Mercian Fixed - worth a look

[Midlife]

I dont think we are arguing about the price, it will sell for whatever someone will pay for it.

The posts were reflecting the opinions that it's still ridable and not "all the guts kicked out". My 60's - 70's steel is just as it was when it left the builders.

Shaun

 

[Robbied196]

it dates 1955 and has racing provenance.

:roll: The seller should have mentioned that in their listing, and put it on the Hetchins register :facepalm:

Ebay values are a world of their own. I think the 'faux pas' was to say "It's really just an old bike with all the guts kicked out of it. I should imagine it would be as stiff as a blancmange".

That has probably irritated most retro, vintage riders.

 

[Donny Dee]

I rode velodrome for 25 years, I still dabble. Like aluminium, steel had a reasonable fatigue life when used 'within normal mechanical limits' and like aluminium degrades when tested beyond these limits. I used to ride with Stewart Brydon, Commonwealth track champion who would change a frameset every three months. As a callow yoof I asked him why "Because there's nothing left in it after three months of sprinting, try it...' Dead as a door nail. Sean Kelly reportedly demanded a new Vitus after every Classic, for the same reasons.

Bikes that are raced, and raced hard age a lot quicker than a bike frame which is ridden in 'normal riding'. It's for this reason I wouldn't buy a 55 year old track bike, unless I wanted it as an ornament. This, from Sheldon:

"For instance aluminium is compromised with every bend, twist, vibration it is asked to absorb. Over time the material degrades and at some point, no matter what you do, it is going to fail.

Steel has a definite yield point. Below that yield point it can suck up as bending, twisting/vibration almost indefinitely. Above that yield point, then the material ages in the same way as aluminium."

 

[Robbied196]

I appreciate your cycling history but the 'soft frame' myth has been going around for decades. Rust, damage or poor build will reduce the lifespan but steel will never loose its flex or become soft through age, it can't because it doesn't develop age related wear.

The yield point in steel is where it breaks, there is no deterioration in the steel even if it taken almost to breaking point numerous times. This same myth exists with steel shafted golf clubs.

Jan Heine wrote an article about the very same subject: https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/03/ ... oing-soft/

The conclusion is that it is a riders psychological belief that their frame has 'worn out', whereas in reality the frame will be exactly the same as the day it was built. It would be nice if we all aged like steel

 

[one-eyed_jim]

This, from Sheldon:

Sheldon who?

Parts of what you're saying are valid, although yield and fatigue are very different things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yield_(engineering)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatigue_limit

The important point is that fatigue can accumulate when a material is stressed well below its yield strength, but there's no change in the stiffness of the material until it eventually cracks.

Here's Jobst Brandt (may his memory be blessed) on the subject:

http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/frame-soft.html

 

[Midlife]

As an aside I rode in a car behind the bunch in the 70's and the riders simply jumped on what they were provided with. If Holdsworth had a new frame with "H" panto'd on the seat stay caps then that's what Phil Bayton appeared on.

The Six Day bikes also seemed to last a season too... Until the next fashion.

Shaun

 

[JoeH]

Price has been reduced, and seller will accept an offer:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-59-Re ... 2802526042