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Oof yes please. Dibsss. message incoming.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback. I finally got round to finishing off the bike this weekend, and i'm pleased to report eddy is a dream to ride!

@Octavio didn't end up using linseed oil, I left the inside of the frame as I found it.

@c-racer thanks for the links, just what I needed.

here's some snaps from the first outing round town... (please excuse the tape on the brake callipers, i forgot to pull it off)

Things are coming together nicely....

The b screw length isn't quite allowing clearance to the 36T, need order a roadlink dm. The bolt for the derailleur pokes through and rubs the chain when on the 10T. I don't currently have any ferrule that will work with the cable stop on the chainstay.

Currently weighing in at 8.7kg, no cables yet though.

Unconventional

here goes....

sadly couldn't find a light jis italian BB
don't have any plugs for the bars yet

@user57325 thank's, it's really made it pop!

@MisterMikkel picked up some nitto M185AA drops

@MrBaklava thanks! hopefully get most of it built this weekend, the NHS app just told me I need to isolate for 7days, so i will have a lot of free time this weekend.

ended up going the clear coat route, thanks for the suggestion @M_V, i'm really pleased with the results.....

also here's a little taster of whats to come!

Thanks for the info, ended up getting the rustins stuff from tool station, slapped some on yesterday afternoon and it's done something...

once the rusts sorted i'm unsure whether to clear coat or just wipe on some boiled linseed oil (i have a bottle on hand i can use already).

I'm really taking my time with this.... but still going.... today I started on the knackered and badly re-touched bits of paint.

These dremel bits that are like like scouring pads have been ace

lots to sort here

found scraping the dust off with a needle file was the best approach (i'm not filing the tubes)

There's been loads of flakey paint and surface rust to clean off, but mostly it's cleaning up nice. The bottom brackets pretty pitted, I think (and hope) it's still sound though. Wondering if i should treat the bottom bracket area with some rust remover.... never used that before though... I fear it might take off more than just the rust? Any one got any advice on stuff like , they seem confident it can be used on bikes.....

thanks @bobble you did see it in stokes croft! that's amazing that you recognised it!

I'm still traumatised from getting that derailleur to play nice and @popdown is much braver than me drilling the stuck dropout screw! A real journey of emotions, Claud looks banging though!

I have gradually been collecting bits and pieces to get underway with the build. Once the wheels are built, I should have pretty much everything I need.

Got some egg beaters and swapped out the spindles with titanium ones from the orient express. I thought it would be a very simple job, but the standard plastic pedal caps on the pedals are awful. I ended up spending several hours cutting them out with a knife, the slot just got mangled immediately, had to buy a servicing kit from crank brothers that comes with some aluminium replacements:

If the original caps weren't made of playdough the cost/weight benefit would have been higher, but the end result still came in as better value than buying spendier pedals off the bat:

The only silver narrow wide 130bcd chainring I could find looks alright, the manufacturer seems to have decided that sharp burrs are a nice feature. The laser etching is also nasty, need to spend more time tidying up, but it'll work:

I still need to get a JIS bottom bracket. If i trust the velobase post it suggests I need 113mm spindle length. But presumably I want to got a bit shorter to bring my chainline more central to the rear cassette?

thanks for the code, sadly the item i wanted was excluded from the discount :(

currently looking for parts to build up an early 80s eddy merckx frame. looking for any of the following if anyone is interested in selling.

Stems (~100mm):
Sakae Ringyo SR Foursir Stem
Sakae Ringyo SR Royal Super Light
Sakae Ringyo SR Royal Extra Super Light

Seatpost (27.2mm):
Shimano Dura Ace SP-7400-B (Aero)

thanks!

I've got a few bits and pieces together already that I plan on using for the build.

First up is an 11 speed down tube shifter made by Gevenalle. I'm planning on running a DA R9100 rear mech:

Cassette wise, i've gone for a China special SROAD 10-36T:

I borrowed a friends set of wheels to take few pictures, still haven't decided if silver or black rims are the way to go. But planning on getting Ryan Builds Wheels in Bristol to build me up a set, something like this https://www.ryanbuildswheels.co.uk/product/factotum-race/:

@Sig_Arlecchino I like the sound of this approach, I will clean it up as best I can then clearcoat.

