Marc - V.R.D.

Just recently found another few Merckx sponsored teams. First up is Marc-V.R.D., starting in 1980! Might have been the first Merckx sponsored team.

Their frames looked somewhat similiar to the above. Marc teams continued to use Merckx frames for a couple of years, but I haven't found any decent pictures to indicate what they looked like.

In 1985, Tönnisteiner roade Merckx frames. Here's a black and white picture of Filip Cottenies. In this picture, you can just make out someone (might be Cottenies, I'm not sure) on a white frame with a red head tube and read seat tube panel.

Motorola Scans

I've been combing through various magazines and books, scanning pics of Motorola team riders, to try to lend a hand to Randy Dugan, who owns Michel Dernies former team frame. He's built it up with an eye towards accuracy for how it was likely to be equipped in the 1993 racing year. Extremely cool bike, and the source of extreme envy on my part.

I haven't found any Dernies pics yet, but I've found a few cool pics that I thought some of you might be interested to see. Here's one.

Max Sciandri on his way to winning the Kellogg's Tour of Britain in late 1992. Pretty sure he's riding an early MX Leader, based on the fork crown, size of tubes, etc.

Mavic 631 Triple

While I haven't written about anything Mavic in a while, my love for the quirky stuff they produced is still strong. Good or bad, their products always displayed a uniqueness that I really like.

The 631 crank is unique in its aesthetic, but the thing that really sets it apart from other cranks is it was designed to be used as a single, double or triple crank. As a single, the original design allowed you to run down to a 48t outer ring, though a redesign in the early 90's (94 perhaps?) allowed for a 44t outer ring.

 

When used a a double, spacers are used to seperate the outer and inner rings.

Things get interesting when using the 631 as a triple.



A third ring carrier replaces the spacers normally found between the outer and double-inner ring. The middle ring is bolted in place as the inner ring normally is followed by the 74mm BCD inner ring



Et voilà, a triple. Where a 631 double was designed for a 113mm bottom bracket, the triple uses a 119mm.