Bought this today...Mercian 653 lugless?

I found this today outside a local bike shop, looking filthy and really sorry for itself. It has the 'Reynolds 653 Renovated' transfer, but only on the seat tube and is badged as a Mercian.
It had been part-chopped for a newby. The shop chappy didn't know too much about it, which sort of made me suspicious, but when I looked further the decals, frame, build quality and finish seemed to tally up. It has a mix of 600 tricolour, crappy rear mech, nice seat post, Cinelli bars and odd forks, with newish rims. Underneath all the muck and grime, it looks pretty tidy and certainly prang free.
Mercian Cycles is a shop I've been going in for years and never been able to afford what I would consider their 'cool' stuff, certainly in the period this would be from.
Anyway I had a ride on it and took a chance after he accepted my cheeky offer on it, including fitting a new bottom bracket, so I couldn't lose and I'll pick it up on Tuesday.
It looks like Mercian's Lugless 653, possibly from about 1990, with the correct cable routing on the top tube, the extended seat stay etc. I'll have a proper look on Tuesday when I get it.
Any ideas? Cheers

Re:

Certainly looks like one to me mate, nice find. It looks like it's got the sort or tear drop surrounds where the cable enters the frame like on this one...

http://velospace.org/node/6341

I have a 1990 model, it doesn't have these details, so maybe yours is a little later?

This is mine...

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=265500

Re: Re:

Matt_wood55":ol88x55w said:

Certainly looks like one to me mate, nice find. It looks like it's got the sort or tear drop surrounds where the cable enters the frame like on this one...

http://velospace.org/node/6341

I have a 1990 model, it doesn't have these details, so maybe yours is a little later?

This is mine...

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=265500

Click to expand...

That's brilliant, thank you...your bike is lovely. Is that a C-Record Groupset?

I'm quite buzzed about it really...feel like little old me's found treasure!

Re: Re:

Andy69":6ldfcmkh said:

Matt_wood55":6ldfcmkh said:

Certainly looks like one to me mate, nice find. It looks like it's got the sort or tear drop surrounds where the cable enters the frame like on this one...

http://velospace.org/node/6341

I have a 1990 model, it doesn't have these details, so maybe yours is a little later?

This is mine...

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=265500

Click to expand...

That's brilliant, thank you...your bike is lovely. Is that a C-Record Groupset?

I'm quite buzzed about it really...feel like little old me's found treasure!

Click to expand...

I bet you are, they don't turn up for sale very often at all, so to find one out front of a shop is very rare. Yep, mine is C-Record, pretty much all original. I am the second owner and have had it for just over two years. The first guy used it for 100 miles then put it in his loft, so I haven't done anything to it really.

Get some more pics posted when you have hold of it.

Matt

Okay, so I finally got my new bike home and gave it a good clean and polish. It still needs the chain, mechs and sprockets degreasing etc., but it looks loads better now.
Thanks to Matt_wood55 for pointing me in exactly the right direction too.
It rides like a dream, really lively, really comfy too and it's amazingly light.
There are some odd parts on it, but I intend to take my time and do it justice. I certainly can't afford yet to shell-out on the parts it deserves and I'll take my time thinking what to do next, whilst enjoying riding lots of summer sunny miles on it
Cheers!

It looks to be in great condition which is a bonus as a respray at Mercian doesn't come cheap (although they are very good quality & you get what you pay for). Take a look at the frame number under the bottom bracket; the last two digits will be the year it was made.

Matt

Matt_wood55":1kou0sd1 said:

It looks to be in great condition which is a bonus as a respray at Mercian doesn't come cheap (although they are very good quality & you get what you pay for). Take a look at the frame number under the bottom bracket; the last two digits will be the year it was made.

Matt

Click to expand...

Thank you, the number is 193, which according to what I've read means it's the first frame built by it's particular builder in 1993.
There is also a letter V, which I'm assuming is the code for that builder, even though the website suggests that this too, should be a number.
In the future I shall probably fork out the tenner search fee and find out conclusively. I go into the shop quite a bit, so will look forward to that.
Having the year at least gives me a start point for thinking about how to improve the bike in future.
Cheers

Beautiful frame.

Thank you

Gorgeous thing you have there! Kind of makes you wonder what the previous owner was thinking with the build-up though... forks look particularly out of place to me. Why don't I ever walk past under-priced Mercians?