His talking ballocks would not surprise me in the least, nor would me just misunderstanding him. I didn't really delve in, many things to see.

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VeloNews Magazine/VeloNews.com tech
Contact always welcome - http://velonews.competitor.com/author/cfretz / cfretz at competitorgroup dot com.
Twitter: @CaleyFretz

I envy you!

Stuck in London still in a fecking neck brace. Arrrrghhh!!!!!!! At least it's cold, damp & windy, so I don't miss the bike quite as much.

They screwed up the geometry of the old Merlins.

The frame, fork, headset and seat collar weight is being quoted at 1860g which would seem to put the frame (52.5) at around 1350g - that's about 150g heavier than my original frame as far as I can recall, which is not too bad given the likely improvement in stiffness from the changes to the tube, HT and BB sizing. Based on riding various Merlins and Lightweights, it seems beyond the scope of TI to deliver ride quality, stiffness and lighter weight than this in a single package.

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Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts.

Can we get them with Greaseguard (or whatever they were called) BBs again?

Ahh I remember those. Had one & a similar press fit on a Klein too. off topic, but Klein really was ahead of its time eh?

Worked really well. Only pain was when I wanted to upgrade cranks and needed to source a different spindle length.

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'07 Cervelo R3, '10 Lapierre Xelius

I love Merlin. Had an XLM and Extralight back in the day.

What set them apart?

S Bend stays
Kellog geometry
Amazing weld quality

None of these seem in existence on the new frame. How is this a Merlin since it lacks the hallmarks of what a Merlin was?

If you buy a brand, keep some of what made it the brand it was. Geometry changes, I accept that. Weld quality can only be as good as the collection of craftsmen that build them. But the S bend stays? They had a performance advantage as well as being a Merlin trademark. C'mon Competitive Cyclist!

Otherwise this is just a nice frame with a sticker on the down tube.

As a former owner of a Merlin and now of a Seven Axiom, I would have thought those looking to recreate the original Extralight would be best served heading over to the Seven website and placing an order.

My understanding is the Extralight at NAHBS is a prototype so I would gather things may change?

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"It never gets easier, you just go faster..." - Greg Lemond

"Because technology alone is a poor substitute for experience." - Richard Sachs

I don't think its unreasonable to do some redesign on the frame. The old Extralight was a lovely bike but it did lack stiffness. I think there's a case for a stiffer but still fairly classical looking bike. OK there are some other manufacturers in that space, but not that many and the price being quoted is very competitive for a US made TI bike. As for weld quality, we'll need to wait to see actual bikes.

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Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts.

I agree. They should've kept Tom Kellogg's geometry.

Competitive Cyclist shouldve taken heed. Lower the top tube all you want. Fatten the tubes all you want. Do that tapered fork thing. But the Kellogg geometry needed to stay. Too late now.

Yep...just had a look on Competitive Cyclist's page with the Merlin geometry...and can confirm its shit!

I'd rather a Firefly after looking at that...

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"It never gets easier, you just go faster..." - Greg Lemond

"Because technology alone is a poor substitute for experience." - Richard Sachs

Just for comparative purposes, the geometry of the 52.5, which is the nearest size to the 49 Extralight (which is really a 51) is not that different. The STA is identical at 74 and the HTA is a degree slacker at 71.5 - which is on the slack side, but then fork offset needs to be taken into account for a full comparison.

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Not everything that counts can be counted. Not everything that can be counted counts.