"good morning,
i have an merckx molteni replica frameset (sl), and i want to set it up as a replica/tribute bike. in reading the merckx edition of cycle sport magazine, i noticed that eddy's molteni bikes were setup with cinelli 1a as well as 1r stems. it's hard to tell but it looks like on the 1r bikes he is using super record cranks, not nr. were the rest of the components also super record on the 1r bikes? or did he mix sr with nr?
it also looks like he used fiamme red label rims on the 1a bikes, while on the 1r bikes the rims appear to have a light bronze finish. if that is correct, what rims were the light bronze ones?
did he use clements? what model would be the one he primarily used in the tdf?
was the saddle a unicanitor on both of these bikes?
lastly, what is the cover on the bars, white cloth?"
I too have been pouring over this issue of Cycle Sport. Adding to the above, I noticed a lot of drilled parts on many of his bikes. There's a great shot on page 125 that clearly shows drilled levers, calipers, shifters, and chainrings. It's very "workmanlike" not "arty". Like it was done by a good mechanic, not a machinist. It's inspired me to start poking holes in some of the parts for my Gios project. Another thing you see in Merckx's bikes is how low and tight the brake cables are run. Another feature I'm going to go with on my bike. As mentioned before this is a great issue, if you do not usually buy it. Cheers, Otis
Jon Williams
Grants Pass OR