I tried that today, put the Mercian upside down on top of the Raleigh, there is 4cm difference in reach. The bar height difference between the two is over 5cm. I'm definitely in the market for a bigger frame. Thanks again for the info.Mirror your saddle position relative to the bottom bracket from your Raleigh to the Mercian and then that will determine the additional reach and height you'll need to adjust for with a stem for the Mercian. I once tried a smaller frame but it was the height difference that scuppered that idea rather than the reach.
Through measuring the bike against one that fits its height as well as length that's the problem. The extra reach won't fix the problem. Thanks for the offer all the same.I have a 130mm ttt stem yours for a fiver plus post .
Exactly. You can only compensate so far if the headtube is much shorter. At least you've saved some ££ on a stem for now.I tried that today, put the Mercian upside down on top of the Raleigh, there is 4cm difference in reach. The bar height difference between the two is over 5cm. I'm definitely in the market for a bigger frame. Thanks again for the info.
Yeah, it's a head wrecking heart breaker though, a Mercian is the bike I've wanted since I was a kid, so much so that I never measured the top tube when buying, a mistake never to be repeated. I'm gonna give it a couple of days before I make any drastic moves.Exactly. You can only compensate so far if the headtube is much shorter. At least you've saved some ££ on a stem for now.
Yeah, it's a head wrecking heart breaker though, a Mercian is the bike I've wanted since I was a kid, so much so that I never measured the top tube when buying, a mistake never to be repeated. I'm gonna give it a couple of days before I make any drastic moves.
I've been searching quite a lot, seems like 59cm top tube frames are very few. I searched through 75 pages on ebay and found two 59cm TT that were at the limit of my budget, (including postage), see below.I wouldn't worry too much, a 56cm Mercian is a popular size/brand, so is going to be an easy sell and will probably make good money, certainly more than it should cost to bag a comparable 60cm+ frameset. Enjoy the search.
Matt
Yeah, I've looked at that bike, it's basically the same size as my own. Top tube 57cm, it's a couple of cm to short. Thanks for the heads up though.I'd have thought a dedicated saved search on eBay will throw up a suitable frameset (Mercian or other) within a couple of weeks.
If you fancied a project, there's this at the moment.......
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294964795217?hash=item44ad459751:g:I~kAAOSw9bRicZrE