Paul J

I wasn't trying to stir things up :-)

At the time mine was originally purchased their was some speculation if DeRosa had build the early ones because of the relationship he had and that they were very similar.

This 1982 is the same as mine. https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Ben...ckx_bike_1.htm

tarwheel 

Merckx Corsa 01, definitely made in Belgium. It has a sticker that says so. I've also got a ti Merckx AX, but it was made in the USA by Litespeed to Merckx specs.

Paul J

Here is my 90's Merckx which I purchased in 2001, originally it had 8-speed Dura Ace. Now it is Campy Centaur. I bought it from a fellow in South Carolina and when it arrived it had the top tube mounted pump which apparently he had left on the bike while it was on the trainer and thought the finish was great at first glance it had rust bubbling on the underside of the top tube. Because this was a daily rider I had a basic paint job done at Hot Tubes in MA. We decided to treat and cover-up the chrome and no recurring of any rust.

jimmuller 

I had my Masi painted at Hottubes as well, as well. Your red looks similar. Is that his "pure red" or did he add some black to it to make it Ferrari red? He recommended covering over the chrome on mine too because it had already been buffed to make paint adhere.

Paul J

jimmuller, I think it might have been the Ferrari red but it is so long ago I can't remember. When did you have yours painted? Way back when mine was painted they were a low-cost paid option but when I just looked them up it looks like they have moved upscale as have the prices. I was working in North Smithfield RI at the time and one of my workmates and I drove up one afternoon and dropped of my Merckx and the friend's DeRosa for resprays. Between the two bikes I like the ride of the 82 Merckx over the 90's bike. Not sure why because I think the newer bike is the Century geometry which should be similar. When we painted the bike we weren't sure which tubing it was, SLX or SPX, it should have been SPX but it appeared to be SLX thus the sticker. My 82 is SP.

jimmuller 

Just about 1 year ago exactly, more or less. Toby suggested "pure red", which is to say pure red pigment with nothing else. It came out RED, which is to say RED. It looks great. He already had a decal set for another bike whose paint job was determined best not done. In my case the frame had been abuse already, had no decals, had been rattlecanned white incompletely over the original charcoal gray.

Munny

This link has wrong info.
If they want to refer to licensed Merckx named bikes, only some of them applies and they forgot the French maker.
When it comes to Terryn, I'm still to be shown a Merckx ridden bike coming from Terryn (Who was not making his frames)
I know that the subject is difficult but spreading confusing info does not help much

stevenc

Finally Finished:


See https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-bridge-repair

non-fixie 

^ Turned out very pretty, Steven! Great color combo. Congrats!

RobbieTunes

Stellar.

CMAW 

Most anything looks good with the Belgian tricolore on it IMO but this is truly unique, chapeau.

northbend 

Agree! Well done, stevenc

vjp

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7448869@N03/4905017124/

Munny

It is a known fact that Charles Terryn was the mecanic of Merckx. It doesn't mean that the bikes were Terryn.
It is also a known fact that Terryn has was not making his frames
Seeing Terryn working on Merckx bikes doesn't mean that these were not made by other frame builders.

If in the previous link, Falcon is next to Kessels, there is a serious jump in quality between them and even within Kessels production, the quality goes from the worst to the best.

If you have pictures of Faema Merckx showing the Terryn caracteristics, I'm interested.

Branimir

My avatar says it all...
Excellent build, colors... ah... colors...

whatwolf

vjp

In 1969 (The picture has a sign that says 1969) the bikes were built by a Belgian, Marcel Van der Este through the "service de course" of Charles Terryn.

stevenc

Nice one whatwolf. Bike deserves better pictures.
Would look even better with black tape/hoods imho.

gregaz

Picked up a Libertas mixte this weekend. Full set of photos here.

non-fixie 

Very nice find, gregaz! I've seen Libertas' before, but not of this quality. Congrats!

76 VETTE

To my surprise (and delight ) I didn't see much/any Diamant bikes. And that's what I've got; offered to me by a collegue for free.

Until 3 weeks ago I never ever had heard from this brand and still have trouble finding info about it. (I'll post a topic with more pics soon)

The bike is for the biggest part outfited with Gipiemme parts, another brand I never had heard of. (Bars and stem are Cinelli and 3TTT)

stevenc

The Diamant bikes were made by Simons from Bekkevoort (they now produce under the Gianni Motta brand). Decent bikes but nothing exceptional. You can find loads of in Belgium!
Yours seems very well preserved and it's always nice to see something besides Campagnolo.

non-fixie 

Welcome, 76vette (you actually have one? I like those) Thanks for sharing your Diamant. Looks to be in great shape, but a bit too small, if that's your saddle height.

just dank

love that colourway!

76 VETTE

StevenC; Bedankt!! thanks for the info. The fact that these bikes are not very special explains why there is not much to be found at Dutch and Belgian websites.

Yep, I do have a 76 Corvette but it is still in hibernation since it's terrible weather overhere

The saddle was at its lowest when I picked up the bike and I raised it a bit (too much) just to make the bike look better in the picture.
At the moment I somewhat adjusted everything to my size and last week made a trip of 20 miles on the Diamant (only to find out that I am allready very accustomed to my other vintage bike, a Peugeot PH10, which is indeed 4cm taller)