1989-90 Merlin Titanium

[jimi911]

Re:

I’m going to give these a try on the front. They are some sort of handmade brakes ... sorta look grafton like but they are not. New black anno and some Shimano hardware. I’ve been playing around with the setup and they seem pretty good. Hanger is Joes I think.

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Getting there. Needs a few things and a crank swap. Not long now

 

[mojo ti]

Re:

Really nice, what’s the brakes ?

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Really nice, what’s the brakes ?

The rear is a Peterson SE U brake with Brodie Brace. The front is some sort of hand made brake or prototype ... sorta looks like a grafton but it’s not. At any rate, really nice and both brakes tie together well with the holes Ringle Skewers and Brodie brace.

 

[mojo ti]

Re:

Your Pedersen brakes are very beautiful, how is braking with that ?

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Your Pedersen brakes are very beautiful, how is braking with that ?

I have them on my '88 Brodie as well. They work well. There's a lot of movement on them with the energizing motion so I feel like you really need to have a brace on there.

Only crappy part is the clearance for the bolts that hold the pads on. Its so tight and if the bosses on the frame are set low you have to mess about with other bolts and a dremel to get them to fit. That's what I am doing right now. I'll probably end up running some shimano hardware on them to get them to fit better.

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Cranks restored. Tried silver, black, silver/black, and black silver before I settled.

No Syncros rings ... they weren't around in 1990.

 

[mauricer]

Re:

Not that it matters, but shouldn't that bike not be later than 1990? I had 1850 and it was 1989. Doubt that they added another 1500 frames that year or even the years after. Especially the white decals, if Original would rather lead towards 1992 or later. Clearly there wasn't any rule at the Merlin workshop. :mrgreen:

 

[jimi911]

Re:

Hahaha ... yeah those Merlin serial numbers are odd as heck.

When I got it I pegged it as a 1990 based on the rear U brake and black decals. Those white ones are aftermarket on it. The original ones on it are the older black style. Its 3100 and change, can't recall exactly, but you'd think it be in the 1990 range based on MOMBAT's research:

1988: 1 - 59
1989: 60 - 139
1990: 3518 - 3604
1991: 3605 - 6353

There numbers from 140-1999 I am sure, I don't think I have seen a number in 2000s.

Something goofy was going on for sure around 89/90 with the numbers though.

 

[iveto1983]

Re:

I have 2960, which I’ve treated as if it’s a ‘90 but don’t know when it was built. It has a threaded BB shell, white decals, straight stays, and canti mounts. I’ll pop a pic up later, if you don’t mind the thread derailment.