Mercian King of Mercia - Retro Content!

Regarding the first picture!

Not sure if this is 1986 though as Bolsover wheelers rider is wearing a skin suit with 'Nova Cycles' on it - this would date it earlier.

Also the Leics RC rider had K&W Dairies logo on his jersey. This sponsorship ended in 1985.

The North Notts Olympic rider on the far right is Craig Sankey. Known throughout the local cycling circles as ''SWAG'' [riding the Cyclo x bike]

Craig would have been a senior in 1986.

Mercian have always known how to make excellent bicycles and yours is a corker

It was definitely 1986 as it was my last year as a Juvenile and I would have been 16 in the November having been born in 1970!!!

Cracking thread! I've some Rolls saddles, PM me if you're interested.

Nice. Those bars and stem will polish up well with more time.

Nice post

Back in the 70's when I raced there were a limited number of photographers about so there are not a lot of pictures of me

My avatar pic is taken by the Hull Thursday Road Club photographer and if he hadn't been around then nothing would have been recorded! Taking photo's in those days was quite expensive.

Most people bought what they could afford or got from someone who was changing their kit and aside from the pro teams and those with lots of cash the "groupset" was a pipe dream.

I'd use what you fancy to put it back together again

not sure about those gear levers though LOL

Shaun

The bars and stem are in their original anodising so won't polish up unless I strip back to the aluminium. They look nice and original though - which I like.

Having said that, the bars seem a bit narrow compared to my modern road bike bars and the bend is weird too, being the track / criterium version.

The stem is the original cinelli record with the hidden clamp - pretty rare now I believe.

Yes, I was quite lucky in that my girlfriend's (future wife's) Step Dad was a keen photographer so I have quite a few pictures around.

Everything that I bought was second hand as I couldn't afford to buy new - well all except those Suntour shifters which were bought for me by my Dad. They really were cutting edge at the time and I couldn't ever bring myself to change them now!

A fantastic post - keep those Suntour shifters! Look forward to seeing this finished and ridden again.

Not sure why those Suntour shifters didn't catch on. I had some on a Motoconfort, a clever little system of trimming the front derailleur as your moved through the rear cogs, they worked perfectly on the bike I had.

If you bought that frame for £35 in the mid-'80's I reckon you did well...
I paid almost twice that for a secondhand road frame, (not Mercian) at about the same time, and I thought I was doing well! Still got mine too, and the Cinelli criterium bars... and unlike me, you obviously put it all to it's intended use.

Also, looks like you got a classy, timeless colour-scheme into the bargain