Originally Posted by
Theodore
Do many use road bikes for touring?
I just posted this PM yesterday about our cross-country tour on Merciers with fully loaded panniers in 1977:
Originally Posted by Jim from Boston
[My fellow subscriber wrote:]
"...Riding across the country is very cool..... Isn't Mercier also a classic brand that is highly sought after?...
[I replied:]
I don't know about the value of a Mercier as an antique. Back in' 72, I think it was a pretty high quality bike, costing ~$250 at that time, but we did not get a top of the line model, i.e. not Campagnolo equipped. They did have sew-up tires and we actually used the bikes for touring pretty well in Michigan and Ontario.
We then used them to ride cross country and the sew up tires we're the worst part of the trip due to an excessive number of flats, the difficulty of repair, and the need to take a couple days off to find a city with a shop that sold them, but we made it. Back in '77 it was a lot harder to get good information--no Internet!
At the end of the trip, I vividly remember taking off the heavy panniers and easily hoisting the bike high above my head.