Merckx owners thread

The bb is perfectly silent though...

You can see the Litespeed serial number, I can identify 22, there should be 5 digits.
Other angles=other digits :)

So after playing for a while with the flashlight I have "2354" and what looks like a C or a G!

Playing with a torch always brings unexpected results...
23540 or 23546 is the 1997 Litespeed designation
If it was a G2354 (but placed classically for EMC) it would fit the 1996
After all, your frame is not a nameless orphan :)

Thanks! Indeed it's nice to have a bit of background on it :)
Now I just have to finish the build and (hopefully) enjoy it

And here it is :)
Campagnolo record titanium 10s groupset except the chorus crankset and proton wheels.

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very nice. Love the colour.

That's brilliant!

Gave my 1996 Litespeed built Merckx EX ti a makeover for its 25th birthday, now with added Columbus Max fork and some colourful bits.

Thinking of selling my Corsa Extra (Max tubing) frameset.

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You interested in selling those wheels?

Sold the wheels already, I was too heavy for them.

Fair enough, I was probably too heavy as well lol.

Looks back fondly to days of being 75kg

I'm 77 nowadays but I didn't want to ride these wheels here in Flanders. I guess they were made for 70 kilo riders. :-)

I'm also thinking of selling my MXL

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Let me spam this ol' thread with stuff I'm not able to buy. An alu CX with steel forks, nice but pricey:
eddy merckx crossfiets team vlaanderen Ben Berden
€ 1.600,00
https://link.marktplaats.nl/m1799369792?utm_source=android_social&utm_content=vip&utm_medium=android_social&utm_campaign=socialbuttons

And this cheap MXL:

Eddy Merckx vintage racefiets 56 cm
€ 300,00
https://link.marktplaats.nl/m1803686014?utm_source=android_social&utm_content=vip&utm_medium=android_social&utm_campaign=socialbuttons

also been eyeing the MXL. Sad I cant create markplaats account so I cant join the bid.

So… I managed to extract the very stuck seatpost from my wifes Corsa extra. The extracted post was 27,2 mm. Now, I tried putting in a new 27,2 post but I deemed it pretty much impossible. The old one must have been put in there with quite some force… No wonder it got stuck. Anyway, Google suggests Columbus SLX is usually 27,0 mm. Is this correct? My caliper says closer to 26,8.

Congrats! Always a terrible hassle, with the risk of ruining a nice frame. Slx should be 27.2 in my book, but I only ever owned one slx frame (that I know of). Could it be corrosion that narrows the space in the seattube? I mean, who forces a too wide a seatpost down a frame with incredible force? I do know that people that have done it without the right amount of grease, which opens the way for corrosion.

All the SLX bikes I've had before have been 27.2, including my Team Panasonic Merckx.

I have a Reynolds 753 Merckx and that needs a 26.8 seatpost. Did they make Corsa Extra's in 753? I don't know.

Not that decals are 100% definitive proof, but does the bike have an SLX decal?

Oof that would be a catastrophy, forcing a 27.2 post into a 26.8 753 frame 😭

So i was lucky and bought this frameset. It's 2016, columbus zona. Roubaix 70.. any info about it?

Frame size is 57cm and weight 2283g, full carbon fork 363g.

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Thank you :) It was quite a struggle. I would obv prefer it being 27,2. Might try it again. The decal says its SLX. It doesnt look like its been repainted but I’m no expert. Could ofc still have been changed at some point but it seems unlikely…

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I'd just get a reamer down there to clean it out if you are confident it's supposed to be 27.2

I cannot imagine anyone repainting a strada or corsa into a corsa extra, so I'd be almost certain it should be a 27.2 and you can clean up the inside of that tube with the right sand papers (and grease) so a clean 27.2 will fit.
Considering the amount of corrosion on your pics, I support this message.