1992 Mercian King of Mercia

[Jamiedyer]

Thanks RabC.

Well I have been away in Germany visiting friends with the family and have been getting updates about the KOMs new livery.
Here are a couple of the incremental shots taken over the last 10 days or so.
great paintwork by the incredibly skilful Dave Colbeck and then it is handed over to Martin Battison for lug lining and decals before Dave gives it his final coats of clear.
Already looking brilliant so really can't wait for it to be built back up, but now I need some somewhat classier gear

Jamie

Two dents were repaired, the seat tube on the white panel and the bar bang on the top tube:

66023341_2152791558180799_7778259625018654720_n by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

66188532_2046491122313122_7339579885972619264_n by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Within a day or so the frame was stripped, the dents were fixed and the etch primer was on:

dentfilled by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

etch primed by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

etchprimed and dent filled by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Closely followed by the fill primer and primed and ready:

fillprimed by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

fillprimed1 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Then the silver base coat was applied and then the white panels were painted:

whitepanelssilver base by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

Then several coats of candy green applied to get just the right shade:

candygreen by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

candygreenfork by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

and that's where we are up to
It already looking pretty special to me and will look amazing once Martin works his magic on it
These guys are super talented artists and having seen so many of the great frames they have done there was clearly no one else I wanted to do it.

Jamie

 

[RabC]

That's going to be stunning, seen a lot of Dave and Martins work on the Carlton FB page. Very talented indeed.

 

[Jamiedyer]

Cheers RabC
Small world hey!, that's where I know them from too.
This one had been planned for a long time and we were ready to do it late last year when I then had to return to Aus when my sister passed away suddenly. That put everything on hold but seen as how things had already been discussed and planned it only took a day or two to get rolling with it again. I have havered for a long time as to whether to restore the Jack Taylor properly as I was not convinced about living with the poor but original condition or whether a new paint job would do the overall bike justice but after seeing the results of the purple JT frame Dave painted the other week I am pretty sure that frame is what will be done soon. Dave has someone doing the double box lining just now so will wait and see what it's like when it comes back but I have yet to see anything finished there that I wouldn't be pleased to own.

Jamie

 

[allenh]

That's going to look superb when its finished, very jealous indeed.

My own Mercian I've bottled out of doing this far and will probably send back to Mercian to be done, still cogitating on colour though.

 

[Jamiedyer]

I also always thought I would send it back to Mercian to be done, to keep it all Mercian but when their prices went up last year they almost doubled overnight and it made it that much harder for me to justify. Then after watching the frames done by Dave and Martin over the last twelve months or so and seeing them in use and realising how durable, usable they are whilst still being every ounce as deep and beautiful quality if not more so than Mercians finish it was an easy choice. It also helps when the cost is substantially less.
I still had to buy the decals from Mercian after supplying my frame number and they alone were around £50 odd quid, for literally 4 decals and that wasn't including the Reynolds ones either. When they quoted me for the repaint they also wanted £26 I think to apply them. So the full repaint wasn't going to be cheap.
It was an easy choice on quality though.

Jamie

 

[allenh]

I also always thought I would send it back to Mercian to be done, to keep it all Mercian but when their prices went up last year they almost doubled overnight and it made it that much harder for me to justify. Then after watching the frames done by Dave and Martin over the last twelve months or so and seeing them in use and realising how durable, usable they are whilst still being every ounce as deep and beautiful quality if not more so than Mercians finish it was an easy choice. It also helps when the cost is substantially less.
I still had to buy the decals from Mercian after supplying my frame number and they alone were around £50 odd quid, for literally 4 decals and that wasn't including the Reynolds ones either. When they quoted me for the repaint they also wanted £26 I think to apply them. So the full repaint wasn't going to be cheap.
It was an easy choice on quality though.

Jamie

Ouch I didn't realise that, they've always been expensive but I didn't realise they'd decided to milk the cash cow quite that hard so that might change my thinking.

Primarily I wanted the barbers pole treatment on the seat tube on mine and I don't trust myself to be that patient with the masking so thought well its a Mercian perhaps I should break the habit of a lifetime and get it done by the manufacturer but I might forget that idea now.

Decals can be expensive I spent nearly that on the Europa decals and a little more than that on the Falcon San Remo decals by the time I was done but there are other people that do them for a more reasonable cost.

 

[Jamiedyer]

What a great day yesterday!
I was on my way down to Brians at Dingwall for a ride through the mountains when I got a couple of messages come through on my phone. Pulled over to check and there was a photo through from Dave saying the decals had arrived, they were on along with them being clearcoated so his work was done, and once ready then Martin will do the lug lining and filling etc. Looks amazing and Dave sent the last photo saying that it will look beautiful in the sun, shame I live where I do, but that one day of the year when the sun comes out...…
So the photos came in over the day and I spent a great afternoon riding in the Highlands.

Jamie

IMG_1594 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1593 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1592 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1591 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1595 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1596 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

IMG_1588 (2) by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

 

[Jamiedyer]

Here are a couple I received this afternoon...… It looks amazing and will look even better once Martin has done the lug lining.
Anybody needs a repaint I can recommend these guys very highly, not that I need to with photos like these
(and this was with Dave apologizing for the bad light)

Jamie

2 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

3 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

6 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

7 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

8 by Jamie Dyer, on Flickr

 

[firedfromthecircus]

Looks fantastic Jamie. Great choice of colour as well. The candy apple green is much nicer than the BRG.

Look forward to seeing how you build it up. Have you decided the build yet? I assume after getting such a lovely paint job it's not going to be 'cobbled together' any longer?

 

[Jamiedyer]

I am not 100% on the build since seeing how nice it now is
Certainly wont be cobbled together anymore.
I do have some things I have been squirrelling away for a long while for it so these will go on.
I did also have some things for my other Mercian but I think that will be back in the loft mothballed once again once this King returns home.
Like all my bikes it will always be a rider and so needs to be built to be versatile. Though I may not use it as my gravel bike for a while
Initial thoughts are Stronglight triple chainset,
9 speed Dura Ace downtube shifters
Mafac racer brakes and levers
Nitto stem and B36 rando bars
Honey Brooks saddle
Brown Bar tape
I need to lace my Shimano 600 Ultegra rims to a set of Wolber GT2 Gentleman rims

Just some initial thoughts.

Jamie