We had this question about dating the first Eddy Merckx frames to come into the US on another forum and I decided to do some first hand research to put to bed any rumors about the dates Eddy Merckx first started importing his frames to the US. I was working at a shop in SoCal at the time, and we were visited by Eddy when we became one of the first West Coast dealers for his frames. They looked exactly like DeRosa's frames, ie flat investment cast fork crowns and investment cast fixtures. The only difference was they did not have diamond shaped stays and they were engraved with the Eddy Merckx engravings.
I contacted Mr. Merckx himself via e-mail to find out if my memories of the first US distributor were correct, Ochsner Imports in Chicago, and he confirmed that Ochsner was in fact the first US distributor of his frames. I then contacted Ochsner via e-mail and inquired as to the date they first sold them in this country. They responded that they first had the Merckx frames in their catalog in 1982, but had probably sold them in 1981 also. This coincides with the dates I remembered when I worked at Bud's in Claremont CA. We were visited by Mr. Merckx and started selling the frames in the spring of 82'. I put together the first in store retail display for the frames.
By the way, we didn't start seeing the rounded fork crowns on the Merckx's in the US till a few years later. I believe Carsten is in Germany(?), so of course US import dates would not apply to him.
I still have the e-mails from Merckx and Ochsner and would be happy to forward them to anyone contacting me directly.
Donald F. Dunstan
Winters, TX
> I just got an Eddy Merckx frame that was purported to be a first year
frame,
> 1980, from Carsten Rehbein. Then I had a customer bring in a frame which
> seems like it should have been made earlier. They both have similar
earlier style
> decals, brake cable guides on top of the top tube, are made with SL
tubing,
> and have the same bb shell, but there are some differences. Mine has the
> rounded sloping crown with the em logo that looks like a bicycle, seat
stay caps
> with the same logo, cable guides under the bb, and crimped stay and fork
ends.
> His has the flat De Rosa style crown with Eddy Merckx spelled out like
the
> decal, seat stay caps with his signature, cable guides brazed on top of
the bb,
> and brazed and filed stay and fork ends, and in addition he has a number
> plate braze-on under his top tube. The lugs are slightly different too.
The seat
> lug on mine has a bigger space between the ears of the seat post clamp.
> Anyone know the ages of these two frames, or know Eddy Merckx serial
numbers? Or
> are they just different models?
>
> Thanks
> Bob Freeman
> Seattle