The story behind Christian Meier’s steel Legor Cicli TT bike

Christian Meier was riding a very special time trial bike at the Canadian national championships in Saguenay, Que. With two year’s of retirement under his belt and the owner of three business in Girona, Spain, Meier returned to competition abroad a stunning custom, handbuilt Legor Cicli Columbus steel bike.

The return to Canada was a chance to showcase the bikes capabilities, and reconnect with former teammates and friends like Svein Tuft who’d go on the win his 11th national TT title on Thursday.

“I have recently become a big believer in steel bikes. When I retired I bought my first steel bike which was a Speedvagen and I was blown away by the ride quality and what steel had to offer both performance and comfort,” Meier said about the project that brought him to national’s.

Meier’s The Service Course bike shop in Girona focuses on luxury bike tours and bicycle rentals. The intent of the project with Columbus was to build three bikes to show what the material is capable. The project started with a Belle gravel bike and continued with the Legor Cicli.

“The idea was always to do a time trial bike and with each bike the idea is to do some events so I thought well maybe I’ll come back to race nationals so here we are,” he said before lining up to race.

Despite riding a lot, Meier no longer trains like a proffesional and he finished 27th which he explained was due to “some sort of flu, chills, sweats and cough” he came down with the night before.

Hanging out in northern Quebec with Svein Tuft

Meier wasn’t just here to race, he also took the chance to hang out with some old friends. Tuft booked a AirBnB on a lake in the woods an hour from the course and the two former teammates spent some time just hanging out.

“For me it’s always nice to come back and spend some time with him. We have had a great couple of days reminiscing about the olden days,” Meier said about his visit. His parents were also in Saguenay and the Canadian cycling community is full of familiar faces. “Coming back and having a chance to see a lot of old teammates like [Eric] Wolhberg has been really nice. We don’t make it back very often.”

The bike

Amoung all the bikes at nationals, this was certainly the standout.

Legor Cicli builts bikes in Barcelona, Spain

A custom geometry TT bike just for Meier, something he never even rode as a professional.

Aero tubing was reclaimed from old bikes to build this custom machine.

Over-sized Ceramic Speed pulleys and a aero water bottle.

The lines on the bike are hard to stop looking at.

Even Meier couldn't keep his eyes off it.

Aero steel tubes are hard to come by these days so some of the tubes used on the frame were salvaged and are from the 90s.

“The biggest thing you notice with this bike is it handle a lot more like a road bike. Typically what you find with TT bikes is the geometry is quite aggressive and they don’t handle very well at high speed and descending,” Meier explained about his custom speed machine.

“The overall geometry is more similar to a road bike and you feel a lot more comfortable on it. You don’t have that feeling that you are kind jacked and everything is really sore after,” he explained.

“Then the ride quality is beautiful. You can take turns in the skis no problem. I have ridden it some but not enough. Everything with this project happened very last minute,” he said.

While his ride didn’t light the world on fire, Meier’s time trial bike did the job turning heads and getting people talking about his every so brief return to competition on Canadian soil.