1991 Merlin Titanium

[Benandemu]

Bumping this one having just acquired similar, although completely different!

Mine's a '91, too.

Questions:

1. What's the serial on yours?

2. Anything you can tell me about your fork choice? I only ask, as, weirdly, mine came with the same!

Apologies for the slow reply, but I don’t frequent here much anymore.
In answer to your second question…
I trust Time forks and I’ve seen them used on Merlin frames in the past. I was never happy with the aluminium fork, especially after three decades of use! Time was also a company that Greg Lemond had an appreciation for, as he raced on their pedals for several years.

 

[Benandemu]

After we’d taken the photos my mate thought it would be a good idea to try and video the bike somehow. He key sending bits through, and the video would go back and forth making small changes here and there until we were both happy (or fed up). I said it needed some music, and went straight to a tune that I played extensively during the early 90’s as a wind down to the Rave scene! It seems perfectly fitting to me, and it reminds me so much of the time when I was dreaming this bike up.

 

[thepedaller]

Gorgeous bike, hard to beat the looks of that era of Campag components too.

 

[fguki]

I saw, youre a Golf lover, too! Here is mine:

 

[WandsworthRouleur]

Love the video. Need to try something like that on a couple of my builds. Gives me a reason to give them a proper clean too!

 

[Benandemu]

Well, I was inspired to get the Merlin out for a ride today. I sold a Look 586 to a guy last night, and we had a tour of my bike collection which sparked my mind to ride one of them. I had to fit a water bottle as it was 23C in the sunshine.
I also packed a 7mm Allen key in my back pocket as precaution because the left hand crank worked loose last time I rode it. I did the old fashioned repair after the last ride by using 4 strips of aluminium can on each side of the BB taper. It’s a technique that’s never failed me! I ran some XTR m900 cranks like that for over a decade. Every time I swapped the BB bearings I’d cut some fresh strips up from an old coke can.

It’s been ages since I’ve ridden this bike, and it needed a good clean before I took it out as it was covered in dust. The polished alloy had dulled in places, so a little metal polish brought it all back to life.

The initial first few miles felt quirky, but once I got to used to it again everything felt natural, and I was soon attacking the small hills near me.