Merckx owners thread

Nice corsa extra, but that mxl track frame is bloody marvellous! Have you still got the original fork?

Absolutely, all wrapped up in a blanket waiting for the day it goes on the track again. The frame was ‘custom adjusted’ for the original owner Magnus Backstedt. If you look at the seat tube you can see where they added another 5 cm or so.

Freuler geometry, it's mentioned on the BigSourcEMerCkx link, amazing frame.

edited: it seems it's also on Atala.

yeah Colnago did do it but so did Merckx according to that link which seems pretty exhaustive!

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Thanks that is an interesting find. It is certainly a way of making a big frame less fugly as the gap between the down tube and the top tube where it meets the head tube is reduced.

Makes them stiffer in the first place.

annoyingly I saw a "Freuler geometry" Merckx frame for sale but thought it had the extra bits added after leaving the factory, would have probably bought it if i had known it was a proper thing, looks cool.

my response to the Colnago comment has lost context now but didn't know atala also did it, wonder why its not more common to do this instead as @EcuriePeril states its a much better design for a bigger frame in terms of looks anyway.

It works superbly. I’m currently having a new track frame built and asked the frame builder it he would incorporate it in the design

I think Atala was the first with Freuler geo, since they had Freuler riding for them.

Hi Wim, now you mentioned 59-60, it does look like 59-60 actually.

anyway here's my Corsa Extra with neo-retro build.

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yours is a 55, no? ;-)

spot on. It's 55 c-c.

How do you like the feel of the Corsa Extra? I have the impression the rear is less stiff than my (younger) Master Extra Light.

Kinda hard to tell for me, as my last steel frame is in 2013, a low end Colnago Export.

Prior to the Corsa Extra I used caad12, I don't feel many difference to be honest. Might be thick max tubing effect, or might be I'm not sensitive enough lol.

Thanks guys the frame is 58 TT and 61 ST.

It actually rides beautifully with the boras.

Having a bit of seatpost slip tho due to the binder being too wide so have got narrower binder and loads of carbon paste in there.

Maybe some Merckx expert can help me identifying this one I'm currently building. I think it i's an AX because of the vertical dropouts and external brake cable routing but it also has features such as the cable guides on the headtube and the plate holder that I haven't seen on other AX, as well as the Gan paintjob, so I'm a but puzzled :)

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That looks like a Merckx built Titane, the AX's and EX's were built by Litespeed.

@emerxil is the Merckx oracle here so maybe he can confirm, but he'd be helped on dating exactly if you can supply the serial numbers from the BB shell.

Nice score by the way.

Wow this really is a tough one but I think it’s a Titane judging by the “Titane” decal on the top tube. Jokes aside it’s bloody lovely 👍

This is the AX model built by Litespeed exported to EMC.
Meise added a number hanger, headtube slides and painted in the RAW scheme (identical was used by GAN in 1998).
Models imported from US had name Titane, model produced in Meise - Titane EM.
The frame should have EMC factory markings (G or H series and numbers)

Ok thanks! So it's called a "titane" but actually an AX with a paintjob from Merckx in Belgium ? I have looked under the bb shell and found nothing, no serial number or markings... Maybe the paint covers it up but it doesn't look that thick to me. I know it's a genuine Merckx (well...litespeed) because of the stamped dropouts but is this common on Merckx frames not to find any markings?

Yes:)
Surprise :)
Definitely ask for pics under BB cover - maybe it has Litespeed markings, and they are "softer" (harder to notice)

Here is a pic!

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Maybe they whispered them on?