1989 Swallow Merlin XT (Drum brake)

mrkawasaki said:

An amazing find! What's the backstory?[/quote

You cant help but wonder, .

A very interesting bike for sure. I like it.

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Rod_Saetan":cg9gevc4 said:

The geometry is also, as you can see, a little relaxed, it rides OK though, I have it set up for use to pootle along the canal with the good lady wife, hence the Crossroads II tyres, its pretty heavy too, despite the fairly good tubeset and full M730 build, the wheels weigh a ton, and I cannot recommend the Rando M4 rims for anyone who changes tyres or gets punctures a lot.

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24pouces":15weux3p said:

But why "Merlin" ? :?:

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bmx4130crmo":15weux3p said:

can somebody explain me why this bike called "merlin"?

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Rod_Saetan":15weux3p said:

I honestly dont know much about it. It is not from the Merlin 'mail-order' shop, but I believe a Merlin badged, Bob Jackson built custom frame. There are some similarities in terms of construction between this and another lugged/brazed BJB MTB I used to have, however BJB claim that the frame number is not one of theirs.…

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Anthony":z6mid66y said:

It does seem to have a head angle in the region of 68. As ever though, a shorter stem will always liven up over-relaxed steering. 68 degrees with that length of stem is a no no, 68 degrees with a 10cm or less stem is right back in the land of the living.

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Your bike is definitely one of ours and the frame was completed on 16th June 1989 - hence the frame number...

Just to clarify how we worked and named our frames: Frames bearing the "Swallow" name have only ever been as one off bespoke frames for individual customers. We always used Reynolds or Columbus tubing (we'd choose tubing to suit rider and style) quality or hand cut lugs or lugless construction plus Cinelli cast bottom bracket shells and fork crowns. Certainly while we were based in Essex 1981-91 Swallow frames were built by Peter Bird or myself. Swallow frame numbers are prefixed SW and are sequential.

Our frames with other bird names: Toucan (tandem), Giffon, Merlin, Ptarmigan, Wren, Swift, Osprey and Puffin were all what could be called semi-custom with set designs using standard tube sets, standard lugs or lugless construction, pressed steel bottom brackets, standard braze-ons (with some options at an up-charge.The frames were made to measure, rather than fully bespoke and were still made by Peter or myself, with some of the work was done by apprentices and other employees. At the time these were still very high quality frames compared to other sectors of the industry.

Fitting SA drum brakes was not an oddity as disc brakes were not available back then and the drum brake gave all weather performance, compared to basic cantilever or the useless U brakes.

Looking at the photo the bike looks all original (and in good condition) including Columbus tubing decals and the '80s smoked paint. The smoke effect was made using a candle or burning our brazing torch 'dirty' around the tubes before the final clear lacquer coat was applied.

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