Merckx Authenticity

[CDollarsign]

Is this real? Any way to tell?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/0fkWgZUTiXFqViUUDXZMWBKjPQh-Fi6KwziEC9hc58Qftf8Ygngvg1Ph4iZStit4b7UjkVMWZI4sa-phNYzvNoARWgnnAyytS-pKKkZdfTxO86LWPHs8l9rmaK13IFqu6WhkWZpsdxfHKKEWwXUN Oogkg7OWIo5NPXBlGpu5OSIACFzGI7KPr0DoJepFgQgWNY_Nzb Uqp9pcBiH8LJqsXG-2nkkMql_vGu9cicQWMZZrVQ3_tPjvgxDUkx9gAvqHhiOZGgwkb 8vlUp8iNlSd0ey104HnB64EZeyOem-Jmxi1RDiwCgpAHPFN-sPq9m9-dV3TSYOcNF195yrXvlZCX8pynV0IKvbYXkq1D7CL4xCZ3kLHkE iFXBv3wlTuGEZ8TUkmc2eLrb3McohNU62LfoEsPm5VmqVc2EYB KRUYCUVfS5Tb8N1PChpn45xxFjWUitcKJRQ2EEKBzAgWMxWzw2 SdOavZxzkwvELnvngZ3AstaA1w4gFhUbetBg-bpTQNFesbZz-1ehsopjs6Q0RthJsrScNHqGJMbCgWhJe02SwqFx0rDB21KDIgL bZw_aGNmsQxAqovg_5jY_uaP4h9WWaRGXavXx37e43jUFC5sGu LBp0GB7rqL9JVaVsLlrDhJiAAGkgZOHufFamtrEZE7DAeABjip TRY4heeAvrm4A=w607-h455-no

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=e3ed7ebb32&view=fimg&th=15b7c99dd10a8eb3&attid=0.1.1&disp=emb&attbid=ANGjdJ--rqwpuRjQ-vTYbrLQB4se7BoOrrlDdZcGx-EUCCOG-9xP1JPPzW5Ejtj9Mzb4nDeLR_ywRVPfy4iSLjlbaR_9Z3P09nM LVUIXz_IFHJ8Cewagw4RkKxuuUuY&sz=s0-l75-ft&ats=1492444819579&rm=15b7c99dd10a8eb3&zw&atsh=1

[e-RICHIE]

Looks real. The name was licensed to Falcon Cycles in the UK in the 1971 era.

[zmudshark]

Looks like maybe a Falcon.

edit: what e-RICHIE says.

[CDollarsign]

Is it worth $50?

[El Chaba]

The name was also licensed to Kessels in Belgium...

[rodcad]

Is it worth $50?

Not to me, but YMMV.

[bthornt]

That looks like the same type of rear rack that Eddy Merckx often used during his career, so I'm pretty sure it's authentic.

[KJMUNC]

Google "Merckx Falcon" and "Merckx Kessels" and you'll get loads of background info.

Either way, it's a licensed brand, not a Merckx made Merckx, as in "not made in Meise starting in 1980 by Merckx Cycles". Not the same as the typical Merckx Corsa etc., you see that command strong prices, but for some they're collectible in their own rite.

From Sheldon Brown's site:

By February 1973, Falcon produced an Eddie Merckx branded line in Merckx Molteni orange, noted on the catalogue as "Designed by Ernie Clements" and "Approved" by Merckx. These appeared in collaboration with similar Merckx branded frames by Kessel of Belgium. The firms apparently had an agreement on marketing areas, with Kessel getting Europe, and both paying royalties to Merckx.

The Falcon precursor Merckx bikes are often dismissed as poor quality, but they appeared in a similar range of models to the Falcon line. In 1974, Falcon offered a top of the line Merckx Super Competition #102 (All Reynolds 531 DB, long point lugs, oval fork blades, Nuovo Record derailers; Record crank, Campagnolo brakes, Brooks saddle, Cinelli bars and stem, chrome fork crown and tips-virtually the same specs as the comparable San Remo), a Giro D'Italia #104 (Reynolds DB with Prugnat Lugs, Campagnolo derailers, cotterless crank but with centerpull brakes), Kermesse, #106 (plain gauge Reynolds), Competition #100 (same as 102, but w/o the Campagnolo brakes), 2 ladies models, a junior racer (white or orange) and entry level bike (red or orange) with std (not tubular) rims. See http://www.bikebrothers.co.uk/falconeddy.htm

The high end bikes in either the Merckx or the Falcon line were comparable in quality to the other premier marques of their day, British and Italian, offering great handling with a fairly tight stage race geometry with arguably better finish than the Italian competitors.

By 1978, Falcon was purchased by the Elswick-Hopper group (which by this point included Wearwell), becoming Elswick-Falcon (1982), and it in turn purchased Holdsworth (including Claud Butler ) in 1987, before the whole firm was acquired by Townsend (Casket) in 1991, who had also acquired Ernie Clement's old firm Coventry Eagle. Mr. Clements moved to Ledbury and ran his own cycling shop from 1989 until his death in 2006, although it is unclear if he continued to make frames.

[paredown]

Looks like maybe a Falcon.

edit: what e-RICHIE says.

Third!

Looks like the low-end version of these Falcon Eddies (on par with a Falcon Olympic) so low-end bike boom material. $50 sounds what people would like to get for an operational town bike, but this one is not operational--and this is not undiscovered gem in the rough--it is only the 'rough'.
More here that I wrote and Sheldon hosted:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/falcon.html
Whoops--someone already got the sheldon piece....

[CDollarsign]

Thanks guys!

[FlashUNC]

That downtube pump peg is pretty baller tho.

[R3awak3n]

pretty sure thats eddy merckx himself holding the bike