Illustration by Sheppard Jones

This week’s Merckx Mondays entry is filled with great content. For the first time in a while, I’ve received some great Eddy Merckx submissions through my email. Most of the time, I get eBay auctions or Craigslist finds but this week I got artwork and other gems!

Check out more Merckx Mondays below for a familiar track bike on eBay, 7-Eleven news and Eddy Merckx stamps!

Illustration by Sheppard Jones

Sheppard sent me these two illustrations that he’s submitted for the Saturday Night Sprints III event in Nashville. Check out more info here and here’s the flier.

Descente is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the ground breaking 7-11 cycling team with this authentic recreation of thier team jersey.

Don’t know who 7-Eleven is? Shame on you! 7-Eleven has a rich history in American cycling. The team was founded by Jim Ochowicz in 1981 as an amateur race squad which quickly turned pro in 1985. A year later, 7-Eleven competed in the Tour de France in 1986 as the first American team in cycling’s history. The most memorable moment was when Davis Phinney won a stage wearing the convenience store’s colors and logos. 7-Eleven lasted through 1990 and featured many of cycling’s true heroes of the era.

So, the question is, how authentic does this jersey look? Can you tell which one pictured above is the original Descente jersey and which one is the repro? Don’t let image quality be the deciding factor either!

Leif “Lefa” Backman sent me these Eddy Merckx stamps with a rather interesting story attached:

“The first Merckx stamp was issued by Ajman in early 1969. It belongs to a set, Champions of Sport, showing several famous cyclists. Eddy Merckx has the lowest value of the set. The stamps were also issued as sheets of one, shown below. On the same day Manama issued a nearly identical set of stamps and sheets. The postal validity of both the Ajman and Manama stamps are questionable. The stamps were basically printed up and canceled to order, i.e. for collectors. Some Socialist countries used to do the same thing in order to get foreign currency. Maybe the best Merckx stamp anyway.”

These are so rad! Check out more stamps and a full story on them here at Leif’s blog.

My friend Chris is selling his Eddy Merckx pista on eBay and if this frame looks familiar, it’s because it used to be mine! I still wish it was 2cm bigger because it rode great and looked great built up.

This was my first Merckx bike and still to this day I miss it! I guess you could say it was the inspiration for my love of Merckx and the start of Merckx Mondays. I’m sure it’ll fetch a penny and if it’s your size, bid-away!

That’s it for this week’s Merckx Mondays. Remember, if you find something rad, email it to me!