1966 Mercian Superlight Rebuild

[Ralph_the_Rohan]

Welcome to the first in a very occasional series of updates as I begin the rebuild of my 1966 Mercian Superlight.

As I mentioned in another thread, I acquired a Mercian Superlight and a collection of attached components that looked as if they had been at the bottom of a lake for 50 years!

This is the picture from the original Ebay listing....



Once it arrived I did a quick strip down and gave the frame a quick wipe over....



I've since removed the Brooks B17 Champion Saddle, Alloy Seat Post and the Stronglight 49D Crankset, but the GB Norma Stem is stuck fast. The stem is therefore going to have to be cut out, but as it has a serious crack anyway, it won't be too great a sacrifice.

As I love a bit of genuine patina, I'm going to do my best to tidy up the frame a bit more and treat all the rust to stop it in its tracks. Luckily it's all surface rust and has not compromised the frame at all.

I then intend to clean up as many of the components it arrived with and refit them, only using replacements, such as the GB Stem, when absolutely necessary.

My overall aim is to have it ready for the annual London to Southend ride in July.

So, first on the list was the Weinmann 500 Brake Calipers. They initially looked like this....



But after a couple of hours work, they now look like this....



Amazingly the only parts I've replaced are the brake blocks, but even then the cone nuts holding them on are the originals!

Further updates to follow as work progresses.

Steve.

 

[Jamiedyer]

That looks really nice Steve Not tempted to respray?
I think the work you have done with the frame, let alone the brakes already is pretty amazing. It just shows how items that a lot of people would most likely send to the tip can be made not just usable, but really lovely again with just a bit of effort and care.
Well done and look forward to watching it as it goes along.

Jamie

 

[Nob]

Re:

A frame of that quality deserves a new coat of paint IMO

 

[Ralph_the_Rohan]

Re:

Jamie and Nob,

I do love patina, but I think out of all my frames this is the one I'm most tempted to treat to a respray. The only thing that really puts me off is that I think the rust may have pitted the tubes too much to achieve a good enough finish?

If I do have it done it will be going back to Mercian, so I better start saving!

Steve.

 

[Jamiedyer]

Hi Steve
The frame, from the limited vision in the photos, doesn't look too bad and I am sure they can use a fill type primer that fills in small imperfections to leave a smooth primed tube so once the coats of paint go on you would never have known.
I know what you mean regards respray prices, I have my King Of Mercia and its pretty much like yours with the downtube and seat tube panel plus the headtube and lug lined with decals comes to £300 odd pound. To be fair though, all quotes from the usual places plus a couple of others have been very similar, some more, some less and I think it's better to get my Mercian resprayed by Mercian.
Best of luck with it though as either way it will be very nice.

Jamie

 

[roadking]

Re:

I'm in agreement with Nob on the repaint, patina is all well and good if it's a bicycle owned from new - what I would call patina of use - the state the frame is in is largely from careless storage.

It would look great repainted as original.

The stem will not be difficult to source and the Stronglight chainset will very nice for a polish.

Jon.

 

[Ralph_the_Rohan]

Re:

Jon,

Thinking about it I totally agree. As you say the rust on this frame is all due to bad storage and, not as you say, to battle scars through everyday use.

I think the case to get it renovated is overwhelming. It's just down to where to get it done? As far as I can work out Mercian would want around £354 for the job plus the cost of couriering the frame to them and back. Argos Cycles, on the other hand could do it for £220 plus couriering and whatever Mercian would charge for the transfers, assuming they supply to other refinishers?

I've not looked into any other companies at present.

Either way it will take a while to get the money together, so I'll press ahead with cleaning up the parts and getting it back together in the meantime.

Steve.

 

[fossala]

Re:

A mate of mine got a spa audaxes frame resprayed at Argos as he didn't like the black. Looked like a very nice paint job. Don't know how durable it is as he rear ended a car a few months later.

 

[Ralph_the_Rohan]

Re:

Pedals Update….

As can be seen from the following picture the pedals that came with the Mercian were beyond even my powers of resurrection!...



Luckily the remaining pieces that were left, after some investigation on Velobase, turned out to be unique to only one type of pedal, namely Lyotard Marcel Berthet model 23s….



So a quick look on Ebay turned up a pair, that although not NOS, look to be in really good condition. So a deal was struck with the Seller, who I believe is a member of this very Forum.

Another piece to the jigsaw is in place!

Steve.

 

[AndyMart]

Excellent work so far, I've seen I few top notch paint jobs from Bob Jacksons of late.