The engravings in the seatstay caps and fork crown - at least what you can still see of them after that horribly thick paint or powder coat job - confirm that this is a mid to late 80's Merckx, probably a Corsa (SL) or Corsa Extra (SLX). The only unusual part is the location of the shifter mount.
Apart from the disfiguring paint or powder coat job, this Molteni replica is not quite right because of the decals. The decals look like they are super-high quality, printed on foil paper (which are so hard to find not even the Merckx factory has them - Greg, are these yours?), but the yellow band should be on top and the pink bank on the bottom of the seat tube. And the world-championship bands do not belong there at all. Eddy's Molteni bikes had a few different decal combinations, but I've never seen one with those bands.
Overall, this bike is a Molteni replica that could have been great, but came out awful.
For those who aren't familiar with it, I have a factory built Merckx Molteni replica bike that you can see here:
http://www.raydobbins.com/
Ray Dobbins Miami FL USA
Roman Stankus <rstankus@mindspring.com> wrote: Merckx had connections with De Rosa and that frame has a number of typical details and parts typically found on De Rosas from the 80's and maybe into the 90's. The bottom bracket(the milled pattern), seat cluster, and fork crown being some. I have no idea who built the frame. Too bad about the bad paint job!
Roman Stankus Atlanta, Ga. USA
> -----Original Message-----
> From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org
> [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Schmid
> Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 7:36 AM
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Eddy Merckx Molteni frame on german ebay
>
> Dear Listmember,
> Some days ago i ponted out a auction of german ebay for a
> Edyy Merckx frame in molteni colours.
> Now the seller added this info:
> "According to feedback from several collecrors is that frame
> type a very special tedition, once custom-built by Ernesto
> Colnago for Eddy Merckx, based on a Colnago Super
> Model.thanks to the community for this information. "
>
> See the auction again here http://tinyurl.com/
> 150156626529.
> Was there such an Merckx frame built by Colnago?
> The seller confirmed upon request that the frame was
> powdercoated in the process of restauration. All the details
> like braze on front changer plate, top tube brake cable
> guides say it is 80ies frame . Does anybody her know more?
>
> Regards
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Michael Schmid
> Oberammergau
> Germany
> Tel.: +49 8821 798790
> Fax.:+49 8821 798791
> mail: schmid@zunterer.com
> http://www.zunterer.com
>
>
> -