{"id":410821,"date":"2026-02-06T08:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410821\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T08:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T08:15:11","slug":"made-in-britain-raced-to-victory-in-france-laurent-fignons-iconic-raleigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/410821\/","title":{"rendered":"Made in Britain, raced to victory in France: Laurent Fignon’s iconic Raleigh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laurent Fignon\u2019s nickname Le Professeur was both a reference to the Parsian\u2019s bespectacled appearance and his brief stint at the University of Villetaneuse where he studied Structural and Material Science.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman however was destined for the peloton and went on to win the Tour de France<\/a> on two occasions. So it\u2019s perhaps fitting that his most famous bike, the Raleigh he rode at the Castorama-Raleigh team, is full of technical wizardry that pushed the boundaries of bicycle frame construction.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Laurent\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

This bike, part of Dave Marsh\u2019s collection, was one of Fignon<\/a>\u2019s, proven by his initials stamped under the bottom bracket shell. The fork steerer is stamped with \u2018L. Fignon\u2019.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The frameset was built under the leadership of Gerald O\u2019Donovan, who lead the Special Development Unit of the Lightweight Division at Raleigh HQ in Nottingham. Made using Reynolds 753 tubing, it eschewed brazing, instead relying on adhesives with the tubes bonded together using alloy lugs.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Laurent\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

Built to the specification of Castorama\u2019s Team Principal Cyrille Guimard, Raleigh would eventually name the process Dyna Tech. These frames gained a reputation for being stiff but ultimately unreliable, with the bonded lugs, at times, coming apart.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Look\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Future)<\/p>\n

The accompanying groupset, Campagnolo<\/a> C-Record, is rather apt. Like the Dyna Tech frame the featured Delta brakes were also short lived, cutting edge tech that burned brightly then quickly fizzled out due to reliability issues. The Record groupset extends to the small flange quick release hubs that are laced to Wolber 20mm Sprint rims shod with the French brand\u2019s \u2018Tubeless 22\u2019 tubular tyres.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Other components of note include the ITM Super Italia Pro 260 Racing bars and stem and the Selle Italia Turbo saddle. When it came to pedals however Fignon relied on clipless models from his home country; here it\u2019s a pair from Look, although later in his career he moved to using Time models.<\/p>\n

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurent Fignon\u2019s nickname Le Professeur was both a reference to the Parsian\u2019s bespectacled appearance and his brief stint…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-410821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}