12boy

I don't love the look of the headset but I like the removable face plate a lot. You can switch bars but you'll need a $20 pair of brakelevers for a flat bar or a riser. You will also need the brake cables they use that have a little drum on the end. I use bull horns on mine with the original brake levers. Keeps my hands about the right distance in front of me, they are light and I could reuse the original bar tape. The other day I went on a short ride that featured a 1000 foot climb in a mile and a half. It wasn't any slower than my other bikes and the low gearing was nice.

cadeluxe

I put together the bike a little earlier. I did not grease the headset, hubs, or bottom bracket yet. There did seem to be excess yellowish grease around the bottom and top of the headset though. The wheel hubs did not feel loose or wiggly. I also used 16mm velox rim tape on the rims. I'm not sure if it is wide enough though. The tire bead jack made installing the tires a snap. I wish I had one when I was a teenager.

I just took the bike for its first test ride. The last time I rode a drop bar bike was probably junior high school when it wasn't called middle school! Unexpectedly, I felt very stretched out for such a small bike. It's an odd feeling being so close to the front of the bike, like I might endo. And the seat is so close to the back of the bike, like I might wheelie all the time. I did neither.

I think I'll need some time to get a hang of the shifter location. I'm spoiled by trigger shifters

I ordered Dimension Urban Cruiser handlebars and tektro fl750 brake levers. I believe these brake levers use road style brake cables instead of the mountain bike style.

cadeluxe

Looks like I lost both crank dust caps on my first ride.

I'm currently trying to tweak my front derailleur. After tightening the front derailleur cable (there was a lot of slack), I noticed I have to turn the friction shifter all the way to the bottom to move the chain to the larger gear. Is that normal behavior? Also, after setting the low and high limits, on the smaller front gear for example, I get chain rub against the front derailleur cage when the back gears are set to either the smallest or largest cog. Is this normal on the Nano? I just read on sheldonbrown.com, that if there is chain rub, I can "trim" the front derailleur with the non-indexed shifter, but should I even need to do that? Can the chain rub be adjusted out? I don't believe I've run into this before on other bikes.

noglider 

I bought a mail order bike once (from Nashbar). I got my money's worth, which is to say I got a cheap bike whose parts and labor had not received a lot of attention. It needed a lot of work upon arrival. I would expect to need to grease and adjust all bearings of any mail order bike. This is one reason they cost so little. The suppliers can't make a profit if they do things right.

mirfi

Yes chain rub can be adjusted out. Should have two screws. It will take time, but you will know your bike like we know ours.

cadeluxe

I've made my high and low adjustments on my front derailleur. I adjusted the front derailleur so when on the smaller gear on the front and the largest gear in the back, the front derailleur cage chain just barely misses the chain. When I then set the back gear to the smallest gear, the chain rubs the front derailleur cage.

I can't figure out what I could be doing wrong. It seems like this can't be adjusted out. The angle is too wide.

3speedslow

Excessive cable tightening might be the culprit. In the derailleur rest position( small chainring) it is okay to have slight cable tension, not super taunt. Release your cable and adjust your stops first. Then add you cable tension and see how it does.

You can do this! Also, how is the little red sticker on the FD in relation to the big chainring and the cage line to the chainring angle.

cadeluxe

Wow, this front derailleur is really testing me. I was able to get rid of the chain rub slightly. It looks like the front derailleur wasn't fully tightened down, so maybe it turned? The clamp screw was very easy to loosen. I believe maybe the derailleur cage wasn't fully parallel to the large gear. It's hard to gauge this though because the cage appears to be curved. I removed the little red sticker after I put the bike together! I read that the space should be about 3mm between the edge of the cage and the teeth of the large chainring, so I made sure the height was about that.

