Just saw this on sf bay are cr. a guy was asking if the eddy merckx molteni replica on ebay was real. it sure looks bogus to me. its in Los Gatos california-which is pretty close to where i live. very strange looking braze ons. the seller has a history of the bike but it sure does not look like the real thing to me. anyone out there check this out and confirm? if it is a fraud, he should be reported. thanks. joe

link?

I've been following the auction for giggles. I actually believe the seller believes what he's saying about the bike. But the reality is, it is a nothing bike. And amazing it's been bid up to where it's at. Some very un-informed bidders out there! They are lucky it's not hit reserve, as that's a bullet dodged.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Genuine-Eddy-Mer...item3cb1a25d3b

looks like it is one of the lower end merckx branded bikes. While not one of these japanese made ones, it could be one of the 2 or 3 [ Falcon made them in the US & UK and Miyata made them in Japan.] other ones branded with his name. So probably legit. Though not worth what the seller wants for it. $600 and still not at the reserve. but what do I know?

https://prollyisnotprobably.com/2010/...mondays_48.php

Didn't read the ad, but while it is not a genuine bike, wasn't there some gaspipe replicas made to cash in on the fame? Could this be one of those?

edit: beat to the punch by O Rly?.

Maybe not a fraud but Merckx didn't start building bikes until 1980. There are several Merckx branded bikes built in the 70's by Kessels and Falcon.

The thing to remember about 1970's Molteni Merckx bikes is they were ALL branded bikes. There were ones from great builders (De Rosa, Colnago, Kessels), mid-line production versions (Falcon 531), and bottom of the line junk (Falcon, Kessels, Japanese, etc.) They are all "genuine", and it's not fraud to sell a low-end version. This is a case where it's purely up to the buyer to know what they are buying. And obviously many of them do not.

It is at $600 with 2 days to go. That is about 6 times what I would pay for it...

edit: make that 12 times what I would pay

i was thinking that it was just a piece of junk-repainted-and decaled to look like a merckx but i can see now that it is a cheap line bike made back in the day to capitalize on the merckx phenom. i wouldnt pay 150.00 for it but maybe 100.00 just for the novelty. makes you wonder if thats why the price is as high as it is. maybe those are rare bikes. although not rideable as a nice road bike

It is a genuine lower-than-mediocre mid-70s campus bike in Merckx livery. Funny thing is, the seller shows a photo of the genuine article, made by Colnago or DeRosa, that clearly shows the differences. Bidders are obviously clueless, unless they some sort of Merckx completists, collectors striving to acquire an example of every item that ever carried a Merckx logo.

I guess that in their minds they are bidding on one of these:

That looks like a Merckx Falcon to me. Those were horrible bikes -- I even hated the Campy Record equipped versions. Eddy Merckx sold his name to some people that didn't exactly use it to great advantage.

The only thing fake about it is the story.

Puffy.

J

Sold $930.00. An expensive lesson, but education is not free. Could be a record high for gas-pipe?

who knows, there was an old low-end Atala or Bottecchia or the like that sold for $1200 sometime last year, that was silly too. Falcons were bad, but '70s low-end Italian bikes were worse.

I've figured how I can afford retirement.

I'll buy up a huge pile of these Falcons, and sell them until I can afford to retire.

Wow.

Jesus christ someone got ripped off big time.

Why do I think this should be one to watch the feedback on in no more than a month... or the madness has started. Amazing. Silly.

Just put Italian Confente transfers on them... they will be marvelous.

I was looking at that bike earlier and thought something was up. I don't feel bad for the winning bidder, even if he was uninformed. You should know exactly what your buying when throwing around that kind of money.

I don't think you will. The seller was pretty upfront (and being delusional is not really his fault). The photos clearly showed what the bike was. I think the buyer will be more embarassed than anything when somebody breaks the news to them, and will probably just try and forget the whole thing. Or just convince themselves it's a great bike (which I've seen before as well).

Or maybe somebody bought it just to hang as decoration in their Belgian sports hero themed bar as decoration. To us it's nuts, but in the grand scheme of spending a grand on crap it's really nothing.

Maybe the winning bidder might consider getting this one too...

https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...=STRK:MEDWX:IT

There are so many good offers on ebay. Even at a buy it now price. Why are people so f.. stupid and buy this ****? I would not even pay 100 euros for one of these bikes.

Holy smokes! I have two Falcon Merckx bikes in the basement. Full double butted 531 frames, Brooks Pro Saddle, full Campy Nuevo Record kit and super low mile tubulars. I think I need to takes some pictures and get one of them listed ASAP. Both in excellent shape and well maintained.

hey it's got these components according to the listing:
"with Simano Breaks, Suntaur Shifters - Made in Japan"