Originally Posted by wpflem
Perhaps they were trying to lighten the load. As a brick-and-mortar store, there is no way we can compete with a price of 330 pounds on the Merc3. I note there are no Mercs on Ebay as of this morning.
That's how I got mine - £330 with a small delivery charge on top.
I've been really happy with mine, once a couple of minor niggles were sorted out. I've just tried a shortish tour on it in some quite hilly country around here. It worked out quite well, except that on the hills I obviously realised I was on the wrong 'horse', and there are a lot of hills up on the border of England and Scotland. I did about eighty five miles in a couple of days and aside from a loose spoke (she was heavy laden and encountered some rough roads) I had no trouble at all once I'd tightened it up a touch.
Having done the trip, I realise I'd have been better on my mountain bike, but that doesn't have all the luggage carrying gear already attached. Long 1:12 hills are not what the Merc is good at, at least not with camping gear, food and water aboard, and not with my legs pedalling it.
Note the Hennessy Hammock (badly strung after having me lying in it for twelve hours. This is THE best light weight camping system I've ever used. I learned about it on a thread by Downtube and it's a great buy.