# Help School me on my Merckx?



## Wheelspeed (Nov 3, 2006)

Hi folks,

I've always been a mountain biker but I bought a used road bike several years ago from a flea market. I love the way it rides and am using it now more often since buying my girlfriend a road bike. So her and I show up for a group ride last night and there were some real fans of old Merckx bikes but I felt like a real bonehead for not knowing anything about it. I was asked "what year?" about seven times and I have no idea.

Besides wanting to talk more intelligently about it with people, I'd also like to find a stem that fits the time-period better.

A little help? Let me know if I should take a closer pic of anything specific.


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## HigherGround (Mar 3, 2005)

This link might help you to determine the model year based on the serial number. I am guessing a mid 80's frame with more recent components perhaps?


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## HigherGround (Mar 3, 2005)

Also, a silver Cinelli stem would look nice, if you can find one to match the handlebar clamp diameter. Nitto also makes some nice silver stems.

Thanks for posting the picture, and be sure to add it to the Merckx gallery thread - preferably with the drive train side showing :thumbsup: 

(Edit: Doh - I just saw that you already posted pictures in the gallery thread.)


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## Wheelspeed (Nov 3, 2006)

Well, thanks for the link but it confused me more.

I've looked all over the bike very carefully and the only thing I can find that seems like a serial number is under the bottom bracket on the non-driveside. It says:

B
2077

That's it. It doesn't really match any of the discussion on that link you posted.  

Oh, speaking of the components... you're right, the bike was put together with a mish-mash of extra parts that the bike shop had available. They just built up the frame and fork to sell at the flea market. Thanks for the tips on a decent stem. Any other tips on the serial number? The rear drop-outs seem to say "BREV CAMPAGNOLO" if that helps.


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## Wheelspeed (Nov 3, 2006)

To me, my bike looks like this one from "Joris":










But his description lumps together all his bikes, and I can't figure out which one pertains to my bike:
"Hi MerckxGuys, 

Some of my bikes, a real molteni 1972-73, a molteni replica repainted and it will be built up with full campy record, a teveblad teambike, a replica frame from kelme, a brandnew corsa extra never driven, some stradas....

joris"

Joris? Are you there?


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

B would be 88-89, which looks about right for that paint scheme.


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## hroch (Jul 9, 2008)

Year likely 1988, as the serials seem to go chronologically. 
Brev Campagnolo on dropouts means probably that it is not a Strada, as those seem to have Columbus stamped ones, e.g. 
Strada of mine, 1987?, A96xx serial.
Here are catalog scans from about that right time time.
I would not rule out that the bike was repainted, colour layout is unusual, the decals on the seat tube are on unusual places, there is no place for tubing sticker. The "Handmade in Belgium" sticker and probably also model sticker on the right side of TT are missing- are there any traces left in the varnish? The cable housing placement under the top tube is also unusual for a Merckx, I do not recall seeing it anywhere else.


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## Wheelspeed (Nov 3, 2006)

Yeah, the cable routing under the top tube seems to be a key feature that should help identify it. Joris's bike that I pictured has the same routing, but I saw that most bikes in the sticky thread have the cable on top with three tabs or have the cable inside the top tube. Mine only has two tabs, and underneath as you noticed.

Maybe another item that would help is that the air-pump tab is located on the head tube of mine, but most pics I saw have it on the seat tube. I can't tell where it is on Joris's. Mine also doesn't have the nice chrome chainstay on the drive side.

Well, I don't need to know exactly what it is. I'll tell people it's probably from around '88 and may have been repainted.

But if anyone enjoys this type of thing, then keep the guess or pic-requests coming. I'll check for hints of old stickers under the paint tonight.

Thanks! :thumbsup:


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## hroch (Jul 9, 2008)

Problem with Merckxes is that the frame features are not really consistent as to model and year- decals, fork crown, rear bridge, BB, rear brake cable housing, seat cluster- almost looks like they used whatever box of lugs was around at the moment...Of course some features can give a clue.
As to yours, I would check also the geometry against the standard Corsa- discussed here in another thread- yours may be a custom build, with so many unusual features. BTW, pump peg on the head tube is pretty standard..


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## Wheelspeed (Nov 3, 2006)

hroch said:


> Problem with Merckxes is that the frame features are not really consistent as to model and year- decals, fork crown, rear bridge, BB, rear brake cable housing, seat cluster- almost looks like they used whatever box of lugs was around at the moment...Of course some features can give a clue.
> As to yours, I would check also the geometry against the standard Corsa- discussed here in another thread- yours may be a custom build, with so many unusual features. BTW, pump peg on the head tube is pretty standard..


Ah, okay. If it's normal to have slight differences in tabs/lugs and the paint and stickers have been changed, then I think I'll give up on finding the exact model of this bike. Most people that ask oughtta be satisfied with my telling them it's an 88-89 anyway I suppose.

Thanks for everyone's help!


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## texbike (Oct 21, 2004)

*ID through tubing characteristics...*

Wheelspeed,

Another possibility is to remove the seatpost and shine a flashlight down the seattube to see if there is "rifling" in the tube down by the bottom bracket. 

If there is rifling, the bike is built out of either SLX or TSX which would limit the bike to only a couple of models (Corsa Extra or Century). 

Unfortunately, it gets harder to determine if it is TSX or SLX unless you can see into the top tube (difficult due to the small opening) or the downtube (which would require removing the bottom bracket). 

It's rare to see a TSX Merckx with a sloping fork crown (most seem to have a flat crown), but as mentioned above, nothing seems to be a "for sure" with a Merckx... 

Nice bike by the way!

Texbike


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