mosinglespeeder

Good morning all things C&V...I admit, being december, I have a seasonal disorder, I start to crave all things vintage, and drift through sales/ads/ebay looking for neat frames to build up for next springs rides. I am a steel freak of nature...but came across a Merlin Extralight frameset...on Ebay, and in fact as I looked closer at them all, they were all circa 90s, surprisingly less expensive than I would have expected given my memory of the quality of product that Tom Kellog commanded.

So, I will simply relinquish the query to this...why does it seem Merlin framesets have dropped in price??? Is there a reason?? Is it not cool any longer, is it demand, is it newer tech is superior, I suppose I can imagine as to why but then I would be a product of my own imagination and my wife rolls her eyes at me when i do that, and given most here are smarter than me and I indeed respect that & I relinquish my fate into your hands on this query as I ponder buying one of these beauties, so thank you in advance!!

bargainguy

The used bike market has collapsed. Prices are dropping across the board. Bikes that you might have considered unobtanium are now suddenly becoming more affordable.

The good news is that there are many deals available right now. The even better news is, wait a little longer and you might get an even better deal.

There's nothing inherently wrong with an early Merlin frame - apart from the press-fit BB's that some people consider odd. I say go for it.

MrGastrognome

It's a buyers market right now. Lots of folks have been unloading their pandemic purchases and prices across the board are coming down from the '20-'22 spike.

MrGastrognome

A member reports in this thread (also from this morning, coincidence?) that the ultra light frames had issues with cracked down tubes at the bottle bosses.

Kontact 

Lots of Extralights remain uncracked 30 years later. It's my favorite bike.

I would not be surprised that 1" forks and rim brakes are a factor these days as well.

People are really missing out on fantastic bikes by not buying '90s Ti frames. I don't believe Ti frames improved in any measurable way after this era.

I just bought a Douglas with Ultegra for $500. Sold the group for $150 and kept the frameset and wheels.

reissue59

I have a Merlin Extralight, i call it the wizard. Before i bought it, i checked for cracks. I check on a weekly basis, so far so good.
it has all the benefits of steel but lighter. Very easy to accelerate and maintain speed. If it fails, i will visit my good friends at Marinoni

abdon 

Years back I sold my Merlin extra light frame for $1k so I could use the Dura Ace 7800 group on a build for my daughter. It may just be the time to hunt one down. That bike rode like a dream.

seagrade 

Having owned a Merlin Road in the mid-90s I picked up a c. 2002 Extralight a year or three ago and have been very happy with it - reasonable price, threaded bb, clearance for 28-30mm tyres.

I suspect the prospect of a 30-plus year old bonded aluminium or steel/carbon fork also limits value somewhat. I’d be far more concerned about those than integrity of the frame, especially for longer and more challenging rides. In my case the frame had no fork, for reasons unknown, and I had a lightweight steel fork built to suit.

chain_whipped

True that! The entire bike market is going upside down, including Campagnolo announcement they're out for any 2024 pro sponsorship.

Give it a few years but they trend will be schitt piles of e-bikes and landfills.

As for classic used, many were toasted by Drew and the fixie craze.

If you want to sell them now, the 'buzz' word is 'gravel'. That word is a must in the advert. Basterize a classic with flat bars, upright stem, and cram in the widest budget priced Pasela tires.

VRJAKE 

Actually, I'm often perplexed by the high prices asked for titanium bikes and frames that are 20 - 30 years old. Many sit on ebay for a long duration. Sold bikes usually for <$1000 it seems. Despite that, love the ride quality of titanium bikes, with a 2005 Seven Muse (touring model) and 2006 Erickson (frame made by Kent Eriksen) with S&S couplers (sport model, 28c tires max).

Anyway, a theory on why prices of some vintage bikes have gone down - 80's/90's/2000's high end road bikes could not accept tires larger than 28c, often not even that. And today, everyone wants a commute/touring/gravel-capable bike, meaning clearance for 32c minimum, and ideally 42c, with fender clearance, rack mounts, etc. Friend I see as swaps deems those skinny tired bikes unsaleable, and from what I've observed, he is largely on point. Bargains to be had if bikes of those eras float your boat.

mosinglespeeder

Well, that was what I was considering, the market does appear to be a strong buyers market, and as long as i have the do-ra-me in my pocket I'll buy everything up and build a shop for it, and thank the gravel CF hipsters every time for it!!

I like the idea however, of waiting a little longer!! Unless your the one buying it from underneath me:-)

PilotFishBob 

I have a Merlin I bought a few years ago as a frameset, not the Extralight but it has the threaded bottom bracket so I didn't have to mess with the press-fit thing. It's a great ride and I just put on a new cf fork so I could raise the handlebar by a couple of inches (my biggest gripe with threadless systems). Origin8 has a decent 1" fork that will clear 28C tires and didn't break the bank, not as pretty as the original Reynolds Ouro but it does the job. No doubt I paid more than I would now but no one knows the future and I have zero regrets.

Kontact 

I think steel forks are too stiff, taking away from the way that Merlin was designed to ride. There are good, brand new 1" carbon fork choices out there. If you want metal, I would get an alloy fork.