Aside from Lemond, in the early '90s, Andy Hampsten was getting to be as big a name in US cycling as you could get. Lemond was struggling in that year's Tour, while Hampsten finished 4th overall. Were we witnessing the passing of the torch from Lemond to Hampsten? Was Hampsten going to be the next US rider to win perhaps multiple Tours? It was an exciting time for both Hampsten and the storied team he rode for, Motorola.
I was pretty stoked when I came across this article - much of my Motorola resto ended up being based on these specs.
A few interesting items of note:
- External rear brake cable routing still present on what I assume to be a 1992 model - Interesting use of "Dura Ace Grey" brake cables instead of the Motorola blue seen so often on team bikes.
- Chromed driveside chainstay.
- The rear derailleur cable fixing bolt is in the 'reversed' position
- Specs and pic indicate a Dura Ace Aero seatpost, but also reference an XTR post. I have yet to see an example of a Merckx Motorola team bike with an XTR seatpost. Heck, I barely even remember what an XTR seatpost from the early '90s timeframe even looks like!
- Definitely looks like a 7410 crankset there, which is referred to as a 'prototype'
This post rounds out the Motorola Merckx chapter of the blog for now. I'd been looking all summer for another suitable project for all the Valued Blog Readers out there, but it seems it's been pretty slim pickings. Don't fret though, I still have a backlog of at least two more projects so you'll probably be seeing one of those soon.
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