Author Topic: A new Mercian (mine) is born  (Read 15438 times)

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #25 on: 22 August, 2019, 07:11:23 am »
Paul, you could test ride it for him!

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #26 on: 22 August, 2019, 10:23:04 am »
Paul, you could test ride it for him!

You guys...  :)
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #27 on: 22 August, 2019, 09:09:06 pm »
You think they're joking ???

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #28 on: 23 August, 2019, 07:58:04 am »
One very small suggestion from me. I’d suggest obtaining some cable /frame protector thingumies to stop the gear cables wearing the paint on the head tube. A friend of mine recently built up a Vincitore, and the rubbing became evident quite soon. BBB I think do some that don’t need the cable disconnected.
By the way, this isn’t a Mercian specific issue, it applies to any frame without cable guides actually on the lower head tube lug.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #29 on: 23 August, 2019, 09:12:24 am »
True. I had Mercian braze on some loop-type guides when they resprayed mine for me a few years back.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #30 on: 23 August, 2019, 09:37:41 am »
first blemish in the paintwork = tears before bedtime. 

Do you have touch-in paint?

cheers

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #31 on: 23 August, 2019, 05:40:54 pm »
first blemish in the paintwork = tears before bedtime. 

And then a certain amount of relief that you don't need to be precious about it any more. Admittedly there may have been a certain amount of bad swears when, on the way home from the bike shop, I caught the crossbar of my shiny new Brompton with a booted foot and put a minor scuff in the paint...

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #32 on: 23 August, 2019, 07:06:18 pm »
I watched from just-too-far-away-to-stop-it as my Mercian, only weeks after a respray, rolled away from whatever I had propped it against and tilted against the next nearest thing - being the corner of a wall - and continued to roll while the wall took a long, straight, deep shaving of paint off the side of the top tube.

Did I laugh and put it down to experience?

I did not.
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

dat

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #33 on: 23 August, 2019, 08:52:50 pm »
Dented the seatube on my Bob Jackson 200k into a 400k. The next 200k was accompanied by intermittent cursing. I started a thread on the CTC forum about it, it has a sticker covering it now.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #34 on: 27 August, 2019, 05:53:11 pm »
True. I had Mercian braze on some loop-type guides when they resprayed mine for me a few years back.

My Hewitt Cheviot came with those, but I found that they just seemed to destroy the cable housings really quickly, so I bypass them now and just use some soft spiral cable housing protector thingys to try to preserve the paintwork, which seems to be working
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #35 on: 27 August, 2019, 06:02:11 pm »
One very small suggestion from me. I’d suggest obtaining some cable /frame protector thingumies to stop the gear cables wearing the paint on the head tube. A friend of mine recently built up a Vincitore, and the rubbing became evident quite soon. BBB I think do some that don’t need the cable disconnected.
By the way, this isn’t a Mercian specific issue, it applies to any frame without cable guides actually on the lower head tube lug.

I've got some white Jagwire Tube Top things, like this, that I might use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jagwire-X4-Cable-Tube-Tops/dp/B00GTXC7J4

In the past I've instead use some Fibrax spiral things, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIBRAX-Spiral-Frame-Protector-BLACK/dp/B014D605J2
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #36 on: 29 August, 2019, 06:00:59 pm »
first blemish in the paintwork = tears before bedtime. 

I managed to put a big scrape on my Hewitt Cheviot a few weeks after I first got it (over 10 years ago) following one of my first "clipless moments" at some traffic lights. Was not a happy bunny. Am now much more used to both SPD and SPD-SL pedals (the Mercian has the latter), so hopefully this won't happen at least!

Do you have touch-in paint?

No, don't think Mercian supply this (all paint is hand-mixed I think), but could ask, I guess...
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #37 on: 29 August, 2019, 08:28:05 pm »
I've got some white Jagwire Tube Top things, like this, that I might use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jagwire-X4-Cable-Tube-Tops/dp/B00GTXC7J4
In the past I've instead use some Fibrax spiral things, like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIBRAX-Spiral-Frame-Protector-BLACK/dp/B014D605J2
I use/used both of those and although they do a good job of slowing the paint wear down they didn't stop it, if you want to preserve it long term it's better to cover it.  Helicopter tape carefully cut and applied isn't noticeable unless you're looking for it.

Kim

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Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #38 on: 29 August, 2019, 08:29:31 pm »
Helicopter tape does a much better job of staying in the right place, too.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #39 on: 29 August, 2019, 09:42:10 pm »
Do you have touch-in paint?

No, don't think Mercian supply this (all paint is hand-mixed I think), but could ask, I guess...
It can be worth trying both car touch-up paint and Humbrol-type enamels. Ford Electric Current Red is a pretty-good match for the red on my Mercian, and Humbrol number 2 emerald is good for my older, green Pompino. You wouldn't immediately spot where I've applied either of those. However, the Sable Brown Pearl on my 1983 Holdsworth Mistral is still proving a challenge :-[

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #40 on: 30 August, 2019, 11:04:46 am »
Do you have touch-in paint?

