Eddy Merckx 7-Eleven MXL

This MX-Leader frame came from Europe in the summer of 2018. At the time I had no idea what it would become, and after some inspiration from a green leather Selle Italia saddle (of all things!), it felt right that we should do a 7-Eleven.

I gave the frame to Peter at Star Enamellers and then scoured the world for a sensibly-priced original paint 7-Eleven frame to copy the colours. One year later…nothing. Two years later…still nothing. After three years we decided that it should be painted from photos – of which there were many!

As it turned out we did two frames at the same time and the other one sold within 2 weeks. As you can see the paintwork is amazing, and I’m super keen to set it next to an original paintjob to compare colours.

The frame is a 1994 MX-Leader in size 59. The serial is 9-3413-F. The pedigree of the frame is unknown but it has a number hanger so maybe it was a competition bike…who knows, right?

With this bike we went back to our neo-retro roots with a 2×11 Dura-Ace gruppo. With Shimano’s global shortage of parts the gruppo took some time to assemble, and it’s likely this is the last one we’ll do given the scarcity of the discontinued BR-9100 rim brake calipers.

The cranks are FC-7700 with custom paint, and the wheelset is a period-correct pair of Mavic Heliums that we restored with black spokes. There’s very little chrome on this bike, that’s the way a good neo-retro is done!

The bike is for sale via our webstore here, delivery can be after Dec 3rd following the annual Retro Day concours at Heffron park.