Eddy Merckx Professional – 198?

First off: this will be a (very) long term project! (as I have zero experience with paint stripping and getting a frame repainted)

The story: in the beginning of the week I saw an ad about a vintage Eddy Merckx bicycle for sale at 10 minutes from where I live. The ad contained 2 bad pictures from the whole bicycle and 1 (bad) detail picture of the pantographed stem. I e-mailed and made an offer of 50 euro. I knew I would at least have a pantographed stem which would be worth the amount of money that I offered.
Flash forward to yesterday. I hadn’t heard anything back, until then. I received an e-mail saying that there has been a lot of interest in the bicycle, but that I was the first to react and that it would be mine. I scheduled to pick it up yesterday evening and it was even better than I could imagine.

I ended up with a Merckx frame (60 cm C-T) with panto Cinelli stem, Cinelli handle bar and a complete Campagnolo Super Record group (panto shifters, front derailleur, back derailleur, crankset, pedals, headset, brake levers, brakes, bottom bracket and seatpost) for 50 euro.
The frame has a hanger for a race number, which makes me think it’s a frame that has been used for racing.

Identifying the frame was a lot harder. The frame has been repainted (not only the frame, also the seat post had been painted black, and the chrome fork…) so all the decals have been removed.
I compared it with a lot of pictures and came to the conclusion that it’s a Merckx Professional frame from the early eighties.
As for the serial number: there is a number on the bottom bracket, but it’s hard/almost impossible to read due to the paint job. The black is very thick, and I hardly can read letters/numbers. This is what I can read: M? E?218 (? = cannot read).

Picture time (lots of big pictures, sorry):

My plan: the paintjob is quite ugly and not very well done. Especially the black hurts my eyes. The fork was obviously chrome, but someone decided to paint the whole thing black. Same goes with the seatpost. I hate it.
My plan is to strip all the paint and get the frame repainted. In the early eighties there were several teams riding Eddy Merckx Professional frames (Capri-Sonne (1982), Europ Decor (1983 & 1984)). As it’s a frame that was produced for racing, I would love to have it painted in one of the colors that were used by one of those teams.

Questions: I have a lot of questions, I hope some people could help me out here

• Is what I have really an Eddy Merckx Professional bicycle
  
• Are the components all Campagnolo Super Record?
  
• Anyone has an idea of the tubing? As there are no stickers anymore, I have no idea..
  
• How can I get paint from a chromed fork? Can this be done without damaging the chrome?
  

• How can I get paint from a frame?

  Any hints, tips on how to go further now would be welcome! As stated in the beginning of this post, I have zero experience with paint stripping or getting a frame repainted. I’m located in Belgium, if anyone would know people or addresses.

Thanks for reading/looking!

Oh my god. 50 Euros.

Someone more knowledgable than me will be along I'm sure. But the markings on the seat cluster and fork crown are exactly same as my Merckx Corsa Extra, so looks pretty real to me.

Whow!
No idea about the exact model, but as you got it for an incredible price I would get it stripped and painted by someone who is really good at it.
But before I would try to remove the gold and black with acetone etc, sometimes that works and you get the original paint back or you at least see what it was.
DIY with paintstripper etc takes a long time, especially if there is thick paint over original paint.
I just did a similar thing and would not do it again.

Wow, what a bargain! Definitely deserves the attention and will look amazing in team colours.
Hope the chrome is intact under there. I had a fully chromed frame which I just scraped (with a plastic scraper) to remove the paint. That said, the paint was poorly applied. There was a spot on the stays where it looked like someone had used wire wool/wet dry to have a go at it, which had dulled the chrome. I guess start with something light and use more elbow grease before you get abrasive. Sure someone will offer something more conclusive though.

Columbus tubing, no?

An "e" would indicate a professional, not sure what "m" is (ottomh) it would then have a size code maybe "0" in this case. The 'e" indicates post march 1980 , 218th frame produced.

Edit - or I could be talking bollocks. Maybe this might help to confuse you http://www.cadre.org/Merckx/

Thanks for all the replies!

I'll try to get some paint off at some places, and I'll try acetone too to see if something is underneath is.
b'jammin - from that site the E would apply to an early eighties Professional frame, great!

Eventually, I would love to paint/build it up like one of the following bicycles:

EDIT: LIGHT METALLIC BLUE IT IS.

- Europ Decor-Dries - 1983 (I can't find a decent picture of these bicycles. It looks like light metallic blue, which is great. Black panto stem too.

Looks like super record to me...

Tested some paint stripper on the seatpost today, pretty good stuff!
Tomorrow I'll turn the fork to chrome again.

if you are patient/careful the original paint might still be under there-you can use nail polish remover and a soft cloth and gently work away at the gold on one area to find out, if it is then it will take a while but could be worth the effort even if it is just to see what the team colours are/were...

fucking amazing deal by the way. A large part of me hates you. A small part still thinks I should be nice incase you sell your Merckx to me for 55 euros (10% profit!)

if you are patient/careful the original paint might still be under there-you can use nail polish remover and a soft cloth and gently work away at the gold on one area to find out, if it is then it will take a while but could be worth the effort even if it is just to see what the team colours are/were...

fucking amazing deal by the way. A large part of me hates you. A small part still thinks I should be nice incase you sell your Merckx to me for 55 euros (10% profit!)

