Help? Received this Merlin from my uncle – has been sitting for 13ish years. I’m not a cyclist (yet!) but have questions about this Frankenstein build? Worth having rebuilt?
by bettyisanurse
Help? Received this Merlin from my uncle – has been sitting for 13ish years. I’m not a cyclist (yet!) but have questions about this Frankenstein build? Worth having rebuilt?
by bettyisanurse
8 Comments
A Merlin extralight is a very nice frame. Definitely worth rehabbing and riding. Did you have other questions?
I’d clean that thing up supa nice and hang it up on a wall. I would buy another bike to ride. Not joking. It’s a work of art.
That’s very very nice, aside from those wheels, which I’m 100% uncertain about.
A Campy equipped Merlin Extralight is just great tho.
You and your uncle are about the same height?
I’d buy new carbon rims and a new seat then ride the hell out of that thing.
Small frame size, does it fit you?
gorgeous bike. I would clean it up , make sure the wheels are ok, (look like hed wheels of the time but just a guess. you may want to move the shifters to brake shifters or my preference is downtube shifters but whatever you do, ride it like it was meant to be ridden. looks like all top shelf components, campy record chris king etc. Send your Uncle a big thank you and ride that beast if it fits. Looks to be in the small side.
Probably, if it fits. If it doesn’t fit it’s not worth it.
Titanium frames, welded properly, basically last a lifetime. Merlins were really, really well made. Extralight means that the main tubes are butted, and the bottom bracket and I think head tube are also butted (the middle of the tube is thinner than the ends). The tubes were a bit wider in diameter too, to retain stiffness.
Early Merlins had a proprietary BB which required press in bearings (design was from an early MTB set up) and proprietary BB axles. Your cranks tell me that you have a threaded BB, which is an industry standard BB. It is still the standard today, so you will have a broad range of options for cranks and for service. It’s possible the BB was put in later – Merlin offered custom updating jobs, so you could get an old regular frame with press in BB shell and have Merlin change it out for a threaded BB. You could also change tubes, so you could get a regular frame and have them put in Extralight tubes. You could ask for more bottle mounts, a race number mount, pump mount peg, etc. It was amazing what you could spec out.
Since Merlins weren’t painted, you can refinish them (but you’ll kill the decals in the process). It’s a service the factory offered all Merlin owners, to refinish the frame (basically polish it with some kind of scotchbrite kind of material) and apply new decals.
The Reynolds forks are great.
A lot of Merlins got spec’ed with Chris King headsets, also an industry icon. Super tough bearings, super long lasting.
Looks like Campy components except the cranks. Bar end shifters, not sure about that. I’m guessing the brakes are original (circa mid-late 90s) but the rear derailleur and shifters are from 2005-2010 era. I’m guessing the bike got updated to that single speed set up. Shimano cranks.
The wheels are Specialized TriSpokes. Excellent quality. Other than replacing worn bearings, if necessary, the wheels are bombproof. I actually still use my TriSpoke that I bought new in 1995 or so – I have a tubular front, a clincher front, and a clincher rear. They do catch air when it’s windy, so, for example, I don’t like going over 45 mph with them, but otherwise they are fast wheels. For regular use a spoked wheel would probably be good, as TriSpokes are a bit rougher riding and noisier.
Should be a stock geometry frame. The custom geometry Merlins were branded Kellogg as Tom Kellogg officially spec’ed the fit for any custom frame. If you have unusual proportions the frame may not fit super well.
You’ll be limited in upgrading as no disc brakes and limited room for going to much larger tires. But otherwise, if the bike fits, it’s an excellent, excellent bike. You’ll probably want to freshen up (replace) saddle, maybe bars, and clean and adjust everything. Figure out if the ergonomics/fit work for you, see if you want better whatever, and go from there.
Source: my shop sold Merlin/Kelloggs for 3 years, and prior to me buying the shop, we sold them for probably an additional 4 or 5 years. We had customers that did several “refinish” jobs, a bunch of BB upgrades, and one rider who upgraded their press-in bearing regular frame to an Extralight with a threaded BB.
💯 rebuild