One of coolest bike frames EVER (and we got to build it up)

There it is, a frame by the man himself.

There was a time when a bike frame was as much art as it was science. In this day of Asian-made carbon fiber those days are quickly fading. Thankfully there are still a few custom frame makers and as of now choices are thankfully still plentiful. You have everything from custom carbon, ti, aluminum or steel and you can get it made by one-man shops to multi-departmenal corporations. Still, if you want to ride a bike that’s ridden in the pro peleton – you’re going mass produced carbon and more and more this stuff is manufactured in China. We’re not saying this is bad, it’s just different.

Even with all these advancements there was a bike ridden in the pro peleton that elicited an intangible response. Don’t take our word for it, competitive cyclist, ten speed hero and bicycling magazine have all fawned over this one special bike. We’re talking about a Merckx Team SC, specifically one that is made in the DOMO livery.

There is just something about this bike. Even at tens years of age it still has a certain something – The French call it “je ne sais quoi” and it basically means a quality or attribute that is difficult to describe or express – we couldn’t agree more.   So what is it about this one specific bike?   We’re not sure how to describe it, but we’ll try.

Notice the little details. This is lost on frame makers of today.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that DOMO was a team that didn’t do anything to the start of the 2001 season and then they stomped all over everyone at Paris Roubaix. We’ve said it before, the 2001 Roubaix race is one to watch. Maybe it was the color scheme. We live in a time where white spokes and red hoods are considered radical. To us those as passing fads and will someday look as silly as purple anodized components. Maybe it was the fact that it was a aluminum bike and it won Roubaix – won it as in swept the podium and then went on to win the mountain jersey at the tour. Isn’t aluminum supposed to be too harsh and carbon the magic carpet ride? These results suggest otherwise. Maybe it’s the fact that Eddy Merckx is and was always be the most dominating rider to ever race a bike and this frame represented the last frame that didn’t contain a mold or glue. Don’t even get us started on Eddy selling the business. Whatever it is, this bike has it in spades and we recently got to build up a frame for a customer.

The frame was originally for Craig Gaulzeti when he racing in Belgium. Craig’s a great guy and another new englander who went over to stomp on the european circuit. Lucky for Craig and our customer this is a custom Merckx spec’d by the man himself. As such it has the famous merckx laid back road race geometry and a custom 60.25cm top tube. Our client is just over 6’3″ with a long torso, so the 59cm seat post and the long top tube fit him perfectly.

Owners are the only ones who are proud - we built the bike and we're proud, too.

A perfect fitting bike and one of the more cooler modern frames to ever grace the professional circuit. We were lucky to build such a cool bike.