uprightbent

Just bought this from the original owner who can't remember the model name, purchased as a frame only brand new. The serial number 66675, does that indicate 1975? The 666 doesn't comfort me. There's a 5 by itself, reading that was the builder's ID? Now that second number, 7208A, I don't have a clue.

I'm reading that mixing amongst features was common with Mercian, as I see the long spear point lugs on the BB which only connect to the Professional in some brochures. However, these chainstays are at least 17-17 1/4" which doesn't correspond with the much shorter ones on the Pro. So maybe it's a King of Mercia Touring? But then it has the Cinelli fully sloping fork. But no hearts in the lugs. I appreciate any and all information.

I'm usually picky about paint and decals, but this one grabbed me despite its patina, which is growing on me. I don't know what the brown stains are, they aren't rubbing off yet. Maybe this'll be the one I clear coat over to lock in this finish which took the original owner thousands of miles and much love to achieve. Any advice on this treatment is much appreciated! Oh, and that funky QR on the front, would love to know who made that. Hubs are unmarked with a decal stripe only. Rear QR is Campy. Thanks again!

mhespenheide 

I hope someone can help, but Mercians were customs. They had models, sure, but they'd also build what a customer requested. So the features could be mixed from different models.

Campagnerdo 

That's a nice Mercian! The hubs are Weyless hubs, one of the smaller independent hub manufacturers from the 70's, like Hi-E or Bullseye. You don't see them very often. It's obvious the original owner put some thought into component selection when building it up.

juvela

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certainly "looks" earlier than 'LXXV; not questioning your date

by that time the full sloping crown trend had waned and braze-ons were beginning to come on strongly

if it were done bespoke perhaps the customer had a mental picture they wished to see of a machine from 'LXVIII


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bibliobob

Nice score! Definitely a higher end offering. The hubs are really nice - Weyless!

P!N20

Piff 

You might try cut cream polishing compound, it works great to bring out the original shine of the paint. Very very slightly abrasive that won't hurt the paint or decals, but will take off grime and dirt.

beicster 

You can purchase a copy of the original build sheet from the Mercian website. They only go back so far but I think the cut off is early 70’s.

bikemig 

The paint is crackled. That's not uncommon with older Motobecanes (my Motobecane Grand Record has the same problem). If you do decide to use a slightly abrasive polishing compound, try it on a small section first as that might worsen the crackling of the paint. The brown discoloration on the top tube should come off. I love the wrap around stays. Nice score.

The bike needs and deserves a leather saddle.

steelbikeguy

I've got a mid-80's Mercian catalog, and it shows a Professional with the long point BB shell and the Prugnat 62 D head lugs. This matches your bike, so that's a good sign.



The wrap-over seat stays suggest early 1970's or so, as does the front derailleur cable housing stop brazed at the lower end of the down tube. That might explain the longer chain stays too.

The SunTour Cyclone derailleurs were very popular in the mid 70's. The T.A. Cyclotourist (or just a clone) crank was a great way to get whatever sort of gear range that you might want.
I've got Cyclone derailleurs and a Cyclotourist clone on one of my favorite British bikes...



The Weyless front hub was a novel and cool hub back in the day. It would be worth spending a little time to polish it up like the magazine advertisement shows!

Steve in Peoria

rustystrings61 

First off, LOVELY bike! Were it mine, I'd gently disassemble, clean, wax, repack all the bearings and reassemble with the parts on it, because someone put some serious thought into this bike.

I had Weyless hubs in the late '70s, laced to Mavic Montlhery tubular rims, and loved them. At the time I got those wheels, the shop owner mentioned something about them being suitable because I was small and light - has anyone ever heard of any weight limitations on these?

The 5 is indeed the builder number - that would be Derek Land, who built my son's 1971 KOM and my 2002 custom Vincitore road fixed-gear. He was there until I think 2004, 2005, before retiring. I think he is mentioned and/or quoted in the 1979 Denise de la Rosa and Michael Kolin book, The Custom Bicycle : buying, setting up and riding the quality bicycle.

The wrapover stays, as noted, point to 70s or earlier, as by c.82 or so they had gone to a seat stay top with "MERCIAN" cast into it. I am pretty confident that this one was built in 1975 by Derek Land, though.

bironi

Keep the crinkled/cracked paint if it matches your skin, it does mine.
Enjoy!

billytwosheds 

I really like this Mercian, especially the patina. Would recommend you test clean a small area under a chainstay or somewhere less obvious.

And to other comments, yes, a leather saddle is needed. What a beaut.

uprightbent

Thanks for all the replies! Weyless hubs, never would've known. Unfortunately it would appear that finding a rear QR to match the front will be very difficult and costly. Maybe the same for newer Mafac hood replacements.

At this point preserving the patina is my goal, thanks for the cream polishing suggestion which I'll undertake once fully disassembled. And of course a Brooks or other leather saddle will be mounted. I don't think that black rack will stay put though, even though it's an older (Jim) Blackburn. Seems like it ought to have bright finishes only.

The discovery process is fun and has revealed this interesting decal. I didn't know Mercian employed Pratt & Whitney to supply their engines. I think the elder gentlemen original owner maybe had a career in aviation.

steelbikeguy

well, that's something that you don't see on every bike! There have been some cross-overs of aviation with bikes, but none with Pratt & Whitney that I've heard of.

