Classic & Vintage - Mercian Mystery

I have been working on my new-to-me Mercian Superlight. Hopefully it will be in the main rotation next summer.

One thing I do not understand is Mercian valuations. Looking over E-bay, Craigs-list, etc, they do not seem to be commanding the same prices as frames which seems to be of similar quality, etc (531 hand-built frames with nice lugs and decent paint). I does not really matter to me as I have no intention of selling it, but I am curiuos why they seem to be selling less than similar bikes.

just a hunch, but maybe it's got something to do with the fact that you can still get a hott mercian with a variety of different lugsets, in reynolds 531. There's no actual "last chance to ever have this frame!" vibe present, so the price may stay more reasonable.

i've reached a point in my lunacy where, if i were to ever buy a new frame that wasn't a custom mtb, it'd have to be a mercian or a BJ.

-rob

Shhh! Really fine bikes can be had for very reasonable prices. Don't ruin it!

There is no good reason that Mercian bikes are not appreciated as well as, say, Hetchins. But few British makes are fully appreciated over here.

We're facing the same dilemma. I'm building mine up to generate revenue for a workstand, and based on some I've seen, the work almost wouldn't be worth it if it weren't for the beauty of the bike. I'm really excited to see yours finished -- mine too!

Photos ! ! !

I'm jonesing to find a nice Mercian King of Mercia in my size.

The Mercians I see all seem to be pretty expensive and quite well-valued. What are you supposed to compare them to? Are they considered a small elite frame-builder? I sort of thought they were a smaller mass-producer, but maybe that's based more on the fact that the company name is not an individual like Hetchins or Masi, and I really have no idea. They look like very nice frames.

i just want an O/S pro lugless, probably in 725. One of these days...

-rob

Ack, I just replied to this, hit 'send', and my precious words of wisdom just vanished! So I did it again, and the same thing happened! I really hate that. Well, they say insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result... so here we go again.

The fact that there are already this many replies to this thread shows that there are people who know, appreciate, and desire Mercian frames; just not as many as who feel that way about certain other makes, such as Hetchins. The actual quality of the desirandum is really beside the point.

The value of an item, such as a bike frame, is largely determined by what it will bring on ebay. The better known the item, the more watchers, the more bidders, the higher the price. For example, how many people have saved an ebay search for "Raleigh Clubman" versus how many people have saved a search for "Norman Invader"? I don't know either number, but I am sure the former number is higher than that latter. Anyway, both bikes were straight gauge 531 with fancy lugwork and high (but not top) end components. The Norman had more alloy components than the Raleigh.

Yesterday a Norman Invader, 1950 lady's model, sold on ebay for about $50. I would have bid, but it was in London and the seller would not ship. There were two bidders. A Raleigh Clubman in the same condition would have sold for five times that. A Schwinn Paramount... who knows? It's the same phenomenon.