The frame seems to have been well used which is great, lots of character:

Fair bit of paint missing

Shimano 105 Headset

Tangerine skin plus a little extra blue paint to cover the bare metal.

Most of the chromes looking pretty decent. Nice "eddy merckx" embossing on the drop outs

I don't currently plan on getting it stripped and re-sprayed, I quite like the battle scars. I might need to cover the bare metal to offer some level of protection against further corosion though. haven't worked that out yet...

I really appreciate all the information shared there! Thank you @Flandria, @Sig_Arlecchino, @emerxil. I'm really pleased to have got myself such an early frame!

@SideshowBob your eddy looks awesome, thanks for sharing your post, looking through I can already see it will be helpful to me. My frame is a little rough round the edges! I will share some detailed pictures in a moment.

@Simpson I have been asking myself this question a lot and have decided to use a mixture of modern and more classically styled components. The vision makes sense in my head, a retro sleeper, time will tell if it comes out how I hope! I'm going 1x11 with a downtube shifter. I already have a DA 7400 double crankset i'm intending to use up front. theres a whole load more decisions to make on components.

Before we get stuck into the build, I wanted to try and understand a little more about Eddys history. My current belief/understanding is that this frame is a "professional" model.

The flat fork crown and seat stay caps with signatures suggest it's a pretty early model. I think.

Here's the serial number stamped on the underside of the bottom bracket shell:

Which I believe is read as AT8-1396E. From reading here I believe the frame dates from ~1981-84.

I had been swooning over eddy merckx frames on ebay for a long, long time. Patiently watching and waiting for the right frame..... I have, what you might call, an affection for lugs and that... which meant I would only settle for a frame with a flat fork crown. To my delight, this time last year, my patience paid off. A lovely man called David was selling his frame and after the wild emotional rollercoaster that is the final minute of an ebay auction, I was delighted to find out I had won!

After arranging to meet David halfway between our homes, off I went to Talgarth on the edge of the Brecon Beacons to collect the frame. Turns out David had owned the frame for a long time and he kindly explained the story of how he came to own the bike. I should have written down the details at the time as I can't recall all the specifics any more, but to the best of my memory it went as follows:

David was living and working in London, when, as he described it, he was sort of forced to buy the bike. A tradesman who was sorting something out where David worked, had come to own the bike and wanted to sell it on. Apparently he had been working a job where he first had to clear a garage or similar. The owner of the space gave the guy license to take anything he fancied and dispose of the rest before getting on with whatever the job was. So the lucky guy found himself the owner of a fine eddy merckx bicycle. Upon meeting David, he was apparently very insistent, for reasons that weren't specified, that David was going to buy the bike. Over the coming days he persisted in telling David he was going to buy the bike, until finally he bought the bike. David then happily used the bike for many years, commuting around London. Wind forward many years and he eventually moved to Wales. By the time I met David most of the bike had been re-purposed elsewhere so the frame was just sat in his garage. He figured it was time to sell it on and let someone else enjoy using it as much as he had.

An eventful year has gone by. Moving house combined with the sack of dicks that is coronavirus has meant Eddy was sat in storage for about a year. Over the next month or so i'm hoping to get Eddy built up and back on the road. I plan on keeping a record of the build here. Hopefully it will prove interesting, any thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated.

Did you get one? Sorry for the late reply, only just saw your question. I'm running 33s on the disc version without guards, they are a tight fit. I'm currently eyeing up 650B wheel options so I can go bigger......

@multiburst it's metallic grigio with black lug lining

@everyone else, thanks for the thumbs up :)

@Tallboy from what we have read it's apparently pretty great. reasonable quality roads, very few cars and the cars that are around are apparently are very considerate to cyclists! I will be sure to report back! The 30 degree heat might limit our daily mileage though!.

12 months later, i'm taking bob to Cuba next week. Moving to Chicago about 8 months ago meant I haven't been getting on as many cycle trips as I would like. But on the plus side, i've been able to commute to work each day by bike! It was a little bit nippy in the middle of January when we were hitting -20C most days!

Anyway, back to bob. In preparation for Cuba I took the opportunity to replace the stem with a Nitto Dynamic stem. I also replaced the seatpost with a Nitto Crystal Fellow. The original stem I picked was way too short, and the thomson seatpost didn't really suit the bike in my opinion. Having swapped a few bits out and re doing the cabling, I have finally got round to taking some more pictures of the bike...