bit of an axe to grind?

Read like someone taking a step back and trying to play devil’s advocate to me?

Here you go Crikey,

been doing a bit of digging. For some of these team frames Raleigh shipped the parts to other builders and they built them with the parts shipped.

I have copied and pasted directly from my email.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Dear Paul,

I can speak english.

This frame was built in 1990 (90) – was the first frame produced for this season (1) and was made for Laurent Fignon (LF).

This frame has been produced by Cyfac for CASTORAMA Team and for your info, we could repaint it in its initial color as we did for another UK customer at the beginning of the year ( see picture attached).

Best Regards,

Aymeric Le Brun,

CYFAC INTERNATIONAL

Tél : 02 47 24 67 42

alebrun@cyfac-expert.fr

De : Paul Bennett [mailto:paulbennett76@hotmail.com]
Envoyé : jeudi 11 juillet 2013 21:03
À : contact@cyfac-expert.fr
Objet : S’il vous plaît pouvez-vous aider? Laurent Fignon frame?

Bonsoir,

Je suis désolé pour mon mauvais français écrit.

Pouvez-vous parler ou d’écrire en anglais?

Je vais écrire en anglais si c’est ok?

I have what i have been told is an old Raleigh Castorama and upon inspection many people seem to believe that it was ridden by Lauren Fignon.

It has been said that Cyfac built these? Is that true?

If so could you confirm the identity as a true Laurent Fignon frame?

It has obviously been re-painted since it was manufactured..

Pictures attached.

Many thanks in advance,

Kindest regards

Paul Bennett

et au cas où vous ne pouvez pas lire l’anglais, j’ai essayé d’utiliser google translate

J’ai ce que j’ai dit est un ancien Castorama Raleigh et, après inspection Beaucoup de gens semblent croire qu’il a été monté par Lauren Fignon.

Il a été dit que Cyfac construit ceux-ci? Est-ce vrai?

Si oui pourriez-vous confirmer l’identité comme un véritable cadre Fignon Laurent?

Il a évidemment été repeint depuis qu’il a été fabriqué ..

Photos ci-jointes.

Merci d’avance,

Cordialement

Paul Bennett

Excellent!

I was trying to think in the way that a potential buyer would, but I’m glad that your initial suspicions are proving to be well founded.

Repaint it and ride it.

@Chilled76 – can we se the picture of the other bike that cyfac repainted?