I rather rushed this posting last night and have revisited the books and mags - going through pics in International Cycle Sport mainly. In the Tour of Flanders he was using Universal 61 centre-pulls and in the Paris-Roubaix his brakes appears to be the Super 68 and by the World Champs and the Lugano Time Trial in October 1968 he was using the new Campy side-pulls. There's an interesting interview in the Jan 69 issue of ICS with Faliero Masi - in it he shows John Wilcockson Merckx's Lugano TT frame with Campy side-pulls and also the bike that Merckx had won the Tour of Lombardy on also complete with Campy side-pull brakes. Interestingly Masi shows him a picture of Adorni wining the World Champs (1968) on a Masi and mentions that the Masis now made for Adorni and Merckx have three slits in the BB shell, something made possible by Campag's BB sleeve. In the photos from the World Champs and the Lugano TT the BB slits are clearly visible.
What is more important though is that the frames used by Merckx then appear to be very similar to the one on display at Eurobike save for the head lugs - in particular the fork crown is a Fischer flat 4pt one not used as far as I know by De Rosa or Colnago at this time... and certainly used by Masi. Could the Eurobike bike be one of the earlier season bikes - perhaps the Tour of Flanders bike with later decals and stem - both would add credence to the Merckx brand... In the big picture the yellow seat tube decals can clearly be seen to have been stuck over what looks like World Championship bands...
Finally I am not sure how I came to the conclusion that I had seen Merckx on Merckx decalled bikes in 1968 - I think originally looking at 40 or 50 pictures some of which were undated (of course in the books, not ICS) must have confused my brain! And of course did not ride the 69 TDF.
Hilary Stone, Bristol, British Isles
Hilary Stone wrote:
> I have just been looking at Merckx pics in various books and mags - he
> was certainly using Universals for the Paris-Roubaix but by the TDF he
> appears to be using Campag. And some of his bikes are decalled Faema and
> some Merckx. I've also found the Rebour drawings for his 1969 TDF
> winning bike in International Cycle Sport where it states that his frame
> was built by Kessels...
>
>
> Hilary Stone, Bristol, British Isles
>
> edvintage63@aol.com wrote:
>> "Hilary wrote:
>>
>> I do wonder whether Merckx was using the new Campy side-pulls
>> throughout 1968 - I was under the impression that these were
>> introduced quite late on in 1968... Certainly my De Rosa is full
>> Campag save for the Universal 68 brakes."
>>
>> _________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
>> I believe the Campagnolo sidepulls were indeed introduced at the end
>> of 1968, certainly not much earlier than the World Championships.
>> Earlier that season, I believe Merckx (and of course many other riders
>> on Italian bikes and teams) were using the Universal 68's. This seems
>> to be the case from photos of Merckx from the first part of that
>> season, including pics from the Giro. In fact, photos also show
>> sidepulls on Merckx's bike at the '67 Worlds, when he was riding for
>> Peugeot. There are other photos from the 60's that show Universal
>> sidepulls, but it's difficult to determine whether those are 68's
>> (maybe available to pros prior to '68) or earlier model Universal
>> sidepulls that had simply found favor with some pro riders even after
>> the introduction of the 61's.
>>
>>
>>
>> Ed Granger
>>
>> Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA