Mystery Merlin Titanium road bike - pics included
12-04-19, 08:50 AM
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Mystery Merlin Titanium road bike - pics included
I recently purchased a Titanium Merlin frame and built it up as my year round road bike. I've never been able to figure out it's year or model though. I've searched the net but can't find another Merlin with what looks like wings on the decal. The head tube is etched and the seat stays are curved. Any knowledgeable Merlin fans out there? Thank you in advance!
12-04-19, 01:33 PM
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There's gotta be a serial number chart that you can reference - I'd start with that. Something like decals might not be terribly conclusive.
Last edited by WhyFi; 12-04-19 at 01:38 PM.
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12-04-19, 01:45 PM
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12-04-19, 06:11 PM
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Similar to the Agilis or the XL Compact. The decals are aftermarket I believe. The headtube makes me think 2002 or earlier.
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12-04-19, 07:23 PM
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Perhaps a CR? Closest match I could find.
Merlin ~ Jan 06
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/classi...ad-bike-advert
Merlin ~ Jan 06
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/classi...ad-bike-advert
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12-10-19, 12:30 AM
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The engraved headbadge on head tube started around 2005 but in 2005, the Agilis went to straight seat and chainstays. You have curved seat stays. Also, the head tube is not the integrated hourglass like the Agilis. You could have a Magia with a newer decal. The "Merlin" decal looks to be from a little later. Found a catalog from Excel Sports with some Merlin frames with a similar logo. It doesn't show the Magia and not sure what year it's from, but it was from catalog 84 at this link (catalog 84 - Link is really slow so I added screeshot at bottom)
Could also be a CR like BaconSandwich said. You can compare measurements to the geometries in the links below
2004 Magia: https://web.archive.org/web/20051202...kes/magia.aspx
2005 Magia: https://web.archive.org/web/20051124...005/magia.aspx
2005 Geometry: https://web.archive.org/web/20060316...x?b=magia&k=rd
detailed pic: https://web.archive.org/web/20060316...agia_dtls.aspx
screenshot from catalog:
Could also be a CR like BaconSandwich said. You can compare measurements to the geometries in the links below
2004 Magia: https://web.archive.org/web/20051202...kes/magia.aspx
2005 Magia: https://web.archive.org/web/20051124...005/magia.aspx
2005 Geometry: https://web.archive.org/web/20060316...x?b=magia&k=rd
detailed pic: https://web.archive.org/web/20060316...agia_dtls.aspx
screenshot from catalog:
Last edited by amerikaner; 12-10-19 at 12:33 AM.
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12-10-19, 12:36 AM
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Hard to see the CR geometry so I typed it up for future reference:
If you zoom in on the catalog it mentions 2006 as the year for the CR and talks about curved seat stays too.
If you zoom in on the catalog it mentions 2006 as the year for the CR and talks about curved seat stays too.
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