Well, I just got myself another one of these cheap bikes. It's a Merckx Corsa, yet I'm a bit confused. The seller told me via email that it was made out of Reynolds so I assumed that it was 753 since I've never seen or heard of a Merckx, other than a Falcon or Kessels, made out of 531. Does this seem right? I was so excited thinking I was going to have a Merckx made out of Reynolds 753. Darn!! I know I must post pics but I just got home with it and it's raining outside. I'll post pics later this evening. Also, the serial number indicates it's a Professional but it has the Corsa Decal. WTF??? Thanks for the help in advance.

Pic and complete serial # are necessary. Never heard of a 531 Merckx, maybe a custom build?

HEJ Gilberto ,
post picts m8 ..
Is this the one you were telling me about a few days ago , or maybe it was a week now .. time flies !
Hear from you !
T

Will do. I'll post pics once it stops raining. Wait...I'm in Belgium; it always rains. SO I guess my confusion is well founded if you have never heard of a 531 Merckx.

Yup. This is the one. It's the same color as the one you just got. It's not in pristine condition like yours, but it's very, very, very nice. I'll post pics later.

nice , "sitting here waiting on the picts "
its raining here as well . STHLM is wet and its starting to look like snow now .. oh S*it .
.. 531 yes !
T

PS . yes the one i just got is NOS you know !!
ooo so nice . its partially built with NOS Modolo+ NOS Mavic components rihgt now ..
what wheels though , any suggestions , or you guys and your personal favorites =?

The earliest Merckx occasionally show up in 531 - usually they have slotted fork reinforcement tangs. They became less common, but until model's got "codified" in, say, late '85/86, the frame name was more about geometry than tubing.

Here's an early 80's one:
https://www.cadre.org/Merckx/A5-4799-E/

I doubt anyone can make it out, but the fork is stamped Reynolds 531. I doubt it's really a 1981 build, but who knows. I also suspect its been repainted.

Is the date code on yours a Z? As a transition model, it could have been built in the early part of 1985, but was painted or decaled later in the year. Also possible someone added the Corsa decal after the fact...

Avenan is the US expert, so I'd go along with him. Pics & full serial # are in order. You know better than to start a thread with no pics

Here are the pics. I had to take them in my kitchen since it's pretty crappy outside and it gets dark here at about 17:00. The guy who I bought it from said it originally had all campagnolo, but he "upgraded" it with RSX components. He said the guy at the LBS traded him the Shimano stuff for the "old obsolete campagnolo" stuff this bike had. I kind of laughed when he said he felt wrong about the trade as he feels he got the better of the guy at the bike shop. He wanted brifters instead of DT ones is pretty much what I got from my conversation with him. The only remaining campy components are the Headset and seat post. The serial number is A 8R 5815 E. Well let me know what you guys suspect and think of my latest Merckx. Avenan--hows the growing family?

beautiful "G" ...
love it .
very unusual downtube decals and paint scheme.
531 decal, ?
Strange ..

E94/95*

Very nice.

I totally forgot about my wife's Merckx. It looks exactly like this one but in a different color scheme. I'm going to to have a closer look at her's tomorrow. Maybe it'll help me out with my(this) Merckx. Her Merckx has over the BB cable routing but this(current one) one could of been made during the transition from over the BB to under. Also, the decals are the same as this other(yellow) Merckx of mine and this one has the BB cable routing through the bottom. But what do I know. I'll just wait for Avenan to chime in again. I really don't think it's a 94/95. Here are some pics of the two mentioned Merckx. The wife's bike is full SR. The Yellow one is getting ready to be shipped to the Merckx factory for a repaint along with a Merckx 01 and possibly my MX Leader.

P.S Notice guys how my wife's bike has internal cable routing on the TT along with over the BB cable routing. Weird.

i doubt its a 94/95 as well , the BB is wrong for 94/95 and the brazeon's on the over tube for cable routing indicate its earlier .i want to say early 80's . but then the fork is wrong . and the 531 Reynolds tubing im confused now .


edit , your beat me to the cable routing bit

That 531 decal is older then the bike - looks as if someone simply slapped it on.

Reynolds changed to the block-letter variant (I'll dig up a pic) by 1983, IIRC.



-Kurt

Methinks thats the misleading E - really a pre-84.

The R in the serial probably means - wait for it - Reynolds. I have a frame numbered A5R-3313-E in my backlog of serials that is also probably 531.

The sloping fork was definitely around by '85, and may really have appeared in '84. The cable routing is a little weird - there were bikes routed both over + under the bb in '85, but I was under the impression that prior they were always over. Any sign of there once being over routing? I'm suspicious of a repaint - that color scheme was the Weinmann scheme in 90/91. And that Reynolds decal doesn't look like the right vintage.

Check the fork for a Reynolds stamp.

Take a closeup pic of the cable routings. The Merckx ones were pretty distinctive. I think they were first offered as an option in 1987, but it could have been more like late '86.

They had that scheme that early? News to me...

-Kurt

Which scheme, color or routing? The color scheme, as I said, didn't appear in any of the ~100 Merckx frames + serials I have archived until around 1990. The cable routing first appears on frames dated with an A date code, which translate to 86/87. They changed the scheme from both entry + exit on top, to entry on the bottom in 1990.

Hmm...factory repaint, perhaps?

-Kurt

I just finished taking the Fork off and it indeed has a Reynolds 531 stamp on it. Here are the pics. Now, I also just got off the phone with the guy who sold me the bike and he says the paint is original. He's the OG owner. He also said he got it a ways back. He couldn't remember exactly when but he said it was for sure before 1987 since he remembers riding the bike to the hospital when his grandson was born. So what gives???

Eh, who knows with the paint schemes. I wouldn't sweat it too much.

The frame is pre-85 by the date code. Is there a decal on the fork that has a serial number? If so, does it match the BB? The crown was made by Microfusione Italiana, and its possible it arrived in the factory in late 1984 rather than '85. Assuming the numeric portion of the serial is sequential, yours is the latest pre-85 I have in my list - very likely it was one of the last of the "old" frames produced.

Cool to know! The fork only had the Reynolds Stamp along with a letter "R" and what appeared like a "7". I'll take the fork off again and re-check. I really need to make a list for you of all my Merckx bikes like I told you in my last email a while ago. By chance do you have an idea of the year of my MX Leader above? It has one chrome chain stay so I think it's a 1996/1997. Thanks!

What's the serial? After the 94/95 E, the date codes got a little strange - I think F may just be 1996, and G is 1997/98. If you drop a note to Gitabike they'll reply very quickly. If it is an F or a G, let me know what they say and I'll update my list.

who made the BB shell: Microfusione Italiana or ? It's very distinctive, sort of reminds me of a Hitachi, but different.