Rescue bikes are sometimes the best ones!
I bought my Merckx Century as a frame with a few parts from a seller in NYC. I did not get a vibe that it was stolen BTW. The frame was really beat up with dinged up shifter braze ons, beat up derailleur hanger threads, scarred up and pitted chrome on the forks and chainstays.
Looking closely at the frame though I could see areas of touch up paint and the headset and bottom bracket were nicely greased and clean as a whistle; evidence that the bike had a thoughtful owner before falling on hard times. My guess is it fell into the hands of a hipster who “fixified” it. I put more work into that bike than any other I’ve ever had and it’s one of my favorites now, not only because of the wonderful fit and ride, but because it’s my “rescue puppy”.
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N = '96 Colnago C40, '04 Wilier Alpe D'Huez, '10 Colnago EPS, '85 Merckx Pro, '89 Merckx Century, '86 Tommasini Professional, '04 Teschner Aero FX Pro, '05 Alan Carbon Cross, '86 De Rosa Professional, '95 Gios Compact Pro, '95 Carrera Zeus, ‘81 Masi Gran Criterium, ‘81 Merckx Pro, ‘89 Cinelli Supercorsa, ‘83 Bianchi Specialissima, ‘VO Randonneur, Ritchey Breakaway Steel, Rivendell Rambouillet, Heron Randonneur, ‘92 Ciöcc Columbus EL