Eddy Merckx Lugano 68 Carbon Time Trial Frameset 2016

Eddy Merckx Frames

Eddy Merckx is widely regarded as the greatest ever road cyclist, winner of 11 Grand Tours (5 Tour de France victories, 5 Giro d'Italia and 1 Vuelta), all five Monuments, breaking the Hour record, World Championships and countless other achievements. Nicknamed The Cannibal due to his ruthless racing style, after retiring from professional cycling Eddy founded his Belgian bike company in March 1980. Inspired by Ugo De Rosa (of De Rosa fame) Merckx setup his first factory in Meise, and due to the popularity of the brand later moved to Zellik. The brand has a strong tradition of employing former riders, such as Jos Huysmans, Edouard Janssens, and Bob Lelangue, which lends further credibility to the brand as well as providing valuable employment after cycling. Initially bikes were constructed from steel, but this was later surpassed by aluminium as material of choice. After a brief dabble in titanium, a large proportion of Merckx bikes are now constructed from carbon due to it's high strength and low weight properties. In 2008 Eddy retired as CEO, but still provides input as a consultant to the engineers. Famous riders that have competed on Merckx bikes include Erik Zabel, Robbie McEwen, Tom Boonen, Frankie Andreu, Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie - if the bikes are good enough for Eddy and riders of that calibre, then you can guarantee they won't let you down.

For more information on Eddy's achievements, please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Merckx, or you can view his bike company's wikipedia article. Alternatively you can view the official website's latest bike range, or you can find out more about the company on their history page.

About Merlin Cycles

This cycling deal was found at Merlin Cycles, one of the UK's most famous bike shops, located up North!

Merlin Cycles started life in 1993, founded by John Moss as a mail order Mountain Bike business ran directly from his spare bedroom in Chorley. Due to early growth, shortly afterwards he opened his first outlet in Ormskirk, and a few years later in 1998, the company grew into larger premises, moving to Leyland.

In the 1990's and early 2000's, Merlin were known for their ranges of mountain bike hardtails, released under the Rock Lobster and Merlin "Malt" brands. These steel and aluminium hardtails were designed in house, available as framesets or complete bikes, representing excellent value for money. The company was also well known for their handbuilt MTB wheels, which in my experience lasted for years without needing truing!

Merlin have always been competitive on pricing, particularly on suspension forks, brakes, wheels and groupsets, which continues to this day. Nowadays they have introduced road cycling equipment and clothing into their product ranges, due to the increase in popularity in this field, thus catering for a broader range of cyclists.

For more information on Merlin Cycles you can see their shipping costs, read about their history, or visit their homepage.