No, don't think Mercian supply this (all paint is hand-mixed I think), but could ask, I guess...
It can be worth trying both car touch-up paint and Humbrol-type enamels. Ford Electric Current Red is a pretty-good match for the red on my Mercian, and Humbrol number 2 emerald is good for my older, green Pompino. You wouldn't immediately spot where I've applied either of those. However, the Sable Brown Pearl on my 1983 Holdsworth Mistral is still proving a challenge :-[

The white enamel head tube and seat tube should be easy to find a match for, but the flamboyant orange pearl will be much trickier I think
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #41 on: 30 August, 2019, 11:21:13 am »
You never know. You might be lucky, and you might not. Bit expensive to find out though.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #42 on: 30 August, 2019, 04:37:23 pm »
The white enamel head tube and seat tube should be easy to find a match for,
You'd think so, but that's not my experience, even if you used the exact same paint the chances are the  the effects of ageing will still make it STAND OUT - Well stand out to the owner, in all likelihood no one else will notice unless you point it out.  I've given up trying to disguise paint loss, instead painting stars in a contrasting colour to cover any bare metal. 

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #43 on: 30 August, 2019, 04:55:20 pm »
The white enamel head tube and seat tube should be easy to find a match for,
You'd think so, but that's not my experience, even if you used the exact same paint the chances are the  the effects of ageing will still make it STAND OUT - Well stand out to the owner, in all likelihood no one else will notice unless you point it out.  I've given up trying to disguise paint loss, instead painting stars in a contrasting colour to cover any bare metal.

That's not a bad idea, probably looks better than a bad attempt at matching! A green might contrast well with the orange, black with white etc.
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #44 on: 30 August, 2019, 05:07:08 pm »
In case anyone is interested, this is pretty much the full spec (apart from detailed geometry) and components, as fitted:

Frame: Mercian Strada Speciale - 53cm centre-to-top
Tubing: Reynolds 853 Pro Team (forks and stays are also 853)

NB: has chain peg braze-on on inside RH seat stay, also has braze-on for front-derailleur and 2 x bottle cage mounts

Campagnolo Record 1"  threaded headset
Nitto M106 NAS drop bars (42cm width)
Fizik Tempo Microtex Bondcush Classic 3mm bar tape
Nitto Pearl quill stem (90mm length)

Campagnolo Veloce 10-speed shifters (2006-era)
Campagnolo Chorus (differential) brake callipers (pre-skeleton, 2006-era) with Swissstop Race Pro pads

Gilles Berthoud Galibier leather saddle (black), with titanium rails
Campagnolo Chorus titanium seatpost 27.2mm diameter, 220mm long
Nitto R 'Racing' stainless steel bottle cage (I have two, but only one is currently mounted)

Campagnolo Chorus 10 speed rear derailleur (medium cage)
Campagnolo Centaur 10 speed 12-27 cassette
Campagnolo Record Ultra Narrow 10 speed Chain

Campagnolo Veloce 10 speed chainset with 50/34 chain rings
Campagnolo Centaur 10 speed Front Derailleur
Shimano Dura Ace PD-9000 SPD-SL pedals

Campagnolo Chorus hubs (32 hole)
Mavic Open Pro C rims
Schwalbe high pressure rim tape (18mm)
DT Swiss spokes
Veloflex Master 25mm tyres
Silcia Latex inner tubes
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #45 on: 04 September, 2019, 06:30:41 pm »
Finally collected my Mercian Strada Speciale from Derby today, it looks stunning in the flesh - I dithered for ages over which colour to go for and whether to get a barbers pole or not, but I'm 100% happy with the final paint scheme I went for.

Only possible issue encountered so far - the front derailleur outer cage is very, very close to the tips of the teeth of the outer chainring, the FD might possibly need to be moved up a fraction.

[click to expand]



The paintjob is gorgeous



Now safely home



They did actually supply some touch-up paint, without me asking - both the white enamel and and the top orange layer of the flamboyant paint (not the silver under layer), they said I would need a heat source to set it properly, but that a hair dryer or heater might do

Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #46 on: 04 September, 2019, 10:39:21 pm »
If one uses the Campagnolo front changer setting tool the changer will be close to the teeth on the big ring.

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #47 on: 05 September, 2019, 07:37:52 am »
If one uses the Campagnolo front changer setting tool the changer will be close to the teeth on the big ring.

I suspect Mercian did indeed use that tool, I'll see how it works out in practice this weekend
Old enough to know better, but young enough to do it anyway

Paul

  • L'enfer, c'est les autos.
Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #48 on: 05 September, 2019, 08:43:56 am »
Not shabby. Not shabby at all.
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding?

Re: A new Mercian (mine) is born
« Reply #49 on: 05 September, 2019, 01:51:06 pm »
It looks great, I hope you have many happy kilometres together.