A few things....
I own one of the 753R Look team replicas, and as much as I like it, I'm pretty sure that Hinault and Lemond were merely riding bikes that had the same paint scheme. My Look 753, and the others I've seen, are pretty crude, and I suspect that Hinault and Lemond had bikes that were one-offs rather than basic (for top-end production frames) bikes like the team replicas that I've seen. In particular, I've noticed that the 753 Look team replicas have only one set of bottle bosses, which was pretty much unheard of on pro bikes (bikes of actual pros) by the mid 1980's. Lemond and Hinault's steel Look bikes had two sets of bottle braze-ons.
The white Look 753 bikes were used only during the 1986 season by the Look/Wonder team, and that year they also used Look (TVT) carbon bikes. Looking at race photos from that year, the TVTs seemed to get more use, even if Lemond used a Look 753 steel fork on his (as he won the Tour). The steel bikes in 1985 were badged as 'Hinault' brand bikes. There were no white Looks that year. I think they also rode TVT CF bikes that year, also badged as Hinault. All along, Lemond had Huffy badging on his bikes, but in contrast to what you mentioned, I don't think they were Serottas. Some or all of the 7-11 Huffy and Murrays were Serottas, but I think Lemond rode Della Santa bikes at the time. Hinault was never on a Huffy badged bike as I recall, and why would he be? It appears that he had his own brand to support, and the Huffy thing was purely American and neither Hinault nor Huffy would have had an interest in the other.
As for parts, it was SR for La Vie Claire in 1985, as was the case with all Campy sponsored pro teams. I have one picture of Hinault at Coors on a silver steel Hinault with early C-rec parts. The vast majority of the pics from that stage race show him on SR, so I think it may have been a one-stage lare season dabble with an early C-rec group. Oddly, he had SR brake levers even though the C-rec ('cobalto") levers were one of the few parts that the pro teams had actually started using by late1985. In any event, this is the earliest photo of a C-rec group in pro-peloton use that I know of.
So, C-rec really came into use in 1986. The 1985 Himault steel bikes were SR, and the 1986 Look steel bikes were purely C-rec. By 1987 it was Toshiba/Look and DA 7-speed parts were used, and the 753 Look frames were gone; it was all CF TVT Looks, No longer silver,they were by then natural carbon.
Since I'm building up my Look with team doodads,I've looked closely at the setup of the 1986 bikes. Here's what I've pieced together.
Gruppo- C-record with Cobalto brakes. All these parts are the scarce first gen C-rec items. Levers are the earlier long reach. Both black and pearl housings on the brakes.
Pedals- Hinault stuck with the white Looks, Lemond the newer black model.
Saddle - San Marco Rolls (black)
Stem - Cinelli 1-R
Bar - Cinelli, mostly mod 66
Tape - Benotto, typically red, on the white steel bikes.
Rims - Ambrosio, presumably Synthesis and Metamorposis.
Tires - Vittoria, presumably Service de Course CX, CG, Pave CG, etc.
Cages - TA steel
Chains - Sedis, presumably La Pro
Freewheel, Maillard, 700 was the model (?)
As for any preference that Lemond might have had for Mavic parts, I see little evidence. Lemond used what he given to use by his teams. As I recall, this meant Capagnolo parts every season except the year(s) (83, 84?) that Renault Gitane effectively boycotted Campagnolo and used a mix of French parts (and Modolo brakes) and the one year that his team used Mavic parts (1989). That was Lemond's famous comeback year, when he won the tour by 8 seconds. The Mavic group was new at the time, and visually distinctive, so I think his brief association with Mavic was very noticable, and was perceived to have more significance than it really had. I don't recall seeing any Mavic parts on his bikes before or after 1989. Lemond, perhaps even more than simiarly successful pros, was more than happy to tie his name to the wares of the highest bidder (Avocet, Giro, Hatch, le Wedge, Taco Bell, Oakley, Look, Time, Brancale, Scott, etc. etc.), and was evidently willing to sue those who used his image without permisson, even if they sponsored his team (Modolo).
Finally, the one part of my restoration that is still missing is the plastic BB cable guide. It was missing on the frame I bought. Can you send me a photo the the cable guide on your Look team replica?
Tom Dalton Bethlehem, PA USA
Let me rephrase this. If anyone has some photos or old Bicycling magazines, or other periodicals from around 1984, 85 showing Lemond or Hinault on their white Look bikes, please let me know if you can help. I checked out the Flicker pages of the 85 Coors Classic and it appears that they didn't ride that bike there ( I was wrong), and rode the silver Huffys (Serotta repaints) instead. But pics from the 85 Tour seem to be the ones I need. I'm sure there were other races too. I know Lemond liked to ride a lot of Mavic stuff back then and I would like to know if he or Hinault equipped their bikes with super record, early C-Record prototypes, or all Mavic? The blurry pics I have seen appear to show Mavic on some and possibly Campy on others.
-Dee Gordon Los Angeles
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