sjcprojects
Orange 🍊 Fan
In a suitably autumnal colour, a Mercian Olympic from 1983 (serial number 99283). This was bought from someone who was only about 10 miles from Derby, and being in south Sheffield, I'm only a little over 35 miles away myself. A Mercian has been on my list of bikes I'd like for a while, so although I hadn't planned to build up another bike, I couldn't resist this one. It can take mudguards so this will be my retro-autumn/spring bike, I think. It won't be a proper winter bike because although I know some people do use steel bikes throughout winter, I've done that myself before and it did not end up well. It ended up very rusty (even with full mudguards).
The Olympic was the bottom of the Mercian range, but it still feels like a very well made frame.
I knew straight away that I would keep this fairly period, so the choice of parts was obvious. It will be mainly Shimano 105 Golden Arrow, with some 600 from the same era, inspired by the rather lovely classic Mercian lettering.
The Olympic was the bottom of the Mercian range, but it still feels like a very well made frame.
I knew straight away that I would keep this fairly period, so the choice of parts was obvious. It will be mainly Shimano 105 Golden Arrow, with some 600 from the same era, inspired by the rather lovely classic Mercian lettering.