Eddy Merckx Strada SLX (the Big Bird)

Did you pay via PayPal?
If you did, they will almost certainly find in your favour......it is a bit of a pain in the arse, but persevere!

In terms of showing the damage, get a friend to help and take photographs of a pair of verniers clamping the tube, above, on and below the bulge- that should show beyond doubt where the tube bulges outward.

Even if the chap denies it, PayPal should back you as the frame is clearly damaged, which was not in the description.

The guy is being a complete twat. Get your money refunded and neg the hell out of him!

I can see that!

Blimey......has he seen these photos?

das is fucked

Steel-vintage you saucy cunts

I'm no expert but that doesn't look like DHL had much to do with it.

That's more kinky than [insert username]'s Mum.

is this the one I posted in ebay finds?

fuck.

anyhow, I hope you sort it all out!

Hope I'm not hijacking this thread too much but I've just collected a merckx frame off of ebay (this one - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120934050802?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649).

Listed as SLX Corsa Extra and now it's delivered, the frame number would indicate it's just a corsa from 86/87 (according to http://www.cadre.org/Merckx/). The corsa/corsa extra sticker has been removed. Would a corsa have been made in SLX tubing? It's got the SLX sticker but I'm weary of it not being what it was listed as. Would one of the motorola painted bikes be make with a corsa frame?

Would be interested in opinions on whether I should attempt to get a refund/partial refund/stick with it? The listing would indicate he's willing to give refunds if I could prove it's not an SLX corsa extra.

Hope ebay is making the fucker who sent the yellow strada pay!

Corsas are SL, not SLX. There are a few abberations in the serial no's though so...

What do the top of the seat stays look like? Panto'd? If not I'd say its definitely a Corsa.

On a separate note, what happened to the frame mobidog?

Corsas are SL, not SLX. There are a few abberations in the serial no's though so...

What do the top of the seat stays look like? Panto'd? If not I'd say its definitely a Corsa.

Here are some pics I took for the ID thread:

http://www.lfgss.com/post2964372-2354.html

Was is just corsa extras that had panto'd seat stays? The frame number is 9C-8775-A. It's 59cm, which would confirm the 9 is correct, can't imagine they'd stamp a corsa extra with a C...

Going from what you say on the other thread, that doesn't look much like a respray to me.

You have identical panto'd stays and forks as my frame, which is a Cromor Strada - however, the cadre site says that Stradas from a certain period aren't actually Stradas, unlike others from either later/earlier, which are. None of this is that helpful to you, but it shows that there's variations to take into account.

honestly, it's hard to say definitively because there are so many minor variants. my gf has a corsa extra and the BB shell is different, but the stays are the same... I think the serial no's are the best way to go as most corsa extras started with an X, as you know-unless this was actually a team frame (which would be awesome) in which case fuck knows...

...Would a corsa have been made in SLX tubing..?

This appears to be your biggest concern.

Remove the BB and check for SLX spiraling.

^ lol repped

This appears to be your biggest concern.

Remove the BB and check for SLX spiraling.

You're right dmc, it is my biggest concern. I bought the frame to replace a chromor pinarello I got off saarf. I've been after an SLX frame for years, so if I've actually been sold a chromor frame it's useless to me.

Here's what I've figured out so far:

Frame number indicates its a 1986/87 59cm Corsa

The brake bridge indicates it's either a corsa or strada

Fork probably isn't a corsa fork (they had flat crowns) - possibly strada fork

There's no spiralling in the seat tube from what I can see by shining a torch down from the seat post end. Haven't got BB tools to check from the bottom.

There's no spiralling on the steerer tube of the fork, which would indicate it's a strada rather than a corsa extra fork (corsa and corsa extras had spiralling according to the columbus tubing chart knocking around).

So, has anyone ever successfully got a frame number confirmed from the merckx factory? I've emailed them but nothing back so far.