I think the bike is totally legit. Sebastien and Willy, these are the type if guys that hang out in cycling circles. Its their passion. I'd like to know what proof would be good enough to prove its Eddys bike?

Sebastiens word is good enough for me.

The text is straightforward and quite comprehensive too.

While this is a recreation, the standard of finish is very good, much care was taken to keep the paint from building up too thick.

Makes me want to paint one of mine that needs it this way.

That's Stefan, of course. Very nice indeed! THAT is how to present a bike for sale!

My minor nits: needs short brake calipers, shouldn't have tabbed pedals, needs an oro chain. That's pretty much all I see (and other than the calipers, those are minor issues).

It's a system that stays 'greased' and guarantees that profits continue to flow briskly into eBay's coffers. Any questions? :-)

Cool. You should buy it!

^i would if I could afford it. Maybe fly over and have a beer with Sebastian.

Remember, its not a lie if you believe its the truth.

I don't think Sebastien is trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I believe him too. But for investment purposes, at that price, I think it would require a bit more documentation. For me, anyway. But of course, that's all just idle rumination on my part as I'm not a serious buyer for such a thing. Fine thing, though it is.

Huh?

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you on that, Big Ring. Too many examples to the contrary.
Even though this case may not be one of them.

No, "normal" or original reach calipers are correct. Masi forks for the Gran Criterium started out with very short brake reach, less than what the original Campagnolo caliper was capable of being adjusted to. I am not sure why, it got sorted out later. The Universal 68 caliper was adjustable for a bit less reach than the Campagnolo. Maybe that was the reason. Some Masi Specials (late) share this sort reach on the fork. Masi cheated the brake mounting hole up closer to the crown race to gain some extra room initially by the examples I have, and filed the "moon" washer to clear the headset.

The lower head lug angle was adjusted later to allow a longer fork and more clearance. The tight reach would later return with the Prestige when short reach brakes were ubiquitous.

The earliest Short Reach Campagnolo calipers I saw were in late 1974. Way before they were stocked by the distributors.

Just for the record i'm not accusing the seller of lying.

I'm just stating that the story and Ebay responses comes across as not that legit the way they are worded.

Yeah, I'm with you. If I was going to be dropping that kind of money for a display piece, I'd need some sort of authentication.

"You got to Believe"

The challenge is that those who have the disposable income to afford the tariff are also likely to be very careful how they spend it.
Proclaiming that it is built by a certain maker is the easy part to confirm. Everything beyond is quite a challenge. Maybe not, Eddy is still around to ask.
The risk though is that Mr. Merckx reviews the bike and does not remember it, or is unwilling to make a public judgement on the record.

Then where are you?

Yes, the short calipers appeared in '74.
OK, I looked at my NOS Confente-built '72 GC, and it does of course have regular-reach calipers, and they are up pretty high in the slots. Not quite as extremely high as on this tribute bike, though. If I bought this one (too small, plus my wife would kill me anyways...) I would still change the calipers, personally.

That's the Joseph Goebbels school of truth. Also the Karl Rove school, fwiw.

Actually, I would consider one of the "V" built Italian bikes exceptions to my notes. Brian Baylis has stated Mario mentioned that the jig frames that were on hand were "wrong" at Carlsbad, well at least some of them and he did not use them. Mario built complete frame and fork sets for Masi while in Italy. This may not have been the case for other sub contractors.

When did tab appear and disappear on relevant pedals?

Im thinking a signed document from Eddy would do the trick. He is still around, now whether he would be up for doing that kind of thing? I do think Eddy would know if it was his. He was a real bike nut and probably worked on that bike himself at one time or another. At any rate, I dont think anything less than a signed Merckx document would do the trick. I for one, have an email from Andy Hampsten saying my 7-11 bike was "probably" one of his.

Well, it appeared at launch in 1956, but it stopped being produced in about 1971, afaik, when the SL pedals appeared. There were probably lots of tabbed pedals around in inventories, though, and it's not like they recalled them, so they could still have been sold for quite some time after that point.

Is everyone aware that there are two versions of the black SL pedals? The flip tab and quill 'points' were made less pointy, probably during all of the CPSC nonsense in 1977-1978. There were also short-lived silver-cage SL pedals, afaik, but I've never seen any.

I got it from George Costanza.

Was he a Nazi, like the other two? :>

But how many bikes does a top racer ride in a season? In a decade? There must be dozens or hundreds that he rode in the period this bike would represent, (and this bike has had some restoration/rebuilding since then). Again, watch "La Course en Tete". There are swarms of virtually identical orange "Eddy Merckx" bikes in his garage, on support vehicles, ridden by other team members. Chances of him 40 years later looking at this bike and saying "yep" would be pretty slim.

No, an architect!

There are at least three versions, all with no strap loop.
Silver, non anno cage, cage windows like the steel pedal.
Black with the same cage shape as the steel pedal (small typography) still using metallic dust caps by the way.
Black with the "windows" smaller and the chamfer leading to the outer surface at the "windows". (the typical configuration seen) typography evolves

I have not studied the quill return closely, I should do that.

I have examples of all of the above.

That IS the problem and the risk. And yes, Eddy did go through a good number of bikes, probably more than the typical pro.

Son, I said son.... (read it in Foghorn Leghorn's accent...).
I said there are two versions of the black-caged.... Plus silver, equals three....