My Eddy Merckx will be celebrating his tenth birthday this month. Thanks to brother, JC, I was able to score my dream frame from the States. When I opened the box, my heart sunk, I thought it was too small for me but a decade later, she is now a perfect fit. I tweak the dimensions of Eddy every now and then, just like her namesake, who would always bring a measuring tape everywhere he ride. That’s how fanatical the Cannibal was when it came to fitting his bike to his body, and not the other way around.
This Merckx frame is a 3/2.5 Majestic titanium frame, meaning it is made up of 3 percent aluminum, 2.5 percent vanadium and 94.5 percent titanium. The property of this alloy is different from another titanium frame material, the 6/4 titanium, which is lighter and stiffer and of course, more pricey.
The frame is not really a racing steed, I doubt its been ridden in the Tour de France nor in the Classics. Its not a weigthweenie either, but if you want to know, but its bullet proof. Well, maybe for the welds.
About five years ago, the weld connecting the right seat tube and the drive train came off. I thought it was the end of the line for Eddy. Thanks to Randy Cinco, my wife Tata’s HS classmate, who at that time worked for Lufthansa in Manila. Randy facilitated the repair of Eddy.
Today, Eddy is as good as new. The great thing about Ti frames is that it doesn’t need a lot of tender loving care. It doesn’t rust like steel, nor does it corrode like aluminum. Scratches? Well, just buff it! It may never be as light as carbon fiber but its stronger and can live longer.
I have often written here that I’d like to own a frameset built by the venerable Ernesto Colnago. Eddy used to ride a rebadged Colnago when he was devouring up his competition. I like to think that Majestic is an amalgamation of Eddy the rider and Eddy the bicycle while a Colnago is purely esthetics and heavenly.
She is not Belgian made. In fact,she was made in Tennessee, USA, by the Lynsky family when they used to own Litespeed. Eddy Merckx the company, the one in Belgium, only hand build steel frames. Their carbon frames are made in the China.
Eddy and me have been around for races. We’ve been to places me and my wife have never visited – from Baguio to Guam to Subic Bay to New Jersey, and I never get tired of my good friend.
I have a few frames in between but as Dennis Garcia of the Hotdogs use to scream, “I keep comin’ back to you.”
I’ve had a few wins, bear misses and complete meltdown with Eddy but I can’t imagine my life without her.
Happy Birthday, Eddy! A titanium frame is for a lifetime. An Eddy is forever.