The frame is repainted, the fork can be borrowed from Professional/Corsa/Century.

What year would you make this out to be?

1989

They somehow didn't make it easy, since some didn't even have stamps as some one wrote early in the post, especially for someone without experience like myself.

At EMC, they also learned how to describe the frames - it took a while.

Hi there,

What model is this, please?

Left side: 0 (and what might be a "P"?)
Right side: Z 6295

Is this a Professional, size 50 c-c?

Thank you!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c7bf3cae7c.jpg


https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/1BgAA...VB/s-l500.webp


https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/luYAA...VB/s-l500.webp

It is most likely to be the Merckx 84 (i.e. the late “Professional”). Z6295 is early 1986, P is the EMC employee code (‘flipped’ not to be confused with R which stood for Reynolds 531 tubing), 0 is a size 50 or 60. There's a chance it's a Pro, but I need a brake bridge photo to verify that. It's definitely not a Corsa or 3-Athlete.

Thank you!
Hope this helps. Can you see anything?

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6fadb7eda4.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...742b9e403e.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...260bd2e9e9.jpg

Just picked this one up, as you can see its a little dirty, I can get a pic but it is in good shape and needs new decals.. someone removed them already, Thinking its a Corsa from late 80's maybe early 90's?

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...13789e443c.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4be005e34e.jpg


Left up H
Left Down 7C
Right up B
Right down 7430

Corsa 1989, Columbus SL/SP tubes

Merckx 84

Thank you. Much appreciated!

Team Panasonic
 

Hi, just picked up a nice team Panasonic, left side is 4x, right side is z 8581. Any information is greatly appreciated. Will post pics shortly.

pics as promised
 

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0756985caa.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2bff953fbb.jpg
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f255c0bc43.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...abe4f7aae7.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...875e366209.jpg

Corsa Extra SLX 1986 54cm

Thank You
 

That's what I had thought. Thank you very much for all your insight in this thread.
Ron

I recently bought this EM aerodynamic - I'm thinking mid 80's?
A bottom left, Z and 4917 on right.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f1cc73256f.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02cfbf8e9f.jpg

1985, Columbus SL/SP

Hi, thank you very much - I've seen similar EM aeros and all were from the same time period.

Beautiful early 80’s Signature
 

Hi Jacek

I’ve just got home having bought what might just be the most beautiful time-warp bike I’ve ever seen

I’ve worked out (from your previous brilliant threads on the subject) that it’s an early 80’s frame

I bought it from a very nice guy, here in the UK, that bought it from a shop in Arnhem in 1989. He raced it for 300 miles or so, and it’s been hung up in his living room ever since. He doesn’t know anything about its previous 120 mile journey from Meise before 1989, but he believes the shop owner had it in his shop for 5 years on display, as a talking point with customers.

I love the “real world” 600 groupset, original 20mm tyres, and tatty original bar tape.

Signature seat stays, seat post clamp flush, not low, dropouts stamped “Eddy Merckx”, later style BB shell, rather than with the Eddy Merckx branding. Beautiful fork crown. Serial number GT8 (on the left), then E1744.

I’ll post some pictures if the forum will let me (I don’t have many posts under my belt yet).

Would you have any thoughts on narrowing down the manufacture date, or any other insights?

Kind regards, and many thanks for sharing your encyclopaedic knowledge on these frames this far

And if anyone as any ideas about how to salvage that disintegrating Columbus water slide decal, PLEASE let me know.

Also - the tires still hold air just fine. I’m thinking about riding on them just to see how they feel. Am I mad?

Niel

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...72422cac9.jpeg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...539dc342e.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...95ed43283.jpeg
Ahhhh! So pretty!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fd6f57ce1.jpeg
Merckx dropouts
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...55b489bc6.jpeg
Little Lion/Griffin logo on the tape at the edge of the chrome
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e1b038be2.jpeg
Short lugs? Not sure.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...9ed9ab43b.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1cce2d0b0.jpeg

20 mm Pariba’s. Apparently lethal in the wet.

Original Selle Italia saddle long gone, sadly

Sakae bars
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c052c4c41.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...fed6e9cf8.jpeg

Best advice I can give you on the Columbus decal…

gently remove it

clean the area

buy new one just like it

waterslide it in place.

stunning bike. Very jealous.

Thanks Robvolz

Yes - I’ve been thinking about whether to do that

I’m just hesitating because the time-warp original thing is blowing me away at the moment and I don’t want to break the spell

Silly really. Doubtless I’ll end up doing that, but I’m thinking maybe I can soak it off, re-constitute it on a clear piece of double-sided sticky vinyl, and put it back on.

