If you've been reading this blog, one thing you know is that I'm a Mercian fan. I generally like traditional-style lugged and fillet-brazed steel frames, and Mercian is making, in my opinion, some of the best iterations available today. And, of course, their older frames are great examples of everything I (and, possibly, you) love about vintage bikes.
Still, there are a few Mercians I would never ride. Actually, the ones I wouldn't ride are, mostly, the ones I could not ride. Here is one:
Of course, the reason I never could ride such a frame is that it's waaay too big for me. The seller says it's a 71cm frame. All of my Mercians--as well as my Trek and Fuji--are in the 56 cm (center to center seat tube) range. So were most of the bikes I've owned and ridden for nearly four decades.
If I were a collector, though, I would want that frame. How many other people have a Mercian with lateral tube inside the "diamond"? I know a few bike makers and marketers, such as Rivendell, make or offer bikes with similar designs. And, I would imagine, Mercian and other builders would make such a frame for you as a special order. I would guess, though, that they would want to build such a frame for you if you really needed it--say, if you were very tall (as the owner of that frame probably is/was) or were going on a world tour and carrying all of your worldly possessions along paths that make the Ho Chi Minh trail look like a Beverly Hills street.
If you've been reading this blog, you probably can tell that I like the colors on that frame, too! Just sayin'....
Still, there are a few Mercians I would never ride. Actually, the ones I wouldn't ride are, mostly, the ones I could not ride. Here is one:
Of course, the reason I never could ride such a frame is that it's waaay too big for me. The seller says it's a 71cm frame. All of my Mercians--as well as my Trek and Fuji--are in the 56 cm (center to center seat tube) range. So were most of the bikes I've owned and ridden for nearly four decades.
If I were a collector, though, I would want that frame. How many other people have a Mercian with lateral tube inside the "diamond"? I know a few bike makers and marketers, such as Rivendell, make or offer bikes with similar designs. And, I would imagine, Mercian and other builders would make such a frame for you as a special order. I would guess, though, that they would want to build such a frame for you if you really needed it--say, if you were very tall (as the owner of that frame probably is/was) or were going on a world tour and carrying all of your worldly possessions along paths that make the Ho Chi Minh trail look like a Beverly Hills street.
If you've been reading this blog, you probably can tell that I like the colors on that frame, too! Just sayin'....
