Mercian Superlight Project

Mercian by JuanM58, on Flickr


Mercian Front by JuanM58, on Flickr


Mercian Detail by JuanM58, on Flickr

Spot your bits! This is the story so far with my Mercian project. The frame is a 1976 Superlight that is in super condition so doesn't need anything much done to it cosmetically. The main colour is bronze with gold and silver bands and contrasting lug lining. The frame was probably originally used for time trialling and with this in mind I started out with the idea of using lightweight componets, hence the Weinmann 500 callipers...but then I just started using bits that I liked the look of; so here it is with Campag aero seatpost and Brooks Pro saddle, Tange headset, GB bars and stem with Suntour Superbe levers and Simplex Retrofriction gear levers. I have a NOS Campag GS chainset, NRecord derailleur, Record front mech and Suntour pedals that I have lined up for this...although that may change as I am enamoured with all things Suntour at the moment. I need to think about some wheels although I may use those from my Pat Hanlon in the short term while that is off the road to have the frame refinished. More soon.

Dunno what I did there, clicked twice probably. Please can mods remove double post. TVM.

Love Mercian's Look at that fork rake, teased the tubes into shape.......class Unusual top tube guides.

I try never to question people's taste and please don't take this the wrong way but those bars don't look right, perhaps some Cinelli Giro D'Italia would be more in keeping?

Shaun

No, I would agree about the randonneur type bars and they probably won’t be there for the final build. I was originally thinking about 3ttt Grimondi bars, but I have a pair of Cinelli Critierium bars on my Hanlon which look to have similar geometry and to be honest they’re not comfortable for more than a couple of hours. So there’s a balance to be struck between comfort and fashion! I could have two sets I suppose, made up with stem and levers for bimbling or thrashing as the mood takes me…perhaps that’s what I’ll do!

lovely frame ... nice find

Mercian Hubs and pedals by JuanM58, on Flickr


Mercian Derailleurs by JuanM58, on Flickr

By way of an update on progress with my Mercian project, here are a couple of snaps of some of the components that I hope to use; apologies for the rubbish photos. I was impressed with the quality of a pair of Suntour Superbe brake levers that I bought from a forum member, so started looking for other bits; the Suntour pedals are a rather tatty pair from Ebay that have cleaned up pretty well and adding a washer to pack out the sealed bearing meant I could say goodbye the misery of bearing chrunchiness - the chrome on the spindles is mostly gone though so I'll need to keep them clean.

I couldn't resist the Royce hubs, again from EBay, time will tell whether they were a good buy that they came in well under my budget for Campag Record so I was happy to take a chance. Again these are beautifully made and have cleaned up nicely. I think that these may be track hubs but the 120mm rear hub seems to fit the Mercian's 122mm spacing with a 5-speed block fitted so I expect that it will be fine - if not I'll need a track frame for my next project. They are 28 hole hubs so I will be a little limited as to the choice of rims but I am currently favouring Halo Retros with Halo skewers although Mavic Open Pro might be an option unless I can turn up any '70s rims in the meantime.

I am a little undecidied as to which derailleurs to use. The front mechs are both, or perhaps neither, various flavours of Campag Record, or at least one of them is. For the rear, I have a choice between an N Record Pat84 or a Suntour Cyclone MkII...I am currently considering the older model front mech with the pierced frame with the Cyclone - which will probably be the lightest option....the Pat84 has cleaned up beautifully though and would look smashing! It's going to be a difficult choice!

Campag rear mech and the campag front mech with the holes in the cage will be perfect IMHO

Shaun

Beautiful mate. I'm following this.

Great looking frame

The Royce hubs can't be track hubs as track hubs would have specific fixed gear 'double' threading and a solid axle, like this -

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx? ... &AbsPos=13