That's not actually Merlin's old website though, is it? It's a guy (same guy that has the Merlin Museum instagram account? https://www.instagram.com/merlintitanium) that collects loads of old Merlins, and also titanium bikes and parts in general?
I think the Potts above is just a Ti Potts the same guy has in his collection.
Certainly a weird looking number tho!
I can't see a reason Steve would have Merlin make frames for him, unless there was some window between working on steel and mastering Ti, where he didn't feel confident in the quality of his own work?
Not that I know all that much about any of this... happy to be wrong/corrected/learn more!
That is one crazy private collection !
I was told that website had info and photos of all of Merlin's early work.
I thought Merlin built titanium bikes/parts for several companies BITD.
( There is an interesting flow chart on the site, attached below )
It's not easy tracking info down on who made early Ti bikes as they seemed to be outsourced quite often.
the rest is more or less about the private collection (merlins and others).
the flow chart is to explain the collection (most part of it, not as the potts) with their relations.
just read the index page: https://merlintitanium.com/index.html