CyclesMakaron

P was placed upside down or lying down to avoid confusion with the inaccurately marked R

Cuper

That makes sense, thanks again for the information!

botty kayer

Hello Jacek, I hope you are keeping well. I have another for you registry.

I just picked this up locally, a 60cm MX Leader.

BB markings as follows:

Left side P

Right side F 3411


That makes it from 1995 right? It also has Henrik Claessens on the top tube, so guess he was the original buyer but I don't suppose you are keeping record of all the individual customers, or are you?. Surely only another 5-10 years and you will hopefully have a full list of every Merckx made, or at least all the survivors.

And I can't remember what this particular colour code for this is, was it FNZ or something?

It currently has a black Shimano 105 groupset but I'll be replacing that with some silver Campag kit, so just off to eBay for some shopping

Thanks in advance

CyclesMakaron

Thank you
I think this is the F8411, I wonder what is on the "fork card".
FNG if Green, FNZ if Zwaart (Black)
For every frame that goes on my register there are at least 10 that I've seen that didn't have a serial number listed (which is an obvious crime unfortunately not prosecuted by any tribunal).
EMC admits to 150k frames, I have confirmed 140k so far - there are 3500 on the register, plenty left to add

botty kayer

Thanks, haha I do need glasses, my eyes are bad, sorry it was dark when I got home with bike hence the crappy inside pic, and posting it upsidedown doesn't help....

OK I'm off to work now and will be collecting some new wheels after work today so am busy later, but will have fork off in next few days and will report back with info on the steerer card. And thanks, so its FNG for the green.

And I salute the Herculean effort you have undertaken, to start from nothing is a daunting task but to have 3500 listed on your register so far is very good going I think, so congrats on that, and they keep coming.

I truly have no more space in my flat for any more, but come on everybody help Jacek out, buy more Merckx bikes and report back here,

botty kayer

OK I finally got around to stripping this frame, I've hammered eBay this week so this should be up and running for next weekend

Jacek was of course correct, the serial is 8411, as this better and correct way up pic confirms, so that makes the frame from 1996, correct?

As you can see to the chips to the paint under the letter 'P' on the left, its looks like a rusty sort of colour underneath the green, and the frame has a few other paint chips along the rear stays, and on one one of the fork blades that also have this colour, but I don't know if this is evidence of a previous colour, of some kind of primer for the green coat, or just rust! Oh yes sadly I live on small island in the north Atlantic....

But mostly the condition of the paint is very good, I've just waxed it and its buffed up rather nicely, I do love this deep green, and decals with the pink fade look original, not that I'm any kind of expert on that,, do you think?

Onto the fork, and alas the is no remaining card of readable label of any kind on the fork, it does share the same green if they are a repaint they appear to me to have been repainted at the same time

I've just looked up and down the steerer with a magnifying glass, and there are no serial numbers listed on at all, the only 2 punched markings on the steerer, are half way up the steerer at the back, is clearly stamped the number '2'

And right above the fork crown on the steerer is what looks like the letter 'P' with bit missing off the top left section

I've no idea if that means this is an original fork to the frame, or if the fork was added later, same with the green, if that's original colour or not. I don't mind either way as this green colour scheme was the first Merckx one I saw that really caught my eye when I got into road bikes a decade or so ago, and made me start looking at other Merckx's. So when an MX Leader (which I love) one came up locally I was across town like a shot. So it will be staying green no matter what, over to you maestro Jacek, what do you think?

botty kayer

Having just re-read this page and seen that P stood for EM employee, my guess is was an employee made bike originally that was later repainted, probably by the person whose name is currently on it, Hendrick Claessens, unless of course Hendrick was an employee, but I doubt that...but I bet I know someone who'd know all the employees who worked at EM

CyclesMakaron

This frame was not repainted, this brown "something" is the famous "zinc phosphate anti corrosion" protective coating.
F8411 is a late 1995/early 1996 issue, the paint pattern matches this perfectly.
The differences in the fork designation (2) and the actual frame size (60) are also nothing special - the fork looks to have been originally factory matched to the frame.
A beautiful Mx Leader

botty kayer

Great stuff as usual Jacek, thanks a lot.

Anti corrosion paint is definitely better than actual corrosion

I'll post pics in the 'shows us your Merckx thread' when its fully built up.

peggyggm

Hello, trying to confirm my identification of my new frame. I have not posted enough so I cannot upload a photo, my best interpretation of the serial number marking is
1TT C3243

I believe it translates to 90-91 era TSX corsa extra but I am trying to verify
Thanks

CyclesMakaron

Flawless Production fall 1990.

peggyggm

Thanks so much, you are truly an invaluable resource. When I get more posts I will put up pics of this one and my other EM frame.
Cheers

RobinWarrington

Hi. I have what I believe is an early Merckx. If anyone can offer any info that would be great. I know/realise that all of the bits other than the frame are from around 1989 but think the frame maybe 1980/81.

On the left hand side of the BB it has what I believe is a B (the bottom has a chip in it) On the right it has E and then below 1662. Flat top fork crowns. Fully chromed forks and fully chromed rear. Gear cables over the BB.

I'll try to post some pic but I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

merziac

You may need more posts for pics, and you can upload then to an album on your homepage that may get moved here.

In the meantime, paging @CyclesMakaron

CyclesMakaron

Professional 1981

RobinWarrington

Ok thanks. I'll post some pics as soon as I get to my 10 limit.

And Thanks to CyclesMakaron

merziac

You're welcome and you may be at 10 now if they all count.

tartantraveller

Hi

I would appreciated any information regarding this EM frame:

BB left side: P
BB right side: E 2712
Frame: Appears to be Panasonic paint with SLX stickers / /chrome drive side chain stay.
Features: Race number holder / top tube internal cable (entry/exit on top of tube)

Thanks in advance.

tartantraveller

Photos now posted in album if any kind souls would care to share.

merziac

Pic assist,

CyclesMakaron

Note: This is a frame with factory mislabeling! Instead of the letter E, it should be Z, of course - the frame is a 1985 Merckx Pro SLX. E2712 is the markings of a frame built in 1981 - Columbus SLX did not exist at that time, these BB cover and brake bridge models were not used.
I have seen this frame before in more than a dozen photos

tartantraveller

I suspected something was amis. Many thanks for the clarification!

himespau 

Is there any value in listing the serial number of my Litespeed-build Merckx Titanium EX? Or is that likely a completely different number format used by Litespeed and not EM?

CyclesMakaron

These are different marking systems.
It seems to me that Litespeed has so far been providing information on the manufacturing date of the frames for EMC.

merziac

Absolutely, pretty sure Jacek will parse it out.