I finished my Mercian!

Itsfixed

After many interruptions, I've finally finished my mercian project.

1989 Mercian King of Mercia, Reynolds 653 tubing, built up using a mixture of mostly new and nearly new parts, Shimano gears and brakes, stronglight crankset, mavic open pro wheels, Charge saddle and bar tape (looks of Brooks but without the price tag). Handlebars are On-One Midge bars. Only problem is the frame is a bit too small. D'oh!

Its also occured to me that it might look better as a fixie.

Any comments?

niceonetom

Itsfixed wrote: »

Its also occured to me that it might look better as a fixie.

Any comments?

of course it would look better as a fixie... don't they all? -but looks won't get you up a hill.

there is nothing without pictures.

blorg

We need pics.

Your post just made me look at Brooks prices on Wiggle, where I was planning on buying a couple of new saddles (with the current 20% off all saddles.) Feckers seem to have stopped doing Brooks! Nasty, as their prices were a lot lower than elsewhere. They were doing B17s for something like £22 with all the discounts, wish I had jumped in now.

Itsfixed

Sorry peeps, mistake with uploading, fixed now.

csb1989

Maybe its just the picture, but those handlebars look to be very oddly shaped; can you reach the brakes from there?

Love the bar tape/ saddle combo tho, and yes it might look better as a fixie... and retro straps instead of SPDs

blorg

Looks great- where did you get the frame out of interest? Saddle and bars go nicely together. Bar shape does look odd, like some sort of half-track oddity but I am guessing this is due to your fixie background ;-) If you just push the bike against the wall as hard as you can you should get them into the right shape again (more or less.) You may have to give it a kick.

How do you find the saddle as I am thinking of buying one (cheaper/lighter than a Brooks while maybe more comfy than a sub-200 road saddle)? Particularly interested if you have done 100k+ on it as more or less anything is comfy up to that point!

bunnygreen

thats a very tasty frame,uummmhhh,it would look great as a fixie.

niceonetom

one: very nice. very nice indeed.

two: seeing as you're canvassing for opinions i'll give you mine on the aesthetics. i don't really like the cranks/chainrings. the black anodised finish really goes against the classic retro look. same with the rims -but to a lesser extent. silver would synch better with the stem and seatpost.

three: the midge bars are cool, much better than moustache bars while still being daft as.

wahlrab

handlebars are cool, tom is right about the cranks and chainrings, keep it as a road bike because it doesn't have horizontal drop outs does it? Mercians are beautiful, I have a super vigorelli, my favourite bike. I know you could convert it to a fixie but I wouldn't, nice choice of saddle and matching tape

beans

Lovely classic frame alright, the bars are like a vision of your Randonneur bars gone wrong

I think I would have opted for black leather for the saddle and tape, but the charge stuff looks pretty good. Apart from the size issue, how does she ride? I should have my own Mercian rolling soon as I get my parts delivered

fish-head

I think it's deadly.

Itsfixed

thanks all

the charge saddle - i haven't ridden it on a really long ride yet, but its been getting rave reviews and so far, I've found it one the most comfortable perches I've owned.

The bars - yes i like the bars for three reasons - the unusual looks, the width, and the sheer comfort. I'm not a great fan of trad drops as I've a short torso, short arms and long legs, which together require a relatively upright position. In some ways its halfway between a trad drop and a straight bar with bar ends. Maybe. Interesting review here

Cranks/crankset - I love the crankset but yes, silver chainrings would look better, no doubt about it.

i bought the frame off ebay. It has horizontal dropouts so could easily be made into a fixie.
Its a bit too small so I'm toying with the idea of selling it (with headset, stem and seatpost), and transfering the rest of the bits to another frame, but with a compact geometry. Like a Salsa Casseroll.

We'll see. The size issue is based on first impressions but I should really take it on a long run to be sure. More soon.