Eddy Merckx’s hour record bicycle
Ernesto Colnago’s light racing bicycle on which Eddy Merckx set the hour record in Mexico City in 1972.
The Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx rode 49.431 kilometres in an hour at the velodrome in Mexico City on 25 October 1972. The bicycle was built by Ernesto Colnago and weighed under six kilograms.
Chainrings, brakes and other parts were drilled out to make them lighter. The bicycle shows classic Italian frame building at its best, before carbon fibre took over.
Materials: Thin steel tubes, drilled aluminium components, narrow tubular tyres
Manufacture: Hand-built by Colnago in Cambiago outside Milan.
The classic diamond frame of thin steel tubes.
The components drilled with holes to save weight.
The dropped handlebars and the narrow tyres.