Merckx Appreciation Society

[flyingporkpies]

I liked my first one so much I bought a second. Here it is, a 59cm Corsa Extra from 1988 in Teve Blad colours, with a mix of 10 speed Campag nouveau retro style. Any others out there in Perth or Australia?? I'll post my first Motorola Corsa later when I've finished building it up as a fixie or a more retro build. I just can't decide.



By the way I can recommend cyclebucket.com for getting your pictures on here.
Just copy and paste the html code from the Image Only (forums) line.
cheers
flyingporkpies

[familyguy]

I liked my first one so much I bought a second. Here it is, a 59cm Corsa Extra from 1988 in Teve Blad colours, with a mix of 10 speed Campag nouveau retro style. Any others out there in Perth or Australia?? I'll post my first Motorola Corsa later when I've finished building it up as a fixie or a more retro build.

That's proof that nouveau-retro works right thar...

And you have two?!

Jim

[toff]

Here is my 10th Anniversary.

. . .

The Campagnolo 50th anniversary Seatpost is gone, as have the Super Record shifters. Both replaced by the correct 1990 C-Record parts. I plan to give this bike the full treatment, and get it back to looking just like this. I even found one of those horrible 10th anniversary jerseys on Ebay too!

[aet4016]

My 1986 Corsa Extra in Team Stuttgart colours - currently with a 10 sp Campy Daytona group. My favourite ride!
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/lh/photo/CjBFqxpgYO0jtPW9zeD2Cg?feat=directlink

[GaryF]

I remember, back in the mid 90's, pressing my nose against De Grandi's window in Geelong and wishing I had one of those Merckx MX Leader frames. Still do.

I do have an old custom built 'Dhondt' team bike and it's a wonderful ride. I got it from De Grandi's in the 90's but it's a much earlier frame. Kitted out with Croce d'Aune.

[rustychisel]

Great bikes! Worst paint jobs and even worse typeface and logo.

[brendan03]

Really Rusty, i rather like the type face and many of the paint jobs. If you ever come across a Merckx you can't stand the sight of, I'll come take it off your hands and spare you the torment.

[rustychisel]

have GaryF's... he wouldn't mind. It's gotta mount for a race number (another thread).

[flyingporkpies]

Here is my battered old Motorola Merckx Corsa with 8 speed Chorus. The rain bike. I decided to go with the retro instead of the fix. It rides beautifully. The 8 speed shifts very well, very quiet. I am partially converted (from 10 speed record) I must admit. Does anyone know what these brakes are? I'm told Chorus but it don't say Chorus on them and they look new but I don't know when this design came out. They are very solid feeling dual pivot on both ends. I found the back wanted to lock up so gave it some more slack to save me from a spill.

[toff]

Those brakes are early Campag double pivot. They come out in 1993, although the 1993 Catalogue shows Deltas for C-Record, and Monoplanars for all other road groups. If you asked, you could get them as an option in 1993 instead of Deltas (or Monoplanars).

The following year (1994) double pivot brakes were sold with Record and Chorus, although Athena, Veloce and Stratos still used Monoplanar brakes.

You will be pleased to discover that your brake calipers are 1st Generation C-Record double pivot calipers. (The 1993 model was the same as the 1994 model.) Worth a bit too. Seen them go for more than $200 on a certain auction website. The 1994 Chorus ones had an allen key hole in the front of the cable clamp pivot, whereas yours don't have that hole. In 1995 (and later) the groupset (Record, Chorus, etc.) was written on the calipers, so you know yours are first gen.

I uploaded the original sales brochure from 1993 for you to look at...
http://pdfcast.org/images/screenshot/1993-campagnolo-c-record-calipers.jpg
Not very pretty because I needed to convert it from PDF.


If you don't want them, I'll have 'em. I only have 2 sets so far.

[flyingporkpies]

Cheers Toff. I've got a dura ace 7800 front brake on the non-retro build and I'm after a matching rear (currently exage - pretty but weak). Coupled to Campagnolo Record 10S levers they stop really well but so do these 1st gen Records. There is a difference though. Hard to describe. If I can get hold of some dura ace brakes from this 90-95 period to try out and I prefer the look and stopping power I might PM you.
flyingporkpies

[toff]

...and Dura Ace was what the Motorola team would have used too.

[drubie]

I have a set of single pivot Dura Ace brakes on one of my bikes that I'd rather swap for, well pretty much any old Campy dual pivot setup (the bike has first-gen Record ergos on it - no group markings, just says "carbon" so I think they're 1993).

The dura ace brakes look nice, but they are complete sh*t for stopping, regardless of the brake pads fitted. If, however, somebody wants to organise a swap three ways I'll be in!

[flyingporkpies]

I happen to think stopping and looking fine should go hand in hand. These records beat skeltons on both counts. Interesting that old da were not that functional. When did they get as good as Campagnolo?

[drubie]

Interesting that old da were not that functional. When did they get as good as Campagnolo?

Dunno - All I know is that even the orbea branded dual pivots on my other bike have what seems like 4x the stopping power of the single pivot DA brakes on the same wheels. Then again, single pivot brakes are, by and large, pretty woeful compared to dual pivots anyway in my experience. I was planning on putting skeleton brakes on the Orbea and shifting the (zues?) ones to the elan, but I notice that campy have decided the rear brake on newer sets is single pivot. Meh.

[toff]

...the bike has first-gen Record ergos on it - no group markings, just says "carbon" so I think they're 1993.

They're 1994. Ergos came out in 1992, and had chunky knobs on the ends of the levers. The knobs disappeared in 1993, but both years the casings were made of aluminium. In 1994, the casings were upgraded to plastic, but some marketing guru thought it would be cool to call it "Carbon". There was in fact some carbon in the plastic, but it was the same "graphite" you find in tennis racquets and fishing rods of the same era. The 1994 Chorus ones are identical to those Record ones, except without the word "Carbon" on the front. Imagine finding out you'd paid nearly twice as much for Record ErgoPower shifters only to discover you'd paid for 6 letters on the front of each lever! My personal preference is for the Chorus ones for 1994. I reckon they look much cleaner, and truer to the C-Record philosophy. Still got several sets of the Record ones though.

I think it was 2004 that Campagnolo went back to single pivot rear brakes as a weight saving feature. I've still never used the rear brake on my fixed gear bike (Monoplanars), so unless you're descending the Alps, I'd say single pivot is fine on the back. Up front though, the Monoplanars are rubbish when compared to anything modern.

On a separate note, I am quite pleased that Orbea have resurrected the Zeus brand. At least it's got some Spanish heritage, unlike the Brooks story.

[drubie]

...the bike has first-gen Record ergos on it - no group markings, just says "carbon" so I think they're 1993.

They're 1994...

On a separate note, I am quite pleased that Orbea have resurrected the Zeus brand. At least it's got some Spanish heritage, unlike the Brooks story.

Me too - sorta. I am a little weirded out by various bits of Tektro and FSA components turning up with Orbea or Zues markings on them. There's not much wrong with the components, but other than afficionados, who even remembers Zues?

[flyingporkpies]

Senor Toff, Gentlemen,
The wheels on the Motorola are Moskva 80 rims on chorus hubs which I believe are prized wheels. The front is grey and the back is black though. Swapsies anyone?
I was wondering what other goodies I scored on this Teve Blad, which are also Campagnolo but sans groupset identification:


I scored some German road grime on this, possibly laced with EPO? Wife, pass me the toothbrush.


Cheers
fpp

[toff]

The seatpost is C-Record. You can tell the age by taking it out and looking up inside it. Early ones were fluted on the inside. Later ones weren't. The aero design continued for a few years after C-Record, but if you had one of those later ones, it would have either "Record" or "Chorus" etched onto the back.

The rear derailleur could be 8-speed C-Record (from 1989-1991), or could be Chorus from either 1990 or 1991. They shared nearly all the same parts, so it's impossible to tell from those shots. To tell for sure, have a look at the way the pulley cage is attached to the parallelogram. If it is joined with an allen bolt, it's 8-speed C-Record. If it's joined with a circlip, it's Chorus.

[flyingporkpies]

It's a circlip Still in very good condition though functionally.
I think I'll leave the post in as I won't be selling that down the river. On closer inspection I found a small number '5' embossed on the neck of the post (non-driveside).

[zues]

Drubie wrote' [quote] Who even remembers Zues?[/quote]
Well for starters-ME
Here's my newly acquired Corsa Extra frameset with a mix of components including: Zues brakes, levers, crankset and RD.

I have written a letter to Santa for a new Brooks B17 saddle and on the wish list I want new wheels and shifters-thats all

[toff]

I think he means "Zeus".

[zues]

Toff wrote' [quote]I think he means "Zeus".[/quote]
Yeah I thinks you are write Toff
I didnt realise there are so many Chalkies on the Forum
Apologies

[flyingporkpies]

Chalkie alert.
Actually it is a common misspelling, owing to the fact that we pronounce it incorrectly 'zoos'. It should be closer to 'zayus'.
Latin vowels are pronounced lower case: a, e, i, o, oo, so z-oo-e-s is us Celts spelling phonetically. We should of course say z-e-oo-s, which is much closer to Jesus who nicked Zeus's moniker.
Anyway, what's really important is does the Zeus of Belgium ride beyond expectations? Write back and let me know. Plus Merckx appreciation ride starts at 5am Thursday morning. See you there.
flyingporkpies

[zues]

FPP wrote'[quote]does the Zeus of Belgium ride beyond expectations?[/quote]
From my limited experience-Yes Its more stable and more responsive especially when I manage to pick up speed and better when climbing.
Overall its atleast 10% gain on any other steel frame.
At the moment I am using a friction downtube shifters that I have borrowed-still getting use to it.
See you at 5am I assume start is from the the Walliston Dairy