I've never seen one of the older Merckx frames that you guys are talking about but there is one on the 'bay, let's see how much it fetches...

https://cgi.ebay.com/EDDY-MERCKX-Road...item43a1b2ebcc

title sounds like love to me

Unless it has some rust. Then, it is only worth $100.

Well, it will be interesting to see where this one ends up. I'd venture to say it's a nicer bike than the subject of this thread, and earlier. One of the Reynolds 531 frames instead of Columbus SL. I have no idea how/if that will affect the outcome.

I found that when I finally decide to buy something old and cool and expensive, the biggest deciding factor affecting cost is how much of a hurry I'm in, not paint scratches or rusty chrome.

Just for everyone's information, I have followed several EM framesets on ebay.be (the Belgian site, obviously) and they go for very little money this side of the pond.
My neighbour just sold a 58cm SLX Merckx for less than €200. The components were poor but the frame was extremely sound.

Lots of bargains still over here - and as I am working for 6 weeks in Lille next year (just over the Belgian border) I may see what I can find.... will report back!

Ssshhhhhhh!


I couldn't agree more.

Prices just went up %50 on ebay.be.

But what's with the poor descriptions? I did some browsing and find some interesting listings like this one or this one or this one with generic titles ("velo de course" or road bike, or simply "velo"), poor photos, scant description of components, and not even a mention of the bike manufacturer. That said, poor descriptions do tend to keep the prices down, so maybe I shouldn't complain.

EDIT: Then again, that last listing is from the town of Silly.

It seems that in the EU, Carbon is real, steel, not so much.

There are fantastic deals to be had, especially in Germany and Belgium.

It will be interesting to watch this latest auction, as BBM says, an actual earlier bike, with the script SS ends AND again, the chrome flat crown fork. And no drain hole, a very early variant.

Nothing finer then a walk through a small Bavarian town in the morning.

No, I don't mean stealing them out of garages!

A simple conversation with neighbors can lead to real finds!

Like a De Rosa.

Busted Carbon

Brittle materials suck! Umm, ... errr,... I mean,... brittle materials crack!

Price and value are subjective on the high end. I also have a guitar fetish and would gladly pay the money to have our very Mr. Newton hand build me a dreadnaught if I could justify the purchase in my muddled mind. It would be a better deal than the Gibson Custom Shop Dove hanging behind glass locally for a mere $7995.

I wish I could bring myself to liquidate some of the mid level guitars in my collection and go big on just a couple of higher end models, but each has it's own purpose, and sound. Variety does have it's place, and I have found I actually don't play the couple of higher end models I have as much as I do my $400 - $600 guitars. Odd in the most extreme of ways........

My bike collection is down to two Italians (one is still inbound), two hand built in England bikes, a rather hard to come by all red Ironman, a Moto Super Mirage, and a modern all the bells and whistles plastic bike. Each has it's won purpose and place, and I doubt I could bring myself to liquidate and have just one or two either. Oddly my Dawes Super Galaxy sees most of my miles, which is probably a crime against humanity.

An earlier post commented on folks who have 20 or so $200 bikes hanging around who think it's crazy to drop $2500+ on single bike. I understand the logic of each side of the argument, I just can't seem to put the logic to practice in everyday life

$686

Hrm, that is a lot less than I expected it to hit. And the $2500 one hasn't been re-listed so it must be a done deal. Wow.

I watched this also and was surprised at the $686. Nicer, earlier bike which if the original auction did go through shows that it was an emotional purchase and not based on current market value.