Sincitycycler

or should I say "does" use, since he came out of retirement!

hi565

so he rode a colnago? so i take it Eddy Mercx= rebadged frame at the time?

Sincitycycler

Gee, from the geometry, it looks like he was all legs! Short top tube compared to his seat tube length. Their is no stock bike out there like this me thinks..

Trogon

The geometry is virtually identical to a modern Colnago.

Their 60 (CTT) frame has a 57.7 TT.

The_Convert

Wow this is freaky...I just got a Serotta fit yesterday and I am almost (58 tt 61 st) exactly those frame demensions. The guy was joking with me that I need a women's specific...

halfspeed

Me too. 61cm seat tube, 57.5 top tube. When the LBS suggests I should buy a new bike, I ask if they have a 61cm WSD.

It's not that far off from old Italian bikes and touring bikes.

Sincitycycler

Found it: "How Eddy Merckx broke the World's 1972 Cycling Speed Record in Mexico City

On October 25, 1972, Eddy Merckx, considered by many to be the greatest cyclist ever, set a world's bicycle speed record by averaging 30.7 mph for 1 hour. He did so in Mexico City riding a conventional racing bike. Eddy was 27 yrs old, weighed 165 lbs and was 5 ft 11 in tall. Mexico City's wooden velodrome is at an elevation of 7300 ft. Assuming Eddy wore conventional racing shorts and a short sleeve shirt and assuming he rode in a crouched position riding in an air temperature of 63 degrees F with no winds, how many calories per minute did he burn?"

The_Convert

I heard he was a little taller than that.

baxtefer

the colnago he rode (rebadged as a windsor) for the hour was 58x58
https://www.classicrendezvous.com/Ben..._B-guide_1.htm
see page 4.

Matsbjorn

In tour the france 1975, I wasnt aloud to post the link to the bike..

tungsten

canklecat

58x58 looks about right, judging from the head tube length between top and down tubes. Same size as my old school steel bike measured center-to-center. And Merckx appears to be about 5'11", same as me, although Merckx was physically much larger -- broader in the back and with massive hips and lower back, like Anquetil, relative to their overall height and weight. That's were the power comes from -- or did, in that era of big gears and slower cadence accompanied by the old school rock and roll bobbing up and down, back and forth, to mash those bigger gears.

Keep in mind that's tall for a world class cyclist, so he appears huge compared with most cyclists you see in photos next to him from his competitive years. But he was among the last of the big men who were competitive in world class events, and admitted he wasn't as good on climbs as his smaller rivals.

Indurain was probably the last of the "big" men to achieve that level of domination, and even then relatively later in his career with the benefit of some magical potions.

shelbyfv

13 years necro.... How do they find these threads?

TrojanHorse

Damn good question! And it's always a 1-post newb.

fietsbob

DeRosa built the Hour bike, not Colnago. yes a big sponsor check , to a professional will do that, it has, since been repainted again
and is in his Belgian company offices




Look at the corporate re naming of taxpayer paid for, stadiums.




...

ThermionicScott 

Probably by doing a search, as we also badger newbies to do.

ptempel

Wikipedia says Eddy was 6'1" and 163lbs in his prime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx

Is that correct? I'm tempted to call BS on the weight. If he really was 163lbs, then that would make him skinnier than Jens Voght who was the same height at around 174lbs, if I recall. And Jens *looked* skinny (well, still does). Another reason not to believe it is maybe I'm the same height but 230lbs.

Edit: Nice article on him, BTW: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/la...-legend-205896

therhodeo

I'm 6' and race weight is about 155. Nothing odd about Eddy's weight.

Also Jens is 6'3 in basically every listing out there. Maybe he was 174 I don't know but that really just casts more shadows on CSC/Saxo's pharmaceutical practices.

ptempel

Oops. Your're right. Jens was 6'3". Ah, well.

canklecat

By doing precisely what veteran forum curmudgeons always bark at n00bs to do: Google that $h!t before posting a new thread. And when they do and tack onto an existing thread they catch flak over the zombie thread trope.

canklecat

Yeh, I've seen that claim for Merckx' height, being 6'1" rather than the 5'11" claimed elsewhere. I'm doubtful. Eddy has unusually long legs for his height, big thighs, hips and lower back and a broad torso and barrel chest. He seemed bigger and taller. But when you see him walking and standing next to other guys he doesn't seem unusually tall -- he was just fairly big for a world class cyclist. Those 58cm or so frames he usually rode would have been too small if he really was 6'1". The seat post and stem extensions look about the same as on my 58cm bikes -- I'm 5'11", but with very average leg and torso length, not nearly as physically big as Merckx. He probably walks around at 200 lbs now and looks okay. At 205 lbs, the heaviest I got 15 years ago, I was a doughboy.

shelbyfv

Seeing as he retired about 1978, I can't fathom how his height or bike size during his career could have changed in the past 13 years. Nevertheless, continue to gnaw on it if you like.

TrojanHorse

He wasn't asking a question that could be googled, he was replying to a VERY OLD question.

Fiery

Any sources for that? It contradicts most available information. See for example this quite detailed article: The Retrogrouch: Will the Real Hour Record Bike Please Come Forward?

Lazyass

Eddy Merckx with the 1964 Superia he used to win the World Amateur road race in Sallanches that year.