Beautiful handbuilt Merlin ExtraLight road bike frame built in Cambridge
before the company merged with Lightspeed. A classic Merlin frame with
beautiful welds and tubing joinery, just a work of art to behold.
The difference between this bike and my Lightspeed Blue Ridge is quite
striking...there's obviously much more care taken in putting the Merlin
frames together -- the tube joinery is far nicer and the attachment of the
rear dropouts to the chain and seat stays is worlds apart.
Merlin fans love this particular era Merlin -- 1" headtube and classic
downtube shift mounts. This frame was built in 1996, according to the Merlin
factory rep.
The Merlin Extralight weighs approximately two and a half lbs without
headset or fork. The Extralight is built with a larger diameter downtube for
both lightness and stiffness, and is one of the best climbing bikes I've
ever ridden. It's stiff and responsive, giving road feel similar to that of
a fine steel road frame.
At the same time, the Look HSC carbon fork (and the frame itself) provides a
comfortable ride that won't make you suffer even on double centuries. Once
you've ridden a quality Ti frame, you won't go back to either aluminum or
carbon. Personally, I've never liked aluminum, except perhaps for a
criterium racer, and my carbon C40 just seems slow compared to this Ti
frame.
The Chris King headset turns smoothly and will give years of troublefree
service.
This frame is in flawless condition. Ridden by an older cyclist who had a
number of bikes in his stable, it didn't get a lot of road time, and it
shows. No scratches, no dings, no problems with the frame. The decals are in
excellent condition, with a couple of very minor flaws. Replacement decals
are available from Merlin for $50.
Size:
Seattube: 49 center to center, 54 center to top
Top tube: 53.5 center to center
I ride a 52cm frame and this fits me perfectly.
Headtube takes a 1" steerer, the bottom bracket is English, and the rear
spacing is 130mm. The frame takes a 27.2 seatpost.
Thanks!
Lee