Mercian Campag Camper

[fatfixie]

there is a seller on ebay called robertociclismo who is selling NOS record 8 cassettes in 13-26t. I picked one up a few weeks ago

Andy

 

[gluey]

Cheers for the advice. Going to have to stock up because my regular wheels, early 90s 531 Raleigh are pre-2001 Campag too (below).

 

[hamster]

The old wheels are fine - even a 1996 one will take a 10 speed sprocket provided it has the new carrier body with the longer splines. The problem is all in the shifters.

But as your purple bike has the round top shifters, you can fit the later ratchets inside them (about £30 from Mercian I believe) and modify them to post-2000 spec.

 

[gluey]

The only issue to remember is that the cable pull per click changed for 2001 so you need pre-2001 rear mechs, but these will be fine with 9s.

Can I just clarify this: my Raleigh has pre-2001 9-speed Mirage. Is that the same cable pull as new stuff?

Edit: gotcha, cross post hamster.

 

[hamster]

BTW..nice classy Brooks saddles!

 

[hamster]

To answer your question, no. The cable pull changed in 2001.

There are no later versions of 8 (as far as I know) so the best solution is to go to post 2000 9, by switching over the ratchet and adding a new rear mech if you cannot get an 8s cassette.

You could most probably just buy a 9s cassette and re-use the spacers off your old 8 though, and just omit the largest cog.

 

[gluey]

Never got on with the Swift. It has a Brooks Pro on now. I used to have a Mercian tandem, an early marathon design with custom steel racks F&R in the same red paint job with blue bands and fancy 'lugs'. It had Barelli pedals and load of trick bits. I bought it from a bloke who saw it in a Manchester shop window and fell in love. Unfortunately it was slightly too big for the missus so it went after a few years hard touring.

I also have a Pomp, used but very clean, a Randonneur stored in the loft, a nice old rigid steel Specialized and various other family oriented machines. My wife has a very early 19" Cannondale tourer, pre CAAD designation, friction shifters, etc that the 'Dale agency refused to believe existed. Mind you they all looked about 22.
She's been all over Europe on that beast. Dunno what she'll do when the frame dies. Weep uncontrollably in all likelihood.

 

[one-eyed_jim]

Re: Mercian pics

here ya go...

Oh, that's just my cup of tea. My Mercian's a '56 Campionissimo with Nervex lugs.

Any chance of a picture of the business side?

 

[gluey]

Re: Mercian pics

Any chance of a picture of the business side?

Bear in mind this is a working tourer not a show pony. It had flats and thumbies for a while (which I still have) and I junked the Campag brake levers because they were huge. Other than that, hubs whatever are all the same vintage I bought the bike.

Campag canti's, indexed levers, jumbo fork crown

MTB chainset and front derailleur

MTB rear derailleur - the contrast beat my camera but the logo is intact

MTB steel seatpin - weight? wos weight?

 

[Agency_Scum]

Top kit mate!!