An Eddy Merckx 'tasting'

[RoubaixCube]

The story:

My family has a friend of a friend who was a bike racer in his early days (Ive only been told he did a few races in France and 'other places') and his garage is full of old bike tat. Unfortunately, this gentlemen passed away and his remaining family who know little to nothing about bikes wants to get rid of a lot of the gear.

I havent been to the location personally but my parents have been there today and taken picture of this bike which Ive identified as an Eddy Merckx Mx Leader (Maybe a 25th anniversary re-issue??) which had been sitting at the back of his garage for a long time.... having not seen the bike personally, Im not sure if its the original bike or the re-issue. Other than a few pictures. I dont have any details on the bike itself, but do know that it was owned and loved by someone and probably raced on it sometime in the 80s.

I currently dont have any further information I can give as I havent been on site. But i've promised the family to come down and have a look and see If i can help find a loving home for some of the vintage treasures that I find, So this thread is just a tiny tasting of whats to come and i'll update this thread when I do go there and see what they have.

Im not sure if i'll keep the bike personally. I dont think its something for me or that I would be interested in but I know some of you are really into this sort of stuff so I thought id help out and find a good home for this gear rather than it ending up in a skip and dumped in landfill somewhere.

The families asking price for this was £400 which im not sure if its good or bad value for a bike like this. I have had a google and 25th anniversary re-issues seem to sell for around £500-750 while original vintage bikes seem to go for around £1000??? (correct me if im wrong)


If you have any interest, please let me know in this thread and i'll do my best to connect you to the family if not act as some sort of middleman and sort things out. I think they are based in essex somewhere. Possibly around the Broxbourne area


(*Pictures were taken by my mother....who also knows very little about bikes - so I apologise for teasing, but this is all I have for you.)


::Update 1::

Ive been told that the bike was purchased in 1982 - therefore it is not a re-issue. He was also a wheel builder. He built a lot of the wheels he raced on so there might be some old wheelsets and wheel building equipment up for sale.

Currently they are asking £70 per wheelset. But I havent seen the wheels (or know how many are available) either so I wont be able to tell you more. I've been told some are new and never ridden where as some have been ridden.

More updates will come when I know more although It might be a week or two before I can go there.

 

[biggs682]

That's such a shame and sorry to hear about the loss of another cyclist.

That's a good price indeed for the bike and £70 a wheelset is ok if quality.

Looks like smallish size frame worse look otherwise I could be interested.

 

[rogerzilla]

They are exceptional steel bikes, but paint condition determines value. If it's good, £1000. If it needs a respray to original spec, that would cost about £600 with all the colours and masking. I know - I had one done three years ago!

 

[RoubaixCube]

They are exceptional steel bikes, but paint condition determines value. If it's good, £1000. If it needs a respray to original spec, that would cost about £600 with all the colours and masking. I know - I had one done three years ago!

Awesome! puts things into a bit more perspective.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

I know nothing about Eddy Merckx as a frame builder so I am quite possibly totally wrong.

The size of the downtube surprised me for a 1982 frame and a quick web search came up with the Eddy Merckx Max which was described as his first oversized downtube and this was first made in1992

Bye

Ian

 

[rogerzilla]

Ugo de Rosa taught Eddy about the business so the bikes have a strong Italian influence, with Columbus tubing, quite a lot of chrome, and Italian BB threading. They handle superbly. That one is Motorola team colours and the one most people would want, as it's the best-known, even if a certain doper used to ride them.

 

[Cycleops]

Falcon built the Merckx bikes in the seventies but they were mostly low quality.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good morning,

Falcon built the Merckx bikes in the seventies but they were mostly low quality.

I remember those, 1x5, carbon steel frame, steel chainrings and wheel rims etc, but apparently they also made enthusiast's ones as well

http://classiclightweights.net/belgium/eddy-merckx/

Bye

Ian

 

[GuyBoden]

There are proper Eddy Merckx bikes, like the one posted here, and then there are the cheap Falcon bikes with the Eddy Merckx name on them.

Ernie Clements conned Eddy Merckx into using the Eddy Merckx name on his cheap Falcon bikes world wide.

Eddy Merckx was understandably very upset with the cheap bikes with his name on, but he did take the money.

 

[rogerzilla]

On the subject of framebuilders getting others started, Harry Quinn taught Terry Dolan and even Arthur Needham, who started Argos (his son Garry took over when Arthur retired) went to see what he could learn from Harry.

Like Merckx, Harry Quinn's name was used on some dreadful Ernie Clements-sourced gaspipe when Harry took a hiatus from building, but he later took back the rights and built some "proper" Quinns again.