Re:
Well this one has turned out to be far more trouble than I was expecting! Here's a list of what's gone wrong so far:
The rear mech was actually a Zeus Gran Sport and rusted into the frame. So much so that I nearly bent the drop out trying to remove it! A bit of Plus Gas, a brace in the dropout and long extension on the wrench and it finally pinged out. The rear mech is probably junk though, rusted and not moving too freely. The cage spring seems a little weak too.
The flange on the front hub was bent and it was totally seized. I have not bothered trying to service it as the bent flange means it is probably not worth it.
No frame number to be found anywhere. The forks are obviously not original and the steerer has been crudely cut down to fit, so the number probably went with the original forks. Guess it does lend credence to it being a Mercian though as there would likely have been a number elsewhere if it was an imposter. Either way it is still a lovely old frame so going to stick with it.
The Zeus Cranks has the original bolts. Annoyingly Zeus used 16mm Crank bolts that are virtually impossible to get out of there unless you can source a 16mm Peanut Butter Wrench. That's not easy. This is what's been holding me up for the last few weeks. I think I have finally found someone who has one, but have ordered a thin wall spark plug socket to give that a go first! If that fails I'll have to take it over to them to remove the cranks and bottom bracket.
So all in all a bit of a pain so far. I have sourced all the bits I want to build it back up though so if I can get the cranks sorted I should be able to get it painted and up and running by next week. I'll be putting on smaller crank bolts though!
if the stem is steel badged Cinelli, it is probably worth the money you paid for the full bike. Try rubbing it with aluminium foil dipped in water to remove rust.
