Eddy Merckx serial number identification

Looking at the frame, I initially doubted whether this is a genuine bike - there were plenty of people making stickers and slapping them on average bikes. The paint job isn't particularly fancy, and the lugs on the frame are not scalloped like a high end bike. The fork is Columbus, but there is no Columbus sticker on the frame.

But, "Eddie Mercx" is etched into the bottom bracket, and this was too much effort for a knock off, especially in something that wasn't on show. So I think it is a genuine item.

As @carel suggests, the official web site should be source of truth, or there may be a historical group that helps to track the history of old bikes (often run by fans, as the factory is more interested in selling new bikes - they don't make money from fans who dwell in the past)

This is a beautiful early Eddy Merckx Professional (Columbus SL/SP) frame built in late 1980, repainted in EMC ~1989

Don't use cadre.org - it's misinformation.

Of course - the trouble is that there is no single good source of information about the EMC frames, verification will be difficult.... I've been writing about EMC bikes on various forums (bikeforums, paceline, rennrad-news) for a few years now as CyclesMakaron, Emerxil etc - that's how I got in touch with millfieldvelo (you'll find a link to me on his site) It's going to take a while...

• BB cover: one of 3 models used in the early EMC framework; the rarest, used only at the end of the "no letter" series and the beginning of the E series. The E series was built from 1981, followed by Z,A,B,C etc (each built 9999 frames), the no letter series is just over 1k frames - your frame is probably December 1980 :)

• Dropouts: Campagnolo, probably from Porta Catena ; the method of joining stays and dropouts used exclusively in 1980 and 1981 (done by hand, later Marchetti&Lange tools were introduced and it was done by machine)

• lugs: the earliest variety, "long", used in 1980 and 1981

• in 1980 and 1981 only road frames called (unofficially) Professional were built, the name Corsa Extra appeared in 1986

• on the left side of the BB cover, the "technical" mark was placed, in the case of your frame it is A0:

  • A is the code designation of the EMC employee responsible for the final preparation of the frame before chroming and painting
  • 0 is the seat tube height, in this case 60cm (c-c)
  • No additional marking means Columbus SL/SP tubes - in this case probably TT and DT tubes are SP
  • WP paint scheme (i.e. Domex Weinmann 1989) was introduced in autumn 1988