On Monday we got a glimpse at the return to full-custom, premium steel MyCorsa road bikes made by Eddy Merckx, after one was ridden in the Paris finale of the Tour de France. But if your budget isn’t limitless, you still can get a high quality steel Merckx bike, thanks to their new Ready Made complete road, gravel & urban bikes.
Eddy Merckx Ready Made, affordable steel road & gravel bikes
The new made-to-order custom Eddy Merckx look great, but at 3300€ for the frameset alone, they are beyond the budget of most cyclists. But don’t worry Merckx is bringing back a wider range of premium steel bikes, at much lower prices. Sure, these aren’t made-to-order in Belgium, but every one of these complete bikes is cheaper than a custom MyCorsa frame, and still delivers that modern, lightweight steel ride.
Eddy Merckx Strada affordable steel rim brake road bike
The Eddy Merckx bike brand started with the premium Corsa Extra road bike, but by the late 80s a couple of more affordable road bikes were introduced with the same racing heritage – the Strada & Criterium. And now both are back.
The Strada continues to be more of the everyday road bike for those who dreamed of racing a Merckx Corsa.
The new Strada is now a modern performance road bike, welded from light Columbus steel tubing, with oversized tubing, a carbon fork with tapered steerer & internal headset, and traditional external cable routing.
The new road bike is only available with rim brakes, and comes in five stock sizes (48-60cm). Geometry is directly inspired by Merckx carbon race bikes, sharing the same angles & Reach as the Stockeu69 race bike, but with slightly longer chainstays & a few extra mm of Stack to accommodate the steel construction.
At only 2500€ complete, you can pick the Strada with either a Shimano Ultegra mechanical rim brake build, or a Campagnolo Potenza gruppo. Both options are available in the white with candy red details or this Molteni brown with dark blue & beige details, both with a high gloss finish.
Eddy Merckx Hageland affordable steel disc brake gravel bike
A completely new concept for Eddy Merckx Steel is the new Hageland gravel bike, which is also the only of the new Ready Made steel bikes to feature disc brakes. It apparently takes inspiration from where Eddy grew up on the Belgian gravel roads that formed the Dwars door het Hageland race and give the gravel bike its name.
The Hageland also gets traditional external downtube shift routing, and adds in a set of downtube guides for the rear brake hose as well. The carbon fork does however, route the front brake internally for a clean setup.
The Hageland also features an oversized steel tubeset (although not called out as Columbus, so we suspect it is a beefier chromoly tubing) with an internal tapered headset. The bike has flat mount brakes, 12mm thru-axles, plus full front & rear rack & fender mounts.
The gravel Hageland is also available in five stock sizes (47-57cm). Geometry for the Hageland also is adapted from the carbon Merckx line – here with the same angles from the Strasbourg71. The steel gravel bike though gets a slightly longer Reach numbers paired with a bit taller Stack to create a better all-rounder ride.
A machined chainstay yoke provides extra space for wide tires (think up to ~700x40mm) and the ability to run either road compact double or 1x drivetrains.
With that the Hageland is available for 2500€ complete with a SRAM Rival 1x build, or for 3000€ with a Shimano Ultegra double drivetrain – both with hydraulic disc brakes. Both builds are also available in either the glossy Mist gray with brown metallic & dark gray details (at top)or this sand tan and Prussian blue.
Eddy Merckx Criterium affordable steel city commuter road bike
Last up, the Criterium was always meant to be the most affordable steel Merckx. It remains more of a traditional road bike, built from a low-cost & versatile steel tubeset.
While the Strada & Hageland are fully modern performance bikes, this is meant to be a budget roadie to zip around town. It features a lugged crown fork and a straight 1 1/8″ steerer with an external headset.
Cable routing is external, and the bike features long reach rim brakes, plus braze-ons for full coverage fenders and rear rack mounts for commuter versatility.
The budget Criterium comes in an abbreviated four sizes, but still generally covers the same wide 48-60cm fits of the road Strada, just with bigger steps between sizes. It also gets race-focused handling, adapted from Merckx’s premium road bikes.
The 900€ Criterium is all about affordability, and gets a Shimano Claris 2×8 road compact with a shiny silver FSA crankset and other polished aluminum components for classic looks.
All of the new steel bikes are available through select shops out of the Eddy Merckx dealer network. So, you can either check if your local shop is a MyCorsa shop via the new steel bike website, or get in touch with them directly to see if they have the new Ready Made bikes in store.
