Re: [CR]Cycling news with some nice vintage pics

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme)

Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 22:09:48 -0600
Subject: Re: [CR]Cycling news with some nice vintage pics
From: "Todd Kuzma" <tullio@theramp.net>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <3E8A34C2.8D00D1A7@earthlink.net>


Can someone fill me in a little on the Merckx Hour Record bike? I know that Pino made some parts for it, but I was under the impression that it was a Colnago that was badged a Windsor at the last minute. This bike is labeled Eddy Merckx. So, was it relabeled at some time?

Before the Windsor deal, was it badged Merckx? Owen Mulholland's article on the Torelli site says that it had no label at all before the Windsor label <http://www.torelli.com/owen/eddyhour.html>.

Additionally, there are photos of the Hour Record bike at http://www.rttc.org.uk/pages/derby1.htm that appear to be a bit different. The seat tube decal does not look the same, and the downtube decal is blurred in both photos. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or done after the fact with Photoshop or similar.

I seem to recall seeing this bike in various configurations in older photos. Could there be more than one Hour Record bike floating about?

I know that Lance Armstrong won his World Road Championship on a Litespeed titanium frame painted in the Motorola team colors and labeled an Eddy Merckx frame. Merckx later displayed a lugged steel frame as the winning frame although a look at any of the photos of Lance's bike on race day show a TIG-welded frame with oversize, ovalized tubing that exactly matched a Litespeed Ultimate of the same era. So, Eddy pulled a switcheroo then. What about the Hour Record bike?

Todd Kuzma
Heron Bicycles
Tullio's Big Dog Cyclery
LaSalle, IL
http://www.heronbicycles.com/
http://www.tullios.com/