Hi all i am fairly new to road bikes, previously i road a Proflex Beast with 35mm road tyres. This is a great bike for riding around a forest somewhere but can be quite tiring on long distance road runs. So recently i bought an old Peugeot from the 80s in very good condition and i love it. However after being warned by my cycling neighbour that i would be 'bitten by the bug', i have been. So i am thinking of spending a bit of money on a 'proper bike'. More than likely a tourer. I have seen many frame builders advertised and whilst i accept they are probably very good, a lot of them get frames built in Taiwan. That's when i came across Mercian. They aren't that far away from me and the bikes look fab and most importantly they are made in the UK. So the question is, are they good? Would anybody recommend them?

I would like as many views as possible as its a lot of money to spend and i want to be sure.

Thanks all. Marc.