Eddy Merckx Strada SLX (the Big Bird)

Instead of moaning and feeling sorry for the loss/theft of my lovely Peugeot, I thought I'd move north of the Flemish Border to the land of cobbles and beer.

Serial number MM2-7558-D which makes it a 1992 model Strada.

63 cm CTT seattube, 58 top, specially drawn SLX tubing

going to build up with 7410 Dura-Ace

After some dura ace 7410 series parts in good condition, specifically the shifters to start with.

Very nice frame it is!
Good luck for finding 7410 brifters, these are pretty rare!
What wheelset is this beauty gonna get??

NOS Mavic CXP14's laced to 7410 Dura ace hubs, I need a 36 hole rear hub, I have the front and the rims already.

Very nice. Did you use this to date your frame, or another resource?

yep I used Cadre, and it looks like 90-92 was about right.

Fastest ever transition from ebay thread to CP!

I have a nos rear da 7410 hyperglide hub if u are interested?

love it
do you alredy have this on your hands? i was just wondering what was that headset on it originally?

Got it today, and I'm not sure it's SLX - even thought it's very light, I can't seem to see any rifling on the inside of the seattube, and there's a bit of a bulge on the downtube below the headset, which suggests a front end collision. Not sure what to to do. It's a Stronglight headset BTW.

take a pic of the bulge and show us
was this off of ebay? did you already close the transaction/gave positive feedback?

Yeh, if you can send it back. Its a lot of money

don't have a good enough camera, but it's in the right spot, I've done it to another frame myself. I havent left feedback yet, but I'm contacting them with this:

Hi I recieved the frame today and unfortunately I have to say I'm not very happy.
Upon inspection, it appears that the frame has been crashed, as there is damage to the frame - there is a bulge in the downtube below the headset which is a tell tale sign of a front end collision. I am having the bike assesed by Brick Lane bikes (I'm sure you know of them)to confirm my suspicions.
The headline of the listing also states that it is Columbus SLX tubing, and there is no ribbing inside the seattube, which is the hallmark of this kind of tubing.
I would not have made the offer I did on this frame if I had known these things about it. If I can get confirmation of these two issues from a reputable bike shop here in london, I would like to know what action you will take to ensure that I am a satisfied customer. I like the frame very much but if I am correct about these issues then it is not worth what I was led to pay for it from your listing description.
Thanks and kind regards,
Ben

leave those "unfortunately i have to say" polite bollocks aside
catch them by surprise, scare them and you win
dont ask them what they want to give back to you, tell them you want full refund because frame is unridable - always ask for more to get what you want in the end

I was going to play nice to start off with, then ask for a refund of the value of replacing the main triangle with SLX and a full respray from Argos.

ehehehehe, so they will send the full refund AND will still owe you right? =))

Yeah so this is what I said:

Hi,

I received the frame yesterday and I'm not happy.

Upon inspection, The frame has been crashed, there is clear damage to the frame - there is a bulge in the down-tube below the headset which is a tell-tale sign of a front end collision. I have had the bike checked by Brick Lane Bikes (I'm sure you know of them) and they have confirmed that the frame is damaged. I can send you a picture if you want me to, I also have a certificate from Brick Lane bike stating that the frame should not have been sold for riding.

The headline of the listing also states that it is Columbus SLX tubing, and there is no ribbing inside the frame tubes, which is the hallmark of this kind of tubing, it's clearly not SLX, so why is that in the listing?

I would not have made the offer I did on this frame if I had known these things about it. I have confirmation of these two issues from a very reputable bike shop here in London. The shame is, I like the frame very much but it's not worth what I was led to pay for it from your listing description.

I understand you may not have checked the frame thoroughly, as you have many bikes, but for me it's important to get a frame like this in good shape, the paint is not a problem, but a crash damaged frame is.

The way I see it, there are two options:

1. I return the frame to you at your expense, plus a full refund of my money, including all shipping charges. You can then sell the frame on to someone else who may or may not realise it's been crashed, though I suggest you scrap it, hang it on your wall, or whatever.

2. You refund me $350 and I keep the frame and ride the shit out of it and we're both happy bunnies, because I leave you good feedback and mention you positively on LFGSS.com As it is, I reckon the frame is worth not more than ?100.

Thanks and kind regards,

Ben

...and mention you positively on LFGSS.com...

you sure will! =))

Could be a Cromor tubed frame, my Cromor Merckx Pista has the same seat cluster and is from the same era. Still lovely tubing - but if the seller knows anything about steel frames they should have realised it wasn't SLX with a quick feel inside the seat-tube (ooh errr).

You could get the down-tube replaced and resprayed for about £150-£200 - but I reckon you're doing the right thing getting it replaced or significantly reduced.

Best of luck!

The rifling is difficult to feel for if you haven't felt it before; you gave to get your finger right up the seat tube from the bottom bracket, and even then, it's quite subtle.

If it's SL as opposed to SLX, I seem to recall that the fork steerer should have similar rifling (but not elsewhere).

27.2mm seatpost size would suggest to me SL or SLX.

If it has been crashed, then get your monies back. You shouldn't have any trouble if it were an eBay sale, and they will usually pay for shipping.

I don't think they made the strada's in slx anyway did they?

Yeah I'm not sure either - the headline of the listing was:

Eddy Merckx Strada - Steel Vintage Road Bike Frame - Columbus Strada / SLX

which obviously is not 'like or similar to SLX' so it's an inaacurate description

this is what he said back to me:

I am sorry that you are unhappy with the frameset. I would like to answer all your issues:

1) We always check the frames and bikes before selling them - we also checked this frame and haven't found any serious damages on it.
2) I don't know the bike shop you are talking about and it doesn't really matter to us who they are and what they do
3) We described the tubing clearly as "Made of very light custom Columbus Strada Tubes for Eddy Merckx" - please check the description! So please don't tell us you didn't know about it.
4) It is a VINTAGE USED frame with marks and signs of use and it is actually over 20 years old.

Please send us some photos of the damaged parts of the frame. If there are really damages which can be seen on the photos, then we should contact DHL asap since it must be a shipping damage. Please note that we don't accept any documents or confirmations from any other bike shops - we have to be able to see the damaged parts on the photo.

Have a nice sunday. Best regards,

I guess all I can do is show him the bulge in the downtube as best I can in a photo and try to get my money back, as I've now bought this:

Maybe you could take a photo of it against a steel rule or some other way of showing the bulge more obviously.

I think the guy comes across as a bit rude by dismissing the fact that you've had a second opinion from a reputable bike shop.

If you do raise a case in some way (say with eBay), be firm that the item was sold as damaged and not as described, and therefore dangerous. Careful you don't let any decision be made upon their questionable listing by using the term "SLX" as it could be argued.

Yeah I don't really want to have to take it up with ebay, but he is coming across a bit rude. It's quite obviously not shipping damage as the forks weren't installed and it was very well packaged. He obviously didn't check the frame as thoroughly as he's making out. If he refuses to refund my money I'll take it up with ebay.