Over-thinking it for sure but there are worse problems to have

Agonizimg over the 20mm tyres as well. I’ve been riding 30’s and bigger for a while now (and I love them) but I’d forgotten how slender and elegant those old rubber bands look on a frame like this

Decisons, decisions….

All advice/suggestions etc very welcome from all

Personally I’d remove the tyres and inspect them, the tubes and the rim tape before riding them. That may be enough to demonstrate that riding them was not the best idea…

Failing that inflate them both to 125psi and see if they survive the night before a morning ride.

Also, great classic race bicycle in a fantastic original colour. Looks amazing.

Ho ho - that was very delicately put, Seagrade. Sound advice, and it made me chuckle.

We're thinking along the same lines, although I'd decided to do it the other way round. Pumped them up to 120 two nights ago. Amazingly, still holding. Not that that suggests that they are even remotely safe at any speed obviously.

Come to think of it - can anyone suggest what the recommended pressure would have been back in the day? I'm 73kg, 5'10". I've never pumped anything up past 120, and even that seems like quite a long time ago now. I've read vague references to 130, even 140 psi. Yikes.

I've given up on the idea of keeping them on and riding on them permanently - clearly they are on their last legs at best.

It's mainly because I want to know how that bike feels on tarmac on skinny tires, given that it's been so long that I rode anything set up like that. If it's not crazy uncomfortable, I may see if I can find a current manufacturer of tan-walled rubber bands, just to keep it a bit more period correct. It's not as if I'm currently planning any centuries on it, and I can always get a set of 32mm's to put on it if that day comes.

I recall Pariba tyres but not their recommended pressures. Many 20/22mm tyres in the 80s/90s used 105psi as the recommended pressure, and from memory a few went to 115 (Specialized Turbo?) or 120psi recommendations. 105 and 120 are both just over 7 and 8 atmospheres respectively.

In practice, of course, many people went higher, especially for tubulars, and boasted of 140-plus psi.

Personally I ran c. 105psi for training clinchers, and for racing tubulars on wet days, and 120psi for tubulars on dry days. At the time I raced at c. 79kg (175lb) on sketchy Kiwi roads.

If I _had_ to ride clincher 20s/22s again, I’d start at 100-105psi and nothing less for risk of snake bite flats.

Let me save you the trouble, it will feel horrible, even just rolling around the neighborhood (I did this just recently :lol:). I'm a fan of a skinny tyre and high pressures, but riding on ancient tyres that have matured to something like sandstone won't give anything a fair comparison.

Ok fellas

thanks for the input - duly noted and much appreciated

Michelin still make a tan wall 20mm tyre it seems, and they’re cheap, so I’ll give them a go

Saddle arrived today (Selle Italian RS, black, almost spot on for what’s in Jacek’s catalogue) and the bike suddenly looks fully clothed and beautifully proportioned

Will take it out for a spin on Exmoor the next dry day I’m off work

So exciting!

1981 :)

Thanks Makaron, good to know, and I really appreciated you looking at it for me

I’d assumed it was later than that - seat post bolt flush, not low, no logo on the bottom bracket.

Now that I think of it - the seat post bolt is sugino, and it’s the kind with a little tab on one side. There’s no corresponding slot in the frame, so I’m assuming that’s not factory. Would you agree?

I’m thinking originally they were maybe campagnolo lug bolts and whoever sold or swapped out the factory Campagnolo groupset sold it on at the same time as part of the set

I’m not going to go down the road of trying to replace everything as per catalogue pictures (mainly to let my wallet cool off), at least for now, but I think the sugino slot/tab situation must be remedied urgently!

I’d agree the original seat bolt would have been Campagnolo (part 1072 from memory, or Campagnolo pattern alternative). As to it being sold as part of a groupset I think that’s less likely - more likely is that it just broke in use. They were known for it and a few racers even trained with a spare seat lug bolt in their micro tool kit in case it broke out on the road, especially if they were prone to mid-ride adjustments, as Merckx himself was well known for. In fact Merckx’s mid-race fit adjustments in the years after his bad crash in 1969 are well documented.

Coming back to the problem at hand, frame builder Richard Sachs has commissioned and sells a suitable seat lug bolt likely a lot stronger and more reliable than Campagnolo originals. Not inexpensive, of course, but nobody ever regretted buying quality.