I've removed paint on some places, and there's white underneath the gold/black. No idea if that was the original color or just the base color for the gold/black respray.

Please don't hate me. I went there with the intention to buy a bicycle with regular stuff and a Merckx panto stem. I really didn't know I would end up with all this..

Oh and a question:
Anyone got a tip on how to remove the 2 headset cups that are inside the frame? I don't want to use too much force and damage something.

The brazed on number hanger is usually a good sign.

Best to use a headset cup remover.
I'm got one you can use. Are you in london?

Best to use a headset cup remover.
I'm got one you can use. Are you in london?

Thanks, but I'm located in Belgium, unfortunately.
Did some googling, I'll try the pipe method.

Front and rear mechs and chainset are Super Record, those bits alone are worth much more than you paid for the whole bike! Are the pedals Campagnolo? The brakes look like Victory, I'd have to check.

Yes, pedals are Campagnolo too. The previous owner decided to paint the caps black too, I'll see if I can get that of.
I don't know if they're SR of SL, I still have to test the spindle with a magnet.

Some update pictures to follow tonight!

Some update pictures:

• Frame identification: finally it's clear to see the frame number: M-6818-E. I'm not sure about the model anymore, because http://www.cadre.org/Merckx/ lists frames with an M as Strada's, and it's clearly not a Strada.
  In the list with serial numbers there's one bicycle with an almost identical number (M-5983-E). Looking at the pictures, the frame is definitely the same. There's no name listed, but it's stated as a 1983 model.
  
  

• Cleared up the forks today. The chrome underneath the black paint is still OK, but not perfect. I don't know yet if I will get the fork rechromed.
  I did find an Columbus logo on the fork, and a 0 (which indicates it's a fork for a frame size 60?).
  
  

• And last, I discovered some more chrome beneath the black paint on the frame. I love chrome.
  
  

This is how the frame looks now. The rest of the paint will stay on a bit longer as I first have to contact my painter.
In the meantime I'll have my hands full with polishing the parts..

I've removed paint on some places, and there's white underneath the gold/black. No idea if that was the original color or just the base color for the gold/black respray.

Please don't hate me. I went there with the intention to buy a bicycle with regular stuff and a Merckx panto stem. I really didn't know I would end up with all this..

Oh and a question:
Anyone got a tip on how to remove the 2 headset cups that are inside the frame? I don't want to use too much force and damage something.

looks like they didn't remove the headset cups before spraying so make sure you soak them for 24hrs in WD40 or similar. Worth getting a shop to pop them out if you're having trouble, better than ruining the headtube or cups.

I'd try removing paint mid seat tube to see if the merckx logo is there... would be awesome if it was.

I don't really hate you.

Everyone on this forum dreams to find a bike like this. Fantasies are being lived out.

Nah, the bars are 66/40 not 66/42, so it's all a bit rubbish really..... Oh, sod it, even the chrome looks good, lucky bastard!

I wish I lived in Belgium I think you a great project on your hands, keep posting I love watching a bargain project going together, sweet deal and great post, let rejoice in someone else's fortune, we all dream about a find like this, suggest next holiday Belgium

looks like they didn't remove the headset cups before spraying so make sure you soak them for 24hrs in WD40 or similar. Worth getting a shop to pop them out if you're having trouble, better than ruining the headtube or cups.

I'd try removing paint mid seat tube to see if the merckx logo is there... would be awesome if it was.

Yes, the cups are still stuck. I think I'll take them to a bike shop eventually.

I also removed some paint on the tubes where a sticker should have been, but nothing but steel showed up.

Some small progress has been made. The headset cups are removed from the frame, and I ordered a saddel :-)

Front and rear mechs and chainset are Super Record, those bits alone are worth much more than you paid for the whole bike! Are the pedals Campagnolo? The brakes look like Victory, I'd have to check.

Brakes are definitely record, and the levers are nicely panto'd...Like the crew says...with some wet and dry paper, you can slowly remove the paint from the down tubes to show you which decals were there at all...
as with any of the chrome, never use anything abrasive...even pan scourers can cloud it badly, only use the very softest of cloth and use a test area first, chrome is fine with paint remover just make sure whatever tools you use are soft plastic.
As with the running gear, be careful with the polish...stuff with the factory anodising is getting really hard to come by, so try and protect it again...loads of cleaners use abrasive especially the aluminium polishes...use extremely hot water and loads of wahsing up liquid and a stiff long bristle brush and wash them, then fill a bucket with a litre of white spirit and wash again...it's greasy enough to chase the water out of the threads..and stops things corroding
then oil away...your running gear should look like new...stay away from wd40 in any situation, it causes wear in most cases.

This is the perfect found in a barn bike, an early 80's Merckx pro, you've made so many of us green faced!!!
Even before we found out you gave 50 euro!

Well done!

Not much progress has been made. The frame-painting will be for this summer (due to exams), which will make this a long run project.

I did gather some parts already:

Still looking for some stuff:

• Campagnolo toe-clips size L
  
• a Campagnolo Super Record 2 bolt seat post (27.2) fluted
  
• an Europ-Decor-Dries jersey
  
  

That should be all :-)

Re SR seatpost: http://www.lfgss.com/thread107458.html It might be on the short side though.

Re SR seatpost: http://www.lfgss.com/thread107458.html It might be on the short side though.

Thanks for the link, but I need a fluted version.