Ok! If Merckx is still producing the MX Leader then this explains the price. Maybe the Merckx dealer of Holland wants to move all of the older framesets with us first?? Anyway I'm off to Merckx next month for some old goods and I'll see what's the happenings overthere.....So if anybody wants to save some money on a MX leader, let me know. remember, only 55s and 56 will be available.
BC
Baron Corpuz
Renaissance cycles
Eindhoven Holland.
The comments from Chuck and the others on the continuing survival of the Merckx MX Leader is amusing. I have a close friend who sells a lot of modern high end bikes, and sells a lot of Merckx. He refers to the MX Leader as the frameset that will not die. Merckx still makes the MX Leader, all 10,000 pounds of it, the frame that will last forever, in various color schemes including the old Motorola Team colors and Molteni Orange with blue panels and 'the Man's' pictures on it. Gita only imported the latter in larger sizes until 2004 but because of demand, the Molteni will now be available in the US through any Merckx dealer in all sizes.
I bought on in the Molteni scheme and could not be happier with the bike. The ride and handling is superb, and simply looking down at the paint (which is incredible for a production bike) and the carefully-worked touches on the lugs and crown -- to say nothing of the wonderful shape of the fork crown and legs -- is a hoot.
You want a modern 'classic'? You could do a lot worse.
Dave Novoselsky
Chicago, Illinois