In a message dated 1/20/05 10:18:27 AM, Tom Adams writes:
>
> Thanks to those who recommended the January '05 issue of Cycle Sport
> America. Truly an excellent read with it's retrospective on Eddy Merckx's career.
>
> I do have a question about one of the pictures. On page 72 is a picture
> taken during the '68 Tour of Flanders. Eddy is leading Godefroot and Sels as
> they charge across a section of pave', Godefroot won the race, one of the few
> times anyone pipped Merckx when Eddy was up front at the end.
>
> The curious part is that Eddy is riding an all white bike with no maker's
> name. By '68, he had left Peugeot and joined Faema, and anyway he's wearing a
> World Champion jersey with what appears to be Faema embroidery, but the bike
> isn't the familiar Faema red and white. To make it even odder, the bike has
> centerpull brakes instead of the usual Faema Campy sidepulls. The only
> grapics on the frame are two rainbow/ world champion's bands on the DT, which look
> very Peugeot. On the other hand the headlugs aren't black and the
> componentry doesn't match a Peugeot, as the brake levers look like Universals, the
> calipers have nutted brake shoes, not the Mafac rods, so presumably the calipers
> are Universal too, and the front hub looks to have a Campy oil clip.
>
> I can't get into the Archives this morn, but I believe '68 is before Merckx
> was riding Colnago's or DeRosas. Might this be a Masi then? But why the
> white paint? Was there a neutral support service in this race that handed out
> neutral white bikes? Or could the picture have been retouched to remove the
> Faema colors and Merckx name? But then why the centerpull brakes? A later
> picture from the '68 Giro shows Eddy on a classic colored Faema machine with
> sidepulls. Was the team experimenting with different bikes early in the
> season? If this was Paris Roubaix, I might speculate using centerpulls for greater
> mud clearance, but the brake shoes are pretty high in the slots. Anyone
> got any information or ideas?
>
> Tom (Curious about Trivia) Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
>
It's a Masi (look at the cutout on the BB). They probably just didn't have time to do the contrasting red head tube and decals to make it a full Faema-lookin' bike.
Bob Hovey Columbus, GA
PS: If you want one of these issues, grab it from your newsstand quick... they're already sold out at the Cycle Sport web site.