P&W have a very C&V history, of course. One of their popular products was the R2800 radial engine found on various WWII era aircraft, such as the F4U Corsair (below).
It's a large engine... the "2800" refers to the displacement in cubic inches.





Steve in Peoria

BillRS22

The lug work and wraparound seat stays and sloping fork crown match what is on my 1974 Mercian Professional. I think my 25” frame has 17”+ stays but I can’t get to it to measure right now. Anyway, nice bike. Bill

obrentharris 

There may be a good reason why the rear Weyless skewer is missing. I have one that I cannot tighten enough to keep the drive-side of the rear wheel from sliding forward under hard pedaling! I think the serrations on the aluminum clamping surfaces wear down quickly and lose their grip.
Brent

Andy_K 

I can't make out which Mafac levers you have. If they're the ones that take half-hoods, I have a pair of red ones that would be perfect with that bike. Let me know if you're interested.

rustystrings61 

The Weyless skewers were a neat idea that didn't work out so well. If memory serves me, one of mine had a crack in one side of the handle when I sold my Puch in 1987 after nine years of use. Those wheels disappeared along with the bike when it was stolen a couple of months later from the friend I sold it to, and when I recovered the bike in 2019 (talk about impossible odds!), whoever had it in the interim had fitted it with 27-in Rigidas laced to factory spec Normandy Luxe Competitions.

Frankly, I would just locate some good, clean Maillard/Atom/Normandy skewers (NOT the funky straight-through handled Normandys from the '60s!) and call it good. That or some classic Campagnolo skewers, since Mercian was the Campagnolo importer for the U.K. and may still be.

uprightbent

Many thanks for the offer Andy, but these appear to be the full hood versions. They're beautifully aged yet hard as a rock, so I may just leave them on.

ascherer 

The head and bb lugs match my 87 Professional. If it hasn’t been mentioned yet, builder 5 was Derek Land, mine is one of his frames as well. Mines a 62 cm with 16” stays but I believe wheelbases got shorter by the time mine was built. You could have a Pro, or a custom build. In any event, my Mercian has been my favorite bike for the past 36 years, I hope you enjoy yours.

rustystrings61 

Looking back over this thread, I have a couple of additional notes:

Mixing and matching features is a long-standing Mercian trait. I have a 1982 Mercian Colorado that, back before Mercian started needing to charge for the information (or it could have been that I had recently purchased a full custom Vincitore frameset from them!), they told me was built as a team-issue bike for Tom Mereness, a masters-class rider on the old Harvest/The Spoke/Mercian team out of The Spoke bicycle shop in Boulder, Colorado. Apparently, the Colorado may have been more about it being a bike sold through The Spoke than any set group of features. On the old iBOB list maybe 20 years ago someone was selling a Colorado described as a sports-tourer with eyelets and some clearance. Mine is a stage-racing bike built with Reynolds 531 Competition, round fork blades and chainstays, spearpoint BB shell, Prugnat S4 lugs, box crown w stiffeners, top tube brake cable tunnels, under BB cable tunnels, under chainstay housing stop, dt shift bosses and two sets of bottle bosses. Oddly enough, the fork crown was drilled for nutted rather than Allen key fittings - but the rear WAS made for Allen key fixtures. Maybe George was in a hurry that day. The lugs and bottom bracket shell weren't usually combined on the same bike at that time, apparently. If you're into build threads and the evolution of a specific bike, there's a flickr gallery about it.

Something I failed to mention is the ride. This particular Mercian was the bike that put the nail in the coffin for my Rivendell Road Custom. The Colorado just outclassed it, ride wise. It is every bit as stable as the Rivendell was on long fast descents, yielded nothing in terms of inspiring confidence - but it just felt so much faster and nimbler, just a livelier bike. I attribute a lot of that difference to the Rivendell's OS tubing, whereas the Colorado's standard diameter 531C just felt springier and more responsive. During the years I was riding the most miles, this was my go-fast bike, and I was turning in the quickest times of my life on it, despite the big honking dent in the top tube and the mongrel Shimano mixed-level components I hung on it. Whenever I threw a leg over it, it just felt like it wanted to go, fast and now, and it was an inspiring ride. I'm planning on returning it to active service later this year.

Different vibe, same builder as yours - my 2002 Vincitore Custom was built to be a long-distance fixed-gear road bike. I've ridden this bike more than any other in my lifetime. It's done cross-state event rides and centuries, club rides and leisurely multi-surface rambles. When I described what I wanted, Grant at Mercian suggested a 531 Competition frame mated to a 531 Super Tourist fork. Much as I enjoy my other bikes, when I straddle this one I know I am home.

I hope your Mercian turns out as well for you!

MeadMan2

My 1985 Mercian, which I think is a KOM, has the same fork crown but undershoot seat stays. My 1974 Follis came with sew-ups & after a few years I decided I wanted clinchers so I had a set built up with Weyless hubs & Super Champion rims. I still have them & use the front wheel on my Gary Fisher hybrid which gets a fair amount of use. Sine I weigh about 150 lbs I can't comment about weight restrictions. The axles on the skewers I believe are titanium. Unfortunately the axle pulled out of the latching mechanism for the front wheel. The Weyless hubs polish up beautifully. I use Blue Magic metal polish cream that makes non-anodized aluminum shine like chrome.

jonwvara 

I salute you for that! Nice bike in every way.

Robvolz 

I collect Weyless bits. I think I have a spare hollow QR in the spare drawer.