Eurobike 2010: Eddy Merckx creates new EMX-7 flagship for 2011
Merckx goes modern with its new model
Team Quick Step will ride new Eddy Merckx EMX-7 carbon flagship bikes come the 2011 season to replace the EMX-5 model used to briefly earn the yellow, green, and polka dot jerseys in this year's Tour de France.
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As compared to the EMX-5, the new EMX-7 boasts a more modern set of features, including a tapered 1 1/8"-to-1 1/2" front end, wide-format press-fit bottom bracket, and an integrated seatmast, along with internal cable routing and a few aerodynamic shapes on the down tube, seat tube, fork blades, and seat stays for good measure.
Stiffness increases as well, partially due to the asymmetrical chain stays and larger tube sizes that the tapered front end and wider bottom bracket allow but also because of the more advanced fiber blend company engineers integrated into the design – including extra-stiff pitch-type carbon fibers in select areas.
Eddy Merckx will offer three different colors of the EMX-7 for 2011 but also a limited edition 'Eddy Merckx Anniversary' complete bike to celebrate The Cannibal's 525 career race victories. In addition to the special paint, the bike will come equipped with a unique set of Lightweight wheels with each of those victories written on the sidewalls. Rounding out the build is a Campagnolo Super Record group.
Eddy Merckx will also offer this limited edition version of the EMX-7, celebrating each of the Cannibal's 525 victories on the custom painted Lightweight carbon wheels.
Last year's EMX-5 also gets a redo, inheriting many of the design features incorporated into the EMX-7. Changes include a press-fit bottom bracket, tapered front end, and internal cable routing but the same steady geometry that has long marked Eddy Merckx machines.
Long-distance recreational riders haven't been ignored, either, with the slightly more upright EMX-3 gaining a tapered 1 1/8"-to-1 1/4" front end and all-new carbon fork, plus revised front triangle tube shapes.
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