Merlin Oreas

kanerdog1x1

Senior Retro Guru
Evening gang. It has occurred to me in the last few weeks that I never wrote a build thread for my Oreas. I have had it almost as long as I have been a member here, perhaps that is the reason. Back when I joined in 2007 it would have been less than a year old, so hardly a 'retro bike'. But, almost 15 years on, it certainly is starting to appear that way.

I bought the thing in March '06, from Clive Gosling at Bikelab. He managed to find me a frame from the year earlier, as I particularly wanted the older style graphics. Super helpful guy.

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The initial build was something of a dream build, after all it was to stay with me forever. Hope brakes, hubs, Thomson stem and post, Fox forks, and of course Raceface cranks. I used the bike extensively for ~two years, in all weathers, and really put some miles in. Raced it at Mountain Mayhem one year in the dry, 2006, and in 2007 in the wet.

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I then used it on and off for a few years, mostly in good weather. This pic is after a rebuild, date stamp shows 2011.

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I'm ebarassed to admit, that I might not have used it since then. It was put in to storage a few years ago, and has been there ever since. I decided this week that I would fetch it this afternoon, and give it a checkover.

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Good job I did. Time hasn't treated it well. The fluids have drained out of the brakes, and everything has a nasty gooey coating. It's quite upsetting really. I have decided to take the day off work tomorrow, and give the thing a bit of attention.
 
Re:

Thank you.

I spent most of the evening worrying that some damage had occurred to the various parts of the bike. When I arrived this morning, it had been via the LBS to get some supplies for the other bike. I arrived at the workshop and snapped a couple of pics.

You can see the dirt, this is just from being in storage.

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The stem cap is a reminder that the bike was raced at Mountain Mayhem, I made a handful of these on the lathe and a friends dad engraved them for us.

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It didn't take long to strip to the bare frame, I chose to remove the cranks and BB just to check there was nothing seized.

There are some lovely details on the bike, the head tube and bb shell or engraved, as well as the dropouts.

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Once I'd given everything a good clean and a checkover, I needn't have worried as the only casualty looks to be the braided hoses. Not only have they UV degraded, but both also appear to leak. Not sure if I'll replace these just yet, I'm in no hurry to ride it.

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Some measurements.

Merlin Oreas, medium.

Seat tube, 1&3/8 od, 17&1/4 actual, 15&3/8 c-c
Top tube, 1&3/8 od, 22&1/2 actual c-c
Down tube, 1&1/2 od
Head tube, 38.4mm od, 120mm long
Seat stays, 3/4 od
Chain stays, 7/8 od, 16&7/8 long
BB 68mm English
1520g with headset cups installed.

Frame number M88589. Also mentions '17.5' and 'R' and 'H'

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The rebuild was pretty uneventful, something on this bike I have done many times before. A remake of a previous pic:-

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The Raceface Turbines are ISIS drive, and a lovely colour. I think they are pewter?

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And the kit.

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Weight minus the pedals is 22 & 1/2 lbs

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Wow, that's really nice. Brakes obviously need an overhaul and I'd be worried about the seals but hey ho. Lovely.
 
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Cheers Guys. Closer inspection today reveals that the brake hoses will need to be replaced sooner rather than lather, they have taken on a rather gooey feeling again over night.

Today I dug out a couple of things, the black leather touchup paint for my car, and the wax polish I used to use on the flite saddles.

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This let me touch up the couple of scuffs on the leather.

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And waxed. Looks so much better now.

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I had Pauls thumb shifter mounts on this bike from day one. They are fantastic with the Dura-ace shifters. My only gripe is that they can only be used outside of the brake lever when used with Hope brakes.

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A few more pics in a mo...
 
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Ordered new hose, fitted it today. Was hard to find the correct 5mm hose, the regular Hope stuff is 6mm od, this 5mm od lightweight stuff was only used for a short time. It is a stark contrast side by side how much UV degradation that has changed the colour of the hose.

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I haven't filled them back up with fluid, I don't intend to ride it in the near future.
 
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