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If only this bike could talk. It’s clearly an Eddy Merckx team bike from the late Molteni era; almost certainly from 1972. What an incredible year that was for Merckx.
He achieved a Giro d’Italia-Tour de France double, won three Monuments (Milan-San Remo, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, and Il Lombardia), and secured other victories, including La Flèche Wallonne, the Trofeo Baracchi and the hour record in Mexico City.
This wasn’t his bike; the frame is far too small, but it’s exciting to suppose that it might have been ridden alongside him, and ultimately behind him, by a supportive teammate on the stage-defining slopes of the Col d’Izoard and the Passo dello Stelvio.
“There’s a unique quality to this bike,” says current owner Richard Hoddinott of vintage specialists The Velo Pages. “The handling is very purposeful, it’s special. The build is top-notch too, Campagnolo throughout, with Cinelli bars and stem, and a Unicanitor saddle. I particularly love the patina, the worn 531 decals and the large, characterful Nuovo Record chainring that’s been drilled in a slightly haphazard fashion.”
Merckx employed Belgian entrepreneur Fernand Kessels to supply Molteni Team bikes in the early seventies, along with a number from both Colnago and De Rosa. Kessels was more at home behind a desk than behind brazing goggles, so he commissioned various high-end frame builders, including Marcel van der Este.
Tantalisingly, there’s a note painted on the underside of the bottom bracket that reads ‘K V.D. ELST’. Does the K stand for Kessels, and the rest of the script indicate van der Este? A misspelling seems unlikely, but it’s possible. Or perhaps it identifies the shop or rider the bike was intended for after the team had finished with it. We’ll never know.
