Not sure how this happened...

[BalkanExpress]

I mentioned a week or so ago that I had bid on a Merckx..well I won

The Merckx

• BalkanExpress
• 9 Apr 2018

A Merckx MX Leader with a very 1990s paint scheme! Bought from a guy who lives a five minute walk from my house. The components are mostly Chorus 8 speed, with a véloce triple in the front. Lovely dark grey 3ttt bars and stem and mismatched wheels: Mavic open CD on the back and a rigida DP 18 on the front,

At some point the rear wheel will be replaced and the 1990s dial will be turned up to 11: elite metallic green bottle cages and cameo bar tape in marching colours

But until then the plan is to

 

[User32269]

Very nice! Enjoy!
Looks tidy, ready to ride .

 

[BSOh]

Thats a fine looking bike. I love the paint scheme

 

[ridelover9941]

Cool bike.

 

[raleighnut]

 

[BalkanExpress]

Just discovered one slight problem: riding on the hoods is very comfortable, but I have small hands and on the drops I can only just reach the brake levers with the tips of my middle fingers. Luckily, I was not reaching for an emergency stop when I discovered this.

And no, I will not be off-loading it to one of you just cos you have big hands

 

[BalkanExpress]

Very nice! Enjoy!
Looks tidy, ready to ride .

It is very, very tidy, a couple of scrapes on the top tube but apart from that everything is in good condition and ready to roll

 

[BalkanExpress]

Thats a fine looking bike. I love the paint scheme

Thanks, The paint is indeed lovely, I need a sunny day to take some better pictures as the paint is metallic and shimmers in the light.

 

[User32269]

I like the paint job, but given that I own a 90's Univega MTB with a colour scheme that gives me acid flashbacks, maybe my judgement is skewed.

 

[booze and cake]

Wow missed this, that's a gorgeous paint job, what a find. Is it Columbus Max? The forks look like it, I love the look of a Max fork. Happy riding.

 

[davidphilips]

Lovely bike, try moving the levers round a bit after removing old bar tape and before fitting new perhaps you may find a better set up for yourself?

 

[raleighnut]

Lovely bike, try moving the levers round a bit after removing old bar tape and before fitting new perhaps you may find a better set up for yourself?

Yep, I'd set the 'tops' flat and then move the brakes down on the curve so that access from the drops allows you to get a good 'handfull' of the brake lever. Old school I know but effective and the usual 'grip' is on the tops thumb pointing forward with this lever position (a bit like a golf club grip)


EDIT - The other advantage is that puts the drop at a nice angle for your wrists when climbing.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Wow missed this, that's a gorgeous paint job, what a find. Is it Columbus Max? The forks look like it, I love the look of a Max fork. Happy riding.

Thanks, only a few KMs in and it is a dream to ride

Tubing is MXL, a treeked version of MAX for Merckx bikes only. The fork looks fantastic and I doubt I will ever use its full capability.

 

[BalkanExpress]

Yep, I'd set the 'tops' flat and then move the brakes down on the curve so that access from the drops allows you to get a good 'handfull' of the brake lever. Old school I know but effective and the usual 'grip' is on the tops thumb pointing forward with this lever position (a bit like a golf club grip)

Cheers, I will give this a go when ai get around to redoing the bars. May be a while as I have other things on the go at the moment

 

[BalkanExpress]

Redid the bars today. Left the levers where they are, first because now there is only one layer of cork tape I can reach the levers, second, they were so well fitted that even once I had untaped everything there wouldn’t have been enough slack to move them down.

Also popped on a couple of elite metallic bottle cages, my old flight saddle and some very shiny rims which were just delivered. The 1990s are back

The 1990s called...

• BalkanExpress
• 21 May 2018

...they want their bike back.