E. Merckx Team Capri Sonne + Campa 50th Anniversary

Nice jersey, but it costs more than the bike! ;-)

(Nice bike!)

Nice to see these finds evolve in something special. I really dig that you combined the two, it makes the story even better.

reeeeaaally nice
contact "de stalen ros" because people will want to see this!

I've contacted them. If everyting goes well, this bike will be shown the 27th of october in Ghent!

Amazing, now buy this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-1982-CAPRI-SONNE-CAMPAGNOLO-MERCKX-RETRO-TEAM-CYCLING-JERSEY-SHIRT-/380704501248?pt=UK_Cycling_Clothing&hash=item58a3c1ae00

I'm on the lookout for a Capri-Sonne jersey (I have a matching jersey for all my "good" bicycles). There's money on it's way from my bank account to my Paypal, so I hope I can buy this in the upcoming days. Thanks for the link!

To all the other people, thanks for the compliments!

Also:

• If anyone has a matching (white) EM water bottle, let me know!
  
• Once the Gazelle is finished I'll post a picture here too. I'm building it up with Campagnolo Nuovo Record
  

I've contacted them. If everyting goes well, this bike will be shown the 27th of october in Ghent!

great, i'll be there trying to steal it!

I finished the Gazelle today. It's for sale, but not here on LFGSS.

http://imgur.com/a/GaTDF

I came across your story & think its great! Well done & its a just reward for an early morning start. Im sure the original owners would be delighted that the bikes have found a good home after being unappreciated for some years. I have an Merckx from about82 - same forks but with the loopy EM logo on the stays. From the reading I did when I got it I think that yours may be so early it was actually built by De Rosa - it really is lovely & makes the current garish frames with his name on look like a child`s colouring competition gone wrong.
I wrote to the factory but got no replies about my frame, my son did a tour of Holland & Belgium on the tandem in the spring & made a special detour to go to his factory, but then discovered it had moved! I do hope you enjoy it for many years.
Best wishes, Julian

I forgot - if you like the beauty of the Campag Deltas have a look at this from 00.21.00 -
EQUINOX - BICYCLE(1989) - YouTube

Great video. Has the world really changed that much in 13 years? It looks like a public information film from the '70s!

Has the world really changed that much in 13 24 years?

:)

Fail

D'oh! I thought there were a lot of mullets.

Thanks for posting that ^. Great documentary.

I came across your story & think its great! Well done & its a just reward for an early morning start. Im sure the original owners would be delighted that the bikes have found a good home after being unappreciated for some years. I have an Merckx from about82 - same forks but with the loopy EM logo on the stays. From the reading I did when I got it I think that yours may be so early it was actually built by De Rosa - it really is lovely & makes the current garish frames with his name on look like a child`s colouring competition gone wrong.
I wrote to the factory but got no replies about my frame, my son did a tour of Holland & Belgium on the tandem in the spring & made a special detour to go to his factory, but then discovered it had moved! I do hope you enjoy it for many years.
Best wishes, Julian

Thanks for your reply! I also think I've read somewhere that the very early/first EM frames were built by De Rosa, I just can't find that source anymore. I've been thinking about contacting the factory, but I think it won't matter as it has been sold. I wonder how much they still know about the old times/early days.

Thanks for the video link too, really really interesting.

the very first frames are very influenced by De Rosa, but not build by him. You'll notice that by the rear drop outs, where they are inserted in the chainstays/seatstays are still finished pointing up, lateron they were finished straight flat ( don't know how to describe otherwise ).
i don't think they know much about the older days, Eddy isn't in charge of the company anymore.

You are right about that. I asked the company if they could help me identifying an early EM frame (60cm with over the bottom bracket cable routing, with letter E) but I was told they lost the production information due to moving to an another building. Too bad..
I am still trying to identify the frame so I am very interested in your knowledge. I did not quite understand your explanation. Is it possible to post a picture of a dropout of a De Rosaesqe Merckx? Would be very helpful.

And while you're here, please post some pictures/a link to pictures of your Merckx frame too!

Will try to this weekend. Lot of similarities with your other EM.

Exquisite buying and building in this thread. Congratulations!

Will try to this weekend. Lot of similarities with your other EM.

That would be great! I got my info here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldcampy/5707115019/in/faves-bonzobiscuits/

The Merckx serial numbers are still a mystery to me though.

Exquisite buying and building in this thread. Congratulations!

Thanks!

Nice. I like the tanwalls.

There are some excellent Merckx pics here:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Benelux/Merckx/Merckx_main.htm
also some probaly well informed De Rosa discussion here - bit primitive but you can read the key points.
http://search.bikelist.org/query.asp?SearchString=%22Supposed+Merckx+De+Rosa+on+English+Ebay%22&SearchPrefix=%40msgsubject&SortBy=MsgDate[a]
I will have a go at a few pics of mine when i have a chance in the week .

I am extremely stupid with uploading pictures, but finally I made an album on this site I hope you can find it.
It's an EM professional disguised as an Colnago. I bought it at 'marktplaats' for €75,-. Looking at the bike I think it had an accident once. The fork is not original and it has al lot of different components. Brakes are Campa Record, crankset is Zeus, front derailleur is Shimano 105, rear derailleur is Shimano 500ex. I bought Campa Record derailleurs to replace them and make the bike full Campa Super Record.

My next step has to be a repaint. But due to crashing my Ti main bike (total loss) I am somewhat short on cash, and I think the frame deserves a proper paint job and no powder coating. So I have to posatpone that for a while.

Does anybody know if the frame color is original EM?

For the record the bottom bracket reads left: G 0 right: E 4186

I am extremely stupid with uploading pictures, but finally I made an album on this site I hope you can find it.
It's an EM professional disguised as an Colnago. I bought it at 'marktplaats' for €75,-. Looking at the bike I think it had an accident once. The fork is not original and it has al lot of different components. Brakes are Campa Record, crankset is Zeus, front derailleur is Shimano 105, rear derailleur is Shimano 500ex. I bought Campa Record derailleurs to replace them and make the bike full Campa Super Record.

My next step has to be a repaint. But due to crashing my Ti main bike (total loss) I am somewhat short on cash, and I think the frame deserves a proper paint job and no powder coating. So I have to posatpone that for a while.

Does anybody know if the frame color is original EM?

For the record the bottom bracket reads left: G 0 right: E 4186

I've found your pics. Definitely a good buy for 75 euro! Looks indeed like a Professional from 1983/1984. I have a build thread for one of those: http://www.lfgss.com/thread105592.html

I should continue that build, as I've found a place to sandblast + paint it for 70 euro.

And as far as I know, red was not an original color. I know about the silver, metallic blue, some greenish and banana yellow.

I am really interested in the place where they paint for 75 euro. Can you PM me the adress? always nice to have a reason to go to Flanders!