Kessels Time Capsule

It´s not easy to find info on early Eddy Merckx labeled bikes, that is what many people who have written on the subject on the internet agree on. So it´s always nice to find a completely unmolested specimen, hardly used actually, to make more judgements from.

Some weeks ago a friend did just that: He saw this

bike on Ebay, and after a quick phone conference we decided to hit the “spontaneous buy” button, or whatever it´s called. Often of course this proves to have been a spontaneous self combustion of hard earned money, but this time I think the friend was perfectly right to have bought the bike. This

is the only place where any serious wear is recognizable.

Some research on the net reveals that the Merckx name was big business in the seventies, when this bike was made. There were numerous makers licensed by Merckx to use his name, some consecutively, some actually at the same time. One of them was Ets. Kessels S.A. in Oostende, Belgium. From what one reads on the net, they made a range of Merckx bikes when not selling under their own brand name Main d´Or.

I think this bike must have been second tier from the top, the upside being the full Record equipment (save the brakes, Universals)

the good quality handlebars,

nice rims,

and the full 531 tube set.

On the other hand the frame does not look as if it had been made very caringly.

This seatcluster for example doesn´t exactly ooze quality, and these lugs have not received much attention, either.

Also I´m not too sure about the forkcrown design. It does happen that especially lesser bikes carry numerous instances of their makers´ names.

It is, however, a nice touch, and the crown seems to be cast. too.

There are no braze ons at all, save the derailleur cable ones, for example over the b/b.

Everything else is band-on which of course might as well be a sign for the frame´s age rather than any lack in quality.

Here´s the typical Kessels b/b shell, though, with some hand painted letters and numbers. It seems to be clear now that the abbreviated name was the name of the shop which sold the bike, or the name of the first rider if the bike was bought direct. I found this info on the Flickr Group for Kessels, and it makes a lot of sense.

Hoever, here´s what Hugh Thornton of classiclightweights says about this:

There is not a lot of information available online on Kessels.  My own Kessels-built Merckx is, I think, top tier or close to it, and more in the ‘well-used’ category.

Hugh´s Kessels can be seen on his website (which is worth a visit anyway). Hugh continues:

I was advised that the names under the BB denote the frame builder, not the customer.

 

If the Pernod Trophy sticker on the blog bike is original, then it cannot be earlier than late 1974.  I also take that type of head tube decal to be a later style, whereas mine has a borderless picture, which would have had an Eddy above it to match the Merckx below it.  The seat tube decal though has a border.

 

The blog bike is exceptionally well preserved.  A very nice example with the same performance as the top tier models, just a slightly lower level of build and a small saving on components.

The colour of the Universal name goes well with the frame colour, but this is a coincidence.

Here are some more pics of the really very well preserved foil stickers the frame abunds with.

Did you note how the “Giro d´Italia” sticker near the front derailleur is pink, and this French language one is yellow? The jerseys, it seems, are responsible for this.

Lastly, here´s the Brooks Pro saddle, an item fitted by the current owner.

Two issues: One, I forgot to snap the places in which the Campag components are date stamped. I hope to able to do this soon. Second, the hasn´t been ridden yet, but this also is on the agenda.