Back in Febuary whilst having some work carried out on my KTM mountain bike at a friends LBS, I spotted a Mercier road bike that he was rebuilding for someone, so that they could use it as a winter hack. I had never even looked at road bikes, but felt it such a waste to use the bike for this purpose on our salted and horrid winter roads, and was going to ask my friend if he could ask the owner if he would sell it to me, but changed my mind after the friend listed the work that he had been doing to it. He never told me the cost, but I knew that it would have been more than I ever wanted to pay for the bike.
Move forward in time to just a week ago, and for the first time ever, I happened to look at Ebay for 'used bikes, nearest first' and there it was, the same bike. I couldn't believe that it was on there, and even more so when just a few hours later the auction ended, and I had won it for £85.00 Given the detailed list below copied from the Ebay advert, I don't think that I have done so bad, and I'm looking forward to getting out on it, but frustratingly I currently have a knee injury that's preventing me from barely being able to walk! Not happy.
The only things that I have currently done to the bike, are the removal of a leather style bottle cage, and I also purchased a new seat stem to temporarily replace the old corroded one. The chrome on the new one is dire, but this isn't really an issue, as I intend to at some stage pull the bike down and get all of the nuts, bolts and other fittings re plated, including the old seat stem. Some might consider this daft on such a non original spec bike, but I quite like the idea of keeping it up together. Other than applying the odd bit of ACF50 every now and then to the frame, I shall be leaving that aspect of it well alone. Cross bar stickers aside, the frame still retains it's original patina, which would be lost if it were to be painted.
I have no idea how much use that I'll get from the bike, and with my on going knee issues, I might have to think about lowering the gearing, but we'll see.
Spec as per advert.
Mercier Special Tour de France.
59cm frame (just the right size for me)
New hand built wheels.
New Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres.
New cables.
New hoods.
New bar tape.
New crank set.
New pedals.
New rear cassette.
New drive chain.
New mudguard set.
Upgraded shifters and front and rear derailleurs to the elegant Shimano 600 Arabesque friction series. New jockey wheels fitted.
Saddle changed for a Sans Marco Rolls.
edit.. I hadn't noticed the seat angle, I might alter that to being slightly more level.
I do have one quick question. Could someone please tell me the make of the brakes? There doesn't appear to be any manufacturers details on them.
Move forward in time to just a week ago, and for the first time ever, I happened to look at Ebay for 'used bikes, nearest first' and there it was, the same bike. I couldn't believe that it was on there, and even more so when just a few hours later the auction ended, and I had won it for £85.00 Given the detailed list below copied from the Ebay advert, I don't think that I have done so bad, and I'm looking forward to getting out on it, but frustratingly I currently have a knee injury that's preventing me from barely being able to walk! Not happy.
The only things that I have currently done to the bike, are the removal of a leather style bottle cage, and I also purchased a new seat stem to temporarily replace the old corroded one. The chrome on the new one is dire, but this isn't really an issue, as I intend to at some stage pull the bike down and get all of the nuts, bolts and other fittings re plated, including the old seat stem. Some might consider this daft on such a non original spec bike, but I quite like the idea of keeping it up together. Other than applying the odd bit of ACF50 every now and then to the frame, I shall be leaving that aspect of it well alone. Cross bar stickers aside, the frame still retains it's original patina, which would be lost if it were to be painted.
I have no idea how much use that I'll get from the bike, and with my on going knee issues, I might have to think about lowering the gearing, but we'll see.
Spec as per advert.
Mercier Special Tour de France.
59cm frame (just the right size for me)
New hand built wheels.
New Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres.
New cables.
New hoods.
New bar tape.
New crank set.
New pedals.
New rear cassette.
New drive chain.
New mudguard set.
Upgraded shifters and front and rear derailleurs to the elegant Shimano 600 Arabesque friction series. New jockey wheels fitted.
Saddle changed for a Sans Marco Rolls.
edit.. I hadn't noticed the seat angle, I might alter that to being slightly more level.
I do have one quick question. Could someone please tell me the make of the brakes? There doesn't appear to be any manufacturers details on them.
