Hello List members,My latest project has been a Colnago Molteni team
bike replica,Frame dates from the very late 1972 to early 1973 as per
the Colnago date line Chuck Schmidt had posted some time last year,It
has the 2 club cut outs on the top tube no braze ons on TT & Down tube
or water bollle braze ons or fork tangs,The other difference is there
are no holes on the sides of the fork crown,Anyway back to my questions
about the Merckx bike,Although i have sorted out my decals for this bike
[Thanks Greg} i always thought through mags,pictures films,that Eddy
Merckx rode Colnago`s from 1971 - 1973 then rode Derosa`s 1974 until the
end of his career,I have a 1973 French mag the Mirroir Du Cyclisme that
has Eddy in colour on the front page,The bike is clearly a Derosa & the
other thing that stands out,the frame has no decals at all,There are a
couple of black & white photos inside of the mag which shows the same
bike in the same race [Paris Brussels] other races he is seen in are on
Colnago`s in the same year & decaled Eddy Merckx,So my questions are:
Are these shots of him with the no name bike a try out for the Derosa
bikes?was he riding these frames earlier?Did Colnago stop their
relationship at this time?As if trying to do a replica isn`t hard
enough,Every time you look at a Molteni bike he has different
decals,Stem,Seat post,levers etc,Merckx experts out there i would
appreciate your thoughts & knowledge,I`m just curious to know why he was
riding a non decaled bike & the time frame for the Colnago/Derosa change
over,Cheers,
John Murray
Caloundra
Queensland
Australia