Some very fancy bikes were auctioned this week, most notably Tadej Pogačar’s Tour-winning Y1Rs selling for $190,500, but this lovingly restored replica of Eddy Merckx’s 1972 Hour Record-breaking ride also went under the hammer and fetched $12,065 (around £9,040).
Merckx broke cycling’s fabled Hour Record at the end of his 1972 season, a year during which, on the road, he had won his fourth Tour de France, third Giro d’Italia, fifth Milan-San Remo, third Liège-Bastogne-Liège, third Flèche Wallonne, second Giro Il Lombardia, and hoovered up four Giro stage wins and six at the Tour. Not bad.
Heading to altitude in Mexico for the record attempt, Merckx set a new best of 49.431km and declared it the hardest ride he’d ever done. The distance stood for 12 years, Francesco Moser ultimately the first to breach the 50km mark, the Italian benefiting from technological advances such as disc wheels and more aerodynamic clothing (as well as now-admitted links to very competent medical practitioners).
There were no disc wheels for Merckx, although the Colnago the Belgian rode to the record was still believed by some, at the time, to be the most expensive and lightest bike ever made at 5.4kg.
The actual machine ridden by Merckx now sits on display at the Brussels metro station named after Belgium’s greatest cycling son, this one auctioned at Sotheby’s built to the Cannibal’s dimensions, but unused, and now restored for a new (very rich) owner.
Merckx’s Hour bike signalled the last time the record was held by someone riding a ‘normal’ bicycle, the technological space age of Moser and legendary British riders Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman, followed by Tony Rominger and Miguel Indurain ultimately leading the UCI, at the turn of the millennium, to clamp down on what you could and couldn’t ride.
Boardman ultimately returned on a UCI-legal machine in 2000 and bested Merckx’s distance of almost 30 years earlier by just ten metres, further exemplifying the incredible achievement of riding 49.431km on the 1972 Colnago almost a third of a century earlier. With that said, in Daniel Friebe’s Merckx biography, Boardman did point out that he believes he lost around 500m in aerodynamics due to the UCI, by then, requiring riders to wear a full-size legal helmet, not just a leather skullcap like Merckx wore.
While not the actual bike used this one, built to Merckx’s dimensions for his ’72 record, has been restored and this week sold at auction for a little over $12,000.
The listing on Sotheby’s auction website said the frame itself features perfectly round Columbus SL tubing, with reinforced seat stays, a “testament to the engineering principles of the era: purity, stiffness, and speed above all”.
It has been “restored with care and authenticity” and “embodies the spirit of a transformative chapter in cycling, when innovation, ambition, and athletic brilliance aligned to push the limits of what was possible”.
11 thoughts on “A beautiful Colnago track bike built to Eddy Merckx’s 1972 Hour Record dimensions”
Beautiful bike. A shame they
Beautiful bike. A shame they didn’t Mexico the cranks like they did for Merckx’s bike.
The bike in the Brussels
The bike in the Brussels metro station doesn’t completely match the bike you see in the photos of Eddy actually setting the hour record in Mexico. Nor does the other purported bike I found from online photos that say it is in the Colnago museum. The bike at Sotheby’s also doesn’t match Eddy’s hour bike – as someone in the previous story on this auction pointed out, decals and hubs are completely off (and the stem seems wrong too).
My guess is the /real/ bike
My guess is the /real/ bike is in the garage, if not hanging on the wall, at Eddy’s house.
I looked into this a bit
I looked into this a bit after going to see the Metro bike (always been interested in things Merckxian since part of my childhood in the ’70s was spent in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, his home suburb of Brussels). The general consensus seems to be that the Brussels bike is the genuine article: there’s a film from the early 2000s of Eddy being interviewed by Paul Sherwen and showing him the bike, saying it’s “the one” and that it will soon be on display in Brussels. However as well as taking two bikes to Mexico Eddy also took at least six sets of handlebars and stems and other bits of kit to find the optimal setup and it’s speculated he might have continued tinkering with these parts after getting home so the frame might not be carrying all the elements used in the record. Some people also suggest that Eddy, or the exhibitors, may have had the frame repainted before it went on permanent display.
Rendel Harris wrote:
Interesting he said that. So Brussels may be it? OTOH, maybe Eddy had contractual reasons that meant he had to say that (starting with: He had promised them the original bike, so couldn’t later appear to be denying its authenticity? etc.).
It clearly is not the frame as it was in Mexico though. The decals are definitely not the same on either the seat or head tube. Also, it has has a black seat post – the bike he rode on the day had a silver alloy post. The tyres are probably wrong too – every film and photo from the Mexico ride, the walls are /very/ light, and the rubber strip is incredibly narrow and minimal, the Brussels one seems to have had the tyres replaced (even if they had the originals, they’d have perished – the photos of the Colnago museum bike, the tyres are completely rotted).
Respraying the frame would be odd. Why would anyone do that to a record winning bike?
The other possibility is the original bike has disappeared and no one knows where it is and/or which frame really was the record bike. Eddy was a busy man then, etc.
Certainly, the bike in Brussels has been taken out of that exhibit sometimes – possibly used for things – cause the seat is at different heights in different photos. And cause the tyres are in roadworthy condition (i.e., almost certainly not original, and probably replaced cause someone wanted to use the bike – given changes in seat post).
Yes, we’ll probably never
Yes, we’ll probably never know the full truth as to which bike, if any, is the real deal and how many bits and pieces on it have been changed. One thing that can probably be explained is the discrepancy of the decals: at the last minute Eddy accepted a deal from the local Mexican “Windsor” bike brand to put their stickers on the bike to recoup some of the personal outlay he had made for the record attempt. This was apparently a great boost to the sales of the local brand although it seriously pissed off Sig.Colnago! As the deal was struck at the last minute I would imagine those decals went on over the lacquer/paint on the frame and may have been removed immediately afterwards or just peeled off over the course of time.
You’ve all been FOOLED! It’s
You’ve all been FOOLED! It’s quite clear if you look at the shadows that the pohtos were FAKED. The record NEVER HAPPENED – the uci is LYING to you!
The bIkE was sTolEn by
The bIkE was sTolEn by FRancEscO MosEr frOM a GraSsy kNoLL.
It was my understanding that
It was my understanding that the handlebar and stem used in the record, were TIG welded together and look rather different from cinelli bars and stem.
many details are different – from bike used to the claims elsewhere, and even the display bike in Brussels.
I have inherited a Colnago bike which has a record ora 1972 decal on the frame. Would this bike of been built in honour of this achievement? And is there anyway I can find out more information about this bike as we are looking to sell it?
It wasn’t built in honour of the record as it’s a Colnago Super which had been in production since 1968, they just had the Record Ora decal added once Merckx took the record. As Eddy held the record until 1984 Supers had the sticker at least until then so it doesn’t help much with ID except to say that it’s post-’72. If you post more pictures on here I’m sure someone will be able to ID it more accurately. This site https://cycling-obsession.com/how-to-identify-a-colnago-super/ has lots of pictures to help identify the model year.
From your picture it does look very similar to this one on eBay identified as a 1972 model (no guarantee that the seller has the date right of course):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/127831929506?_ul=UK&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338353466&toolid=20006&_xiid=127831929506&customid=Cj0KCQjwzqXQBhD2ARIsAKrIeU_f43iN9eCRCM3sg-ZYKBz21EkghOZii3-ORXdXjkr7hiCaoMlM6i8aAuMPEALw_wcB%7C0AAAAADtppYddzaoJS4eghCzXYp9pHLM8x%7CCkEKCQjwzqXQBhCvARIwAPTjAGIVcldoe7EUIgXglo82vb40qgay4ba2BBKexzl4allVShnehngaOssjKmnKGgLiTw&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzqXQBhD2ARIsAKrIeU_f43iN9eCRCM3sg-ZYKBz21EkghOZii3-ORXdXjkr7hiCaoMlM6i8aAuMPEALw_wcB&gbraid=0AAAAADtppYddzaoJS4eghCzXYp9pHLM8x&wbraid=CkEKCQjwzqXQBhCvARIwAPTjAGIVcldoe7EUIgXglo82vb40qgay4ba2BBKexzl4allVShnehngaOssjKmnKGgLiTw&loc_interest_ms=&loc_physical_ms=9197643&adtype=pla&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1487544911&gbraid=0AAAAADtppYddzaoJS4eghCzXYp9pHLM8x