A few months back I posted a couple of general shots of this frame and asked if anyone could identify it but without any luck. A couple of folks thought it might be a Mercian but Mercian said 'No'. I've just been up to see the friend who bought it off ebay and had the chance to take some more 'intimate' photos, pasted below.

I