himespau 

Sounds like your response was much better than mine after I got hit 3 years ago. Got about half what the lower of 2 bike shop estimates said the replacement costs of the bike were (after a year of fighting and them sending a collections agency after me for my "motorcycle" even before they'd given me their first offer) and had my medical/rehab costs covered, but, after the attorney got their share of pain and suffering, only got enough to make up the full replacement cost of my bike (came in right under the 2 year statute of limitations that everything got signed). At least getting the attorney involved made them switch their tune and pay my medical bills as they came in instead of me having to go out of pocket for everything and hope they'd reimburse me, which is what they were trying to do before I called the lawyer.

saarf

sorry to hear about that . A witness called police which got the ball rolling , now they and the claim recovery people are after her . I had a bit of luck as there is one on ebay at £1700 , which is what I got.

that’s the rub about crashing classic and vintage , determining replacement costs

himespau 

Having a deep parts bin/closet, meant I was only looking for framesets, which allowed me to replace my bike in my budget with a 1996 Merckx Ti (why I'm in this thread). Of course, I lucked into one that was super cheap because it's a 64 cm (though the undisclosed stuck BB and the amount of work it took to get it loose killed most of that price benefit).

saarf

yes , that size is pretty niche market so sizes seem to be fairer, tbh looking at ebay , Merckx prices seem to be rising or at least stable . I have an MXL , two early 80’s Professionals (one full SR Merckx panto) and a Belgian National team alu Pista . This one was my daily commuter

saarf

M




MXL and Professional ( Eroica Montalcino)

mattrolls

I have a question, I'm not sure if this is the right thread or way to go about asking, if it's not please direct me to a better option.

I'm curious if owners of multiple Merckx steel frame models could tell me what the ride feel differences are between them.

for background, I purchased a used Merckx Professional SLX in 2014 for the California Eroica ride. I had always wanted a Corsa Extra in the Panasonic livery when I was younger, a desire that has yet to be realized but with the date looming the Pro presented itself as a perfect well priced and complete era correct option for the ride. I wasn't really expecting much out of it but was taken aback by how much I loved it. Now I would like to build up a retro-modern Merckx to use as my main rig, but with so many models I'm a little adrift.

merziac

You're in the ok right place but this is an esoteric question for the ages and I'm no Merckx expert but have a couple that I have never ridden and many others to draw from.

So many factors in this, Kool Aid, sun, moon, stars, bias, nostalgia, perception, etc, etc, yada, yada, ad nauseum.

It sounds like you're already on the right track, you really just have to dig in and figure it out, we do a lot of retro mods around here, I have several and they are my go to, they are fantastic, best of both or more worlds .

Engage, make it so.

AUPedla

How you like to ride, your preferred position and your physiology will all determine what frame works for you. I've owned/ridden a lot of EM frames, SL, SLX, Neuron, Max, Ti, 753 in various frame types Professional, Corsa, Corsa Extra, Arcobaleno, MXL, AX, Pista. I prefer a race position, a stiff frame and a firm ride. My favourite frame is a late 80s early 90s Corsa Extra in SLX, I have a few of these from period/team correct to neo-retro builds. I also have an AX, Litespeed Titanium built to EM geometry/spec, that I have built as neo-retro I use for everyday riding which is amazing to ride. All the other frames due to tubing or geometry just didn't work for me. Other than tubing differences there are also geometry differences, there's the original 'road racing' and later century, denoted by a 'B' stamp on the bb, geometry. Century is slacker than race and to me it doesn't feel as 'fast'. This is all subjective from my own riding experience on the undulating roads near where I live.

mattrolls

Thanks for this, it's super helpful.
I'm very curious about the MXL, Corsa 01, and Arcobaleno models. What was your experience with the MXL and Arcobaleno?

mattrolls

hahaha, yea it's a tough query, as you say there are so many variables. I'm just hoping to narrow a few of those factors down.

AUPedla

The MXL felt like a comfy leather lounge you could ride all day and be fresh. I race crits, so fast at threshold for an hour and done. Looked amazing, it had Campag Record 9 speed titanium, but it didn't do it for me.

The Arcobaleno is a really light frame, I think I built it with the wrong groupset, Campag Record 8V. It just felt heavy, slow and uninspiring. I think it would be better as a neo-retro build.

mattrolls

That's really interesting, and not what I was expecting.
I was guessing, from looking at the tubing size/shapes, that the Arcobaleno, with it's more modern but still small profile tubes, would have felt like a more spry Corsa Extra. I have read the MXLs tend to be stiff but have an all day comfort and can feel sluggish for some. Do you know if both of those frames have the road race geo or are they the century geo, generally speaking?
Thanks for this!

AUPedla

The Arcobelano was 1995 and the MXL was 1996 so I assume by then century geo was standard. Hard to measure the frame as there are only mm differences.

sthurman

Here is my 2001/2002 (serial has J) Eddy Merckx Corsa 01, factory painted classic Molteni. I dressed her up in a mix of campagnolo nuovo record (crankset, brake calipers, DT shifters) and super record. Phil Wood BB. NOS Turbo Bernard Hinault. Current wheelset is mavic MA2 laced to Maillard 700 Pro hubs. Enjoy!

Saw Crack

Here's a former Australian Olympic TT team bike from 1992. Need to find the correct back wheel but otherwise has come together well after decades under wraps.