My Mercian was built custom in 1973 and it has shift
lever boss braze-ons and all the derailleur cable
braze-ons but has no top tube brake cable braze-ons.
It was originally all chromed and appears to be the
original chrome so I guess it was spec'd this way. I
think Chuck Schmidt said that the lever braze ons were
available from Campagnolo very early on (50s?) but
were not used much for some reason -maybe so one could
make a fixed gear or path racer?
Cheers,
Derek Willburn
Long Beach, CA
> Sorry for the lack of a descriptive title to my
> email, but I couldn't think of a brief way to
> summarize my question. I recently bought a Mercian
> on Ebay:
>
http://ebay.com/
> or item # 7203187468
>
> The paint is in excellent condition (silver with red
> lug lining). Lugs were cleaned and filed nicely,
> and the brazing was carefully done. I think the
> lugs are bocamas? According to the serial number,
> the frame was made in 1986. But I'm curious about
> the add-ons. It's full 531. The frame has campy
> drops (w/ mudguard eyes), and campy cable guides on
> top of the BB shell. There are no shifter bosses
> brazed on to the down-tube (although there is the
> ubiquitous pip to prevent clamp-on shifters from
> sliding down the tube). There is no
> front-derailleur hanger brazed on, either. Overall,
> a beautiful frame with clean, simple lines. I like
> it very much. Surely counts as on-topic as KOF,
> despite the date, no?
>
> So I guess that's my question: why would Mercian
> build a frame without shifter bosses and front
> derailleur hanger as late as 1986? Surely the
> customer spec'd it this way? It's a very large
> frame (65 cm c-to-t), so I'm guessing it's not "off
> the rack" - although I admit I do not know if/when
> Mercian started doing "off the rack" frames... Was
> there a demand, even in 1986, for "retro" frames on
> which to hang your old campy or other racing
> components?
>
> For those who are curious, I have chosen to build it
> up with Shimano 600 "arabesque" drivetrain and
> brakes, cinelli bar and stem, SR seat pin and Sella
> Italia Rolls saddle. MA3 Rims w/ early Mavic sealed
> bearing hubs. I will post pics as time allows. She
> makes a nice companion to my 1968 Mercian
> Professional.
>
> So why no bosses and front hanger?
>
> Duncan Granger
> Mountville, PA
>
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