Mystery Merckx

[one-eyed_jim]

I knew it was somewhere in my collection. I really need a better filing system.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5217/553 ... b54a_b.jpg

 

[jCymbal]

I'll be watching this with interest as agree that it could well be a Litespeed built Merckx Titanium.

Same here.

 

[MercianMike]

As above, Im watching this for sure! How exciting!

 

[Prometheus]

There is little doubt in my mind that you have indeed got yourself one hell of a bargain there. That is certainly a C-Record seat pin and i'm pretty sure that they are 93/94 Record ergo levers and 1st gen of the record dual-pivot calipers. Obviously the drivetrain is hidden but looking at the magazine shot above I think you could dare to hope that you have the full group. Very excited for you...Damn good punt

 

[Toff]

I am drooling over this find. I'm guessing 95/96 Chorus components though, not 94 C-Record. Crank logos are wrong for 94, and you can make out a 5-arm spider, not a Record 4-arm one. The C-Record setback aero seatpost was available until 1997, and was actually sold with the Chorus groupset in 1996 before Campagnolo introduced the straight titanium seatpost the following year.

 

[ededwards]

Probably only Chorus? I'd be gutted if I was Gareth

Who incidentally is displaying admirable self control in not rushing to collect it and put us all out of our high state of anticipation. Big man, if you can't do it for yourself, do it for us!

 

[Prometheus]

I am drooling over this find. I'm guessing 95/96 Chorus components though, not 94 C-Record. Crank logos are wrong for 94, and you can make out a 5-arm spider, not a Record 4-arm one. The C-Record setback aero seatpost was available until 1997, and was actually sold with the Chorus groupset in 1996 before Campagnolo introduced the straight titanium seatpost the following year.

Yep have to concede your quite right. You can just about make out the 5 arm spider on the crank. The brifters were the same anyway afaik with the exception of the word carbon added to the record variant.

Never mind still a bargain whichever way you look at it .

.

 

[Toff]

I am drooling over this find. I'm guessing 95/96 Chorus components though, not 94 C-Record. Crank logos are wrong for 94, and you can make out a 5-arm spider, not a Record 4-arm one. The C-Record setback aero seatpost was available until 1997, and was actually sold with the Chorus groupset in 1996 before Campagnolo introduced the straight titanium seatpost the following year.

Yep have to concede your quite right. You can just about make out the 5 arm spider on the crank. The brifters were the same anyway afaik with the exception of the word carbon added to the record variant.

Never mind still a bargain whichever way you look at it .

.

Without drifting too far off topic, the word "CARBON" was actually written on the Record Ergopowers in 1994. The Record and Chorus Ergos were identical that year, except for the white writing on the Record ones. You still paid quite a bit more for the Record ones that year, for what was no more than a tiny bit of white paint. That's when Campagnolo discovered the power of marketing and it's no surprise that the following year, the names of the groupsets started appearing on all the components. One easy way to tell if you have an early set of Ergos is the hoods have "Campagnolo" in script writing on the sides, instead of the winged shield logo stamped into the hoods. You can just make out the "Campagnolo" script on the left hood in the groupset picture you posted on page 1. 1994 was the last year for that hood design, and now all the spare parts hoods just have the shield logo.

95 Ergos at the Chorus level were internally the same as the 1994 ones, but externally they now had "CARBON" on the front of the resin hoods, and Chorus written down the lever.

96 Ergos at the Chorus level were the same external shape as the 1994 ones, but internally they were different. They had a more complex internal mechanism, and to reflect this the writing on the resin hoods was updated to "CARBON BB System". The word "Chorus" was of course still written down the lever.

It is evident that these are not 95/96 Record Ergos because they don't have a hole in the middle of the gear change lever.

 

[pigman]

and continuing to be off topic, following toff's interesting notes, when did 9 speed first come in. From his desctiption, mine appear to be the 96 chorus, but theyre still 8 speed. My bro however bought a brand new bike in 98 with 9 speed, but it had the slimmer shape, more rounded hoods. That would mean that 9 speed with the original pointy-hood shape wasnt around long??

 

[Toff]

9-speed first came in (out) in 1997. It was available for both Record and Chorus that year, and had 9-speed emblazoned across most parts.

I bought my dream bike in 1997: a 9-speed Colnago Tecnos. That bike led an interesting life, but that's a whole other story...