Merlin Newsboy L

[Stylus]

I have multiple builds going on at the moment, this is one of them that i havent posted about, so here we go.

Merlin Newsboys are a bit like marmite, you hate them or you love them. Obviously I’m in the second camp.
Over the years I’ve asked around, send a few e-mails and dm’s here and there to various people, see if they wanted to sell theirs. Never successful, always either ‘sold already’ or ‘try and pry from my cold dead hands’ scenario’s.

So i had pretty much given up, until I noticed this ad on the forum last year. The ad had some dutch language in it… could it be?
It was listed as size M where i knew i needed size L, also no pictures and a hefty price tag.. still, i decided to send a dm.
As it turns out, it was a size L and indeed it was being sold by a gentleman from the Netherlands, i couldn’t believe my luck!

I visited twice before finally pulling the trigger and ended up with a grail. A grail with issues, but still.
I will elaborate on the issues later, this will be a challenging build.

Here's how i found it and what i took home.

 

[Stylus]

Reserved

 

[Stylus]

reserved

 

[uno-speedo]

Very nice! Will you stay with a suspension fork or rigid fork? And did it come with a Rollercam brake?

Mine is a project in waiting. And I too bought it in a questionable state!

 

[Stylus]

Thanks! Yours looks great and a lot further than mine. No WTB brake and i’m going rigid.

 

[Scott-S]

That's awesome a really lovely looking bike

Hey @MattiThundrrr this looks like a frame you could have a lot of fun with

 

[Stylus]

The issues…
1. As stated above, this bike is missing the proprietary WTB rollercam rear brake. This is a big deal but gave me some negotiation room. The previous owner deemed it inferior and replaced with a early Hope rear disk brake (which is partly attached with a hose-clamp). Sacrilege in my eyes and fingers crossed there is no damage to the frame when i remove it.
I will put back a WTB brake.

2. Another thing i noticed was a nokon cable upgrade and even worse, this ment the original cable stops were removed on both ends to make it fit. Those cables stops are also unique to this model and sadly, the owner couldn't remember where he had them, so add another challenge.

3. Next, and probably the biggest let down and major issue, in an attempt to improve the cable routing and tension the previous owner had taken an angle grinder to bottom tube where the cables exit and notched it . This was/is the potential deal breaker.
I have yet to find out the full extend of the damage.
Then again, when are you finding another Newsboy? Also, it can be fixed and it's down at the bottom of the frame so not in plain sight.
Here is a (not so clear pic) but you'll get the idea, it sure is 'unique' (awaiting the 'that'll crack' comments)


4. So when i got the bike home around Christmas 2024 Ashok from merlintitanium.com identified another issue which was a non original seatpost sleeve/clamp.. Nothing i can't live with but still a shame. If any of you have a extra one let me know
It should look like this (picture courtesy of merlintitanium.com).

So far that's all the bad stuff i found. There is good stuff too.

 

[Stylus]

5. But this was a quick 'fix'

 

[Stylus]

Now for the good stuff:
- Serial number is N061. That means it's part of the first run of 100 Newboys made in 1995. Had it not been, i would have thought twice about getting it.

- the bike has a single bow. Newsboys come in two variants, one piece bows and two piece bows (where they're welded at the seatpost). Single bow is just a nicer look. I heard from an old Merlin employee it took 44 (!) hours to build a single frame.

- Parts. This bike came with some choice goodies like a titanium Chris King headset, Hope mk1 qr's, Syncros Revolution cranks, Syncros ti post, Brooks ti saddle, White Industries/Mavic front wheel, i'm fairly certain it has a Syncros bb and i wouldn't be surprised that's titanium as well...
So lots of good stuff. Some i'll keep and some will be sold (Ringle cage already sold and Hope qr's in my fs topic)

 

[Stylus]

One of the reasons why a Merlin Newsboy was so high on my wantlist is this build from late forum member Halaburt (who sadly passed away a few years ago).
I totally love the casual elegant utilitarian approach, if that makes sense.
Geoff was a really nice guy and over the years i learned so much from him about WTB, Cunningham, Potts, etc. He is missed.

So you bet I will be throwing everything and the kitchen sink at this thing. I will have to compromise here and there but if i end up with something half as good as his, i'll be very happy