Mystery Mercian

[Antstark]

A lovely bike; what an irony that this is being resurrected in the week that the Company folded !

It wasn’t me ……honest
I am sure the name at least will live on.

 

[Antstark]

Waiting for a few bits to arrive but have reinstated the missing 531 tube sticker in the mean time. The bike is an 81 which I believe was a cut over year in the Reynolds decal designs. Decided on this one which is NOS from 82


The Mafac 2000 brakes came up very nicely too

 

[Glug]

Just reading up on the Suntour Ultra 6 freewheel..6 cogs in the space of 5 with narrow chain. The bike currently has a five speed set up but I have a nos ultra 6 chain so may look out for the correct freewheel…only found silly US prices on eBay so far. Supposed to have a 13-32 spread which is bigger than all my MTBs !

I'm running SunTour New Winner Ultra 6 on a 1961 Holdsworth Cyclone (121mm dropout).
SunTour Cyclone II GT + 13-15-17-19-24-32 on the back / SunTour Cyclone I + TA 52/36 + Stronglight 49D on the front
It works damn fine.
I got the parts on Ebay - 2 or 3 freewheels at about £10-20 a go.

The New Winner is easy to set up - you just need the right spacers and cogs - and you need to assemble them the right way round (otherwise it shifts badly).

This is a bit cryptic but shows which cogs/spacers are needed

 

[Antstark]

Thanks..I had started to look at that as one possible way of getting a freewheel with the ratios I wanted. Looks like 6 and 7 speed ultra is interchangeable too which helps

 

[Glug]

Thanks..I had started to look at that as one possible way of getting a freewheel with the ratios I wanted. Looks like 6 and 7 speed ultra is interchangeable too which helps

If you're talking New Winner it's one body for 5 / 6 / ultra 6 / ultra 7.
But some of the cogs are different - generaly the smallest 1 or 2.
But Ultra 6 and Ultra 7 have the same spacers.

If you look closely it's all explained on the bottom row of that chart.

Also note "teeth mark must face spoke side" - the A (biggest) cogs usually are stamped "A32" or similar.
The side with that mark faces the spokes, if you fit it the other way round it will work but it shifts badly.

All New Winner bodies have "Patent NWN" stamped on them.

 

[Antstark]

Not had a great deal of luck finding a freewheel yet..but admit I’ve not tried particularly hard. Everything is clean now at least and I have replaced the tyres with a set of amberwalls. Panaracer Pasela folding that are slightly narrower than the Shwalbe Marathons that were on it when I got it.

 

[Antstark]

also read that Mercian has been bought since going into liquidation

https://road.cc/content/news/mercian-cycles-saved-four-local-businessmen-309121

 

[CTK]

An absolute stunner, perfect!

 

[Antstark]

Ok, so it’s taken a while but managed to track down a NOS Suntour Ultra-6 freewheel ..thanks to the kind folk who hoard stuff on here . Will get that installed and then some cables on for the weekend.

 

[foz]

So that's another "new" invention that has been around for decades - cassettes with a huge range from one end to the other
Don't wear it out, you probably won't find another one!