Now I've run into an even worse problem. I can switch up to the large front chainring pretty smoothly, but when I shift back down to the smaller chainring often times the derailleur will just grind against the large chainring and not push the chain down.

mirfi

Worst problem; Does this depend on the what gear in the back you are in?

cadeluxe

It seems like it affects all gears? I think the problem is the cage wasn’t as parallel as I thought. I’m going to go go through the Shimano manual from scratch.

I did notice in the manual it said to expect chain noise from “doubles” when on the smallest chainring and two smallest rear cogs.

noglider 

@cadeluxe, I think you need to experiment with the height of the front derailleur. Some work best when there is 1mm of clearance between the top of the big chainring's teeth and the bottom of the derailleur. Some prefer more like 3mm of clearance.

Another adjustment is the angle of the derailleur. I start out with the outer cage plate being parallel to the big chainring. Then if that doesn't work, I rotate the derailleur a bit with the tail end sticking out a little more than the head end.

cadeluxe

I tried various heights and rotations. I originally tried rotating the cage tail out a little to help with the chain rub, but I think that's what was causing the downshifting problem. I rotated it back to a little bit more parallel and adjusted height down to about 2mm. Then I went through high and low limits. With the bike off the ground and testing the shift changing, it works pretty consistently. While riding the bike, it's less consistent. It hesitates occasionally, mainly when I downshift with some load.

I think I'll need to invest in a bike stand to make experimentation quicker.

Chester

Took a few photos of my Nano after what I think was my last ride on it.

Got mine in the Fall of 2011 and rode it tons. Mostly daily commuting but also a good bunch of 20-30 mile urban rides. Some longer. Kind of loathe to let it go as it was a trusty ride for so long but I haven't regularly ridden it for years.

I've gone rather overboard with the N+1 principle and I not only have 7 bikes, but 3 of them are mini velos, including this Nano. I've got like 3 bikes too many, one mini velo too many. So this is gonna go to a new home where it'll get ridden as it should.

I never got around to changing much on it. Handlebars got switched to a mustache bar. Pedals to MKS GR-9 and Half Clips. Saddle with houndstooth pattern from a Felt Curbside. Crane Karen bell. Dorky handlebar mirror. Changed out rim tape and expanded valve holes for Schraders and it has a Schwalbe Kojak on front and a Primo Comet on back.

Had always wanted to switch the shifting to bar ends and also upgrade the brake calipers and levers but never got around to that.

In conversation with a staffer at an LBS I go to, I found out he was really wanting to get a mini velo. Swung by today for some stuff and he took it for a spin and loved it. So I'll sell it to him for cheap. Like the idea of helping him get a mini for cheap, and my old mini going to an avid rider.

If you made it to the bottom of this, what do you think is a fair price for a stock Version 1 Mercier Nano?

(I'm going to strip off the parts and put it back to stock, aside from the tires. Going to move them to a Sundeal V2 mini that I got much more recently and hope to ride more.)

3speedslow

Starting at 299... if going back to stock old parts then really, the frame is the selling point. Don’t know your market but maybe 125-150 range?

WAG could be...

mirfi

3SpeedSlow, I agree.

I don't mean to get philosophical, (or start an argument) but here's my theory on bike value/price.
And I use this as 'rule of thumb' just to get an idea.

Using $400 dealer price as example.
Dealer sells it retail for $400, they bought it wholesale for $200, manufacturer made parts for $100.

So, for a $299 bike (using my theory) the bike (collection of parts) is worth $75, but you are doing setup, tuning, using your tools, material, time, labor. So, $100-150, is reasonable.

And that's what I'd pay for a well maintained used Nano.

cadeluxe

This bike has definitely been a black hole for me! I've tweaked my front derailleur a little bit more. Occasionally, when downshifting, the chain will fall in between the two chainrings and actually get stuck between the underside of the large chainring's rivets and the teeth of the smaller chain ring.

I'm also considering switching the drivetrain to a 1x8 using a 52t chainring and a 11-32t cassette. Hopefully I'm using bikecalc.com correctly, but it looks like with this combination, I actually extend my gear inches in both directions. Is there anything else I should be considering?

