this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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Not the same at all unfortunately, Merck's formatting seems to be a mess, your serial number isn't. Merckx' bikes also seem to have stamped or etched branding near the serial number in that time period, so probably not Merckx. Sorry for wasting your time with that, it was wishful thinking on my part :(
Looking up that serial number and Bianchi i find back that another bike with serial number "AS435230" was a Bianchi Grizzly, manufactured in Japan in 1984. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-vintage/70572-bianchi-serial-number-identification-55.html How that person deduced that is never explained :)
I looked at a bunch of the online images for the 1984 Bianchi and the Grizzly but they didn't match up. It's a beautiful mystery and maybe I will have to look deeper into it