Is Eddy Merckx Still Legendary? 2024 Bike Range First Look.

For any keen road cyclist, the name Eddy Merckx isn’t just known or held in high esteem. It has legendary status. Mr. Merckx is understandably classed as the best of the best, the GOAT, if you must, of the male cycling world.The name and legend of Merckx is cemented in the folk law of cycling; it’s part of the fabric of the sport. There’s no one out there who throws a leg over a drop-barred bike that isn’t aware of his place in history. It’s a question I’ve been pondering for a few weeks since I was invited to Belgium to check out the new range of Eddy Merckx bikes for 2024. Does he still hold that high esteem for all cyclists? Does the name on the down tube still carry the same amount of clout as it did, even 10 years ago? Or does it even matter?

And I also check out the new bikes.

Hello welcome to Belgium a place that is well known for Fritz and mayonnaise terrible techno music the heartlander cyclin of course and a man that well plenty of upand cominging superstars get likened to Eddie Merks a man with 525 wins to his name zero tours World Championships you name it he’s done it

And also a name that adorns bikes or has done in the past Eddie MKS started out having a bike brand in 1980 a story which I’ll come to later cuz it’s pretty damn interesting unfortunately the name’s not been on the scene as of the past couple of years the pandemic messed

Things up and the brand took a little bit of a rest well it’s being relaunched now revived shall we say so let’s take a first look at the bikes this is not a review video though because well we were supposed to ride them but as you can see

The weather in Belgium isn’t exactly ideal for sending 20 journalists out together and not ending up in the hospital right let’s crack On Right I’ve come in from the cold got me coffee let’s go through the lineup because it is a pretty deep lineup There is five bikes in total right top of the Shelf the pure race bread bike is the 525 this thing is going to be used by

The team BW Flanders setup a team team that been round for well over two decades but yes this 525 is an all round race bike shall we call it it’s not light it’s not Arrow it’s a little bit of the two one interesting thing about

The 525 is that it only takes 28 mm tires something that seems well quite skinny in today’s Road market and the reason behind this so where we are told is that these bikes were developed prior to the covid situation obviously that caused Havoc for a lot of people and

It’s also why this brand hasn’t been about on the scene for a couple of years in any big way in them few years obviously Tire whips have grown so yeah 28 mil seems a little bit narrow for road bikes today right on to the next pure road bike the mesio this is their

Endurance setup available in five sizes again a few design choices that are questionable including Tire whips again the next in the lineup is the pavl an all road road bike one that should be at home on the gravel and on the road or at least dabbling into the gravel a bike

That’s very similar I suppose as Ridley’s Griffin this thing though doesn’t just come in carbon there is also an alloy and a steel version available as well next there is the Strasburg a bike that is their pure gravel machine plenty amounts on there and clearance for a chunky 53 mm Tire

Lastly in the lineup there is the cors at bik that really excites me this is the one that I think’s the Beating Heart of the brand it’s built here in Belgium not by any old person either by Joan I’m not even going to try and pronounce his

Surname a gentleman who and this is where the history comes in a gentleman who back in his school days had Eddie Ms come into his classroom and say right lads who wants to come with me and learn how to build a frame by a certain Mr

Doosa and the guys over in America who ran the light speed company well Joan put his hands up at the age of 16 and said that sounds like a reasonable excuse to quit school and while he’s been with a brand ever since producing the thae and steel road bikes and now

The Allroad and gravel versions fingers crossed I’m going to be getting one of these in for test at a later date but yes you can get an all ro road and gravel version of this bike and they look absolutely gorgeous now we’ve been through that extensive range let’s talk

About the brand itself where it is where is it going and I think they’ve done a good job with a Relaunch well a couple of days since I was in Belgium weather’s definitely changed and and in that time it’s given me plenty of food for thought about the brand right let’s delve in then now Eddie Merks himself as we know is a massive Legend within the sport but does

The name still have that same clout cache as it did in the ’90s early 2000s and I don’t think it does and how does that affect the brand well why don’t I think it has that same clout for several reasons cycling’s changed the culture’s changed over the past 10 years is hasn’t

It it’s not all about racing now that gravel scenes exploded well Eddie never did any of that it did it there’s people who ride bikes now road bikes gravel bikes who don’t watch cycling who don’t know the history so that Eddie M name to a lot of people will just be a brand

Name like TX specialized Ridley or beer it’s not going to have any big meaning behind it unfortunately heck perfect example of that is a few years back the Tori France had a stage start in Lord not far from here actually and as it being a place of pilgrimage for a lot of

People I thought I’d asked the pelaton if cycling was a religion who would be God I was expecting Eddie to be number one up there he didn’t get one vote Tom boan was the main man in the running that dat if I remember rightly I’ll link

The video below so if the Pelon of today don’t really see is the um God of cycling then I’m guessing the public don’t either so yeah that name not strong as it used to be but does that matter well I don’t know I don’t think so it’s

Just nice to have that history there though something that they can use as marketing now personally when they announced that they were going to be relaunching the brand refreshing the brand I was hoping for quite a niche premium product and yes there’s plenty of Premium products in the line up but I

Was just hoping that they were going to really narrow it down just do the steel entertaining frames that they have previously in small batches custom batches and leave it at that obviously that’s not really feasible if you got bills to pay if you’ve paid good money

For the name for the brand and need to get your investment back so that is obviously why there is quite a large range of bikes why there’s carbon race bikes endurance bikes Allroad bikes travel bakes and even e bakes coming and as I found out recently Mass producing carbon bakes is

A dam site easier than Mass producing steel or titanium believe it or not so yes Edd’s back it’s got a big range of bikes and that big range at times I think can get a little bit messy the 525 looks a fine racing machine like I said

Before it’s a little bit behind the times with them 28 mil tires well quite a way bit behind behind the times but though I have a feeling that we’re going to see something else later this year that might supersede it same the endurance bike little bit behind the

Times but once we get to the Allroad and the gravel bike and they do it in steel aluminum and carbon I think things get a little bit messy there I think they could have tided the range up a little bit better to make things a little bit

More simple and especially a bit more simple once you start Plumbing that stuff into the customization program on the website so you can change the color of the group the specs the wheels that could give you a headache obviously I’m very happy to see that there’s custom bags still available made

By well the man that helped build the brand with Eddie oh yeah and stay tuned for something on that but all in all I’m glad to see the brand back the name back in the Pelon the other thing I’m glad to see is that they’re doing those retro

Sonic Colors as they call it limited edition runs of old team paint jobs the first up is the Panasonic team colors of old so I suppose we’ve got the kelme Motorola who else am I probably forgetting to come at some point now if you’re watching this in the US I’m going

To upset you cuz the bikes are actually going to be available over there which isn’t the first time is it cuz if I remember rightly Motorola when they were riding Eddie MKS frames had a different name on the down tube there’s something to research now prices they’re pretty fair and square I

Think we’ve n with what the Market’s asking at the moment in fact little bit cheaper than some bikes out there as well aesthetically well each to their own isn’t it I can say some of them I think are absolutely gorgeous the draw is still out on that rear stay of the uh

525 in the mesio but all in all I’m liking what they are doing I’m glad to see the name back and I think you know my feelings on the custom build stuff right that is about it from me let me know what you think in the comments

Below let me know what you’re thinking about let me know if you think I’m being an idiot about where Eddie sits in the pantheon the cycling culture today and as always thank you for watching and enjoy your riding