Chester

Quote:

Originally Posted by mirfi

So, $100-150, is reasonable.

Thanks for the opinions/estimates, guys. I think your guys' estimates top out at what I think the low end might be, in terms of possible sale price. My area has high COL and cost of everything else, and also bikes are at a premium right now, including used ones.

BUT...my intention is to sell it as a good deal to a good home, and so I'm glad to have your ranges to run off of. The differences in $ that are conceivable are trivial. I just feel the need to make space and get it to someone who will ride it and the $ is just a way to justify spending $ on bike stuff, and also to make it, roughly, a square transaction.

I think, someday, I might want to have a roadie mini velo again, but I think if I do it, I'll end up sinking more money into it and build it off of a nicer frame. Maybe the V-O Neutrino. And I've seen titanium and lugged steel frames that are intriguing.

mirfi

Chester, sinking time, love and money into bicycles is an affliction we have and share. So much so that we gather on this site to talk about it. I feel your pain and have empathy with you. Amen.

BTW, I think I've regretted moving on from the 30 or so bikes I've once owned.

:-)

3speedslow

As it has been said, it’s hard to diagnose a problem over the Internet. My OEM set up worked well with my usual technique and adjustments. Sorry to read about your difficulties. BTW my front crank now is a triple and no problems. I also have years in bike maintenance.

Hang in there!

If if you decide to go 1X, pls do IF that hearing gives you enough range to cover the area you live in

3speedslow

cadeluxe

We have focused on the front for so long we need to consider the rear. Is the hanger bent? Is the wheel in good position in the dropouts with equal spacing between the stays?

Still trying to trouble shoot this for ya!

cadeluxe

Thank you for your help!

The hanger looks parallel to the rear cassette as far as I can tell.. Rear shifts pretty well. The wheel also looks ok and spins pretty true. As far as the equal spacing between stays. It looks ok to me. The brakes pads are evenly spaced from the rim.

I might just accept that with my limited ability the chain will rub against the front derailleur cage when in the small chainwheel and smallest rear cog. I'll just trim it out if I want to use that combination of gears.

With all my trial and error, I've chewed up the chain pretty good. And that's probably what's causing the stuck chain issues that I started getting (probably exacerbating the cause of my chain rub too!). I think the burrs are catching on the large chainring rivets and getting stuck.

Regarding the 1x, it's pretty flat out here. I was even considering getting a single speed before deciding on the nano. I just wanted to use the bike to get around town, and I'm not a speed demon.

Through this journey, I'm building a nice set of bike tools. So far I have some cone wrenches and a baby torque wrench, and have a cassette lock ring tool, chainring nut tool, chain whip, and chain breaker on order.

xRyan

Any cool upgrades lately?

also...can someone with the 1.75 tire show a photo of clearance? I was hoping to get a little bigger to absorb more rough road conditions/trails.

Chester

Just in case anyone's interested, I offered my Nano for $140, or $160 with the mustache bars I swapped in, and buyer was very happy with that. Aside from the bars, again, the only "upgrades" are swap out of rim tape and changing out tires to nice ones. Conservatively assuming that I wore down half the life of the tires, combined with the bars, that's like $60 in value counting 50% of the new value of the parts, and so I feel like I gave him a pretty nice deal. And that was my intent: to get the bike over to someone who would really appreciate it and ride the crap out of it, while also freeing up space in my garage.

And then I just invalidated the latter motivation, as I found someone selling a Gios Panto on Craigslist and picked that up over the weekend.

Somehow, my wife is not annoyed at all.

3speedslow

Not at this time. I’m still waiting for this rainy spell to subside so I can take it out again. I’m so tired of these daily soakings on my messenger bike!

Still holding off on switching the wrap from the original to another as it’s good for now. Too many saddles yet to try!

Chester

You may have seen this already, but in case you didn't, Bikes Direct has this note on their spec page for the Nano: