Another bit of info: there is a book that was published in Europe during 2003 entitled "Merckx: Mens & Mythe" (ISBN 9020952315) by Rik Vanwalleghem and Philippe Brunel, which I have a copy of. This is a fantastic book, in my opinion, and is basically a coffee table item featuring excellent b&w pics from throughout Eddy's career. There is a picture in this book of the '68 Tour of Flanders (as shown in Cycle Sport) and Eddy is on the same plain white bike. What is very interesting though, is that there is a picture of Eddy during an early season training ride in 1968, atop a white bike w/"Faema" on the downtube and a Faema logo on the headtube. I've never seen Merckx on a bike labeled as such before. In '67 Merckx was riding bikes labeled "Peugeot", and he was definately riding bikes labeled "Eddy Merckx" later in '68. Perhaps Kinkos didn't get those damn "Eddy Merkcx" stickers done by 8AM as promised and Eddy was forced to ride a plain white bike during the Tour of Flanders in '68??
Also, the book mentioned above is a must for the Merckx fanatic, featuring approx 280 pages. Text is in Dutch, but the book is primarily a picture/coffee table book w/minimal text content. It is not cheap, costing about $80-$100, depending on where you order it. I ordered it from a book store in the Neatherlands that deals in sports books and total cost was about $90 delivered. Amazon's U.S. site lists it, but I have no idea what delivery would be like, as I believe it is a special order.
Dave Patrick Chelsea, Michigan
BobHoveyGa@aol.com wrote:
In a message dated 1/20/05 4:19:09 PM, classicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org writes:
> Granted the list is in the archives, the question is why is the bike Eddy
> is riding in the picture so different from what we would expect? Could there
> have been some unusual circumstance in this race which resulted in Eddy
> riding something different from his normal Masi?
>
> Bob Hovey (who must have much better eyes than me) says there's a BB cut out
> visible that is characteristic of a Masi. If so (and I have no reason to
> doubt him, but I'm going to pull out my magnifying glass when I get home :-)),
> we still don't know why the bike had such an unusual paint job. Bob
> speculates that Masi didn't have time to finish the paint before this race, and had
> to ship Eddy a bike "in the white". Does anyone know if the Tour of Flanders
> was the first race for Eddy with Faema? Do we know if he rode Milan San Remo
> in '68? I know he didn't win, but did he ride?
>
> Tom Adams, still confused but on a higher level in Shrewsbury NJ
>
Tom;
When you're peering thru your magnifier, note also the "Brevettata" decal on the chainstay (precursor to Brev Masi") and the ovalized chainstays, both pointed out by Richard... these features also nail this bike as a Masi. Naturally, one can't actually read Brevettata, but you can clearly see that it's there. By the way, the cutout that is visible is one of three transverse slots, (as on a '68 Special seen here //hometown.aol.com/bobhoveyga/myhomepage/MasiSpec/pages/MS06.htm>), remember, these are the days before the "M" cutout.
Another hint that this may have been a rush bike is the painted fork crown... which suggests perhaps Masi built this puppy in a hurry for Eddy (not so much 'cause it was early in the season... more likely, Eddy had some new geometry he wanted to try, very common thing for him) and Faliero didn't have time to send the fork off to be chromed.
Now I'm curious, gotta get my own magnifier out... later on in the issue there are at least two photos of Faema bikes without BB vents (though the little ovals cutouts in the downtube tangs are still there). Wonder what other nifty details will show up? This issue is a feast!
Bob Hovey
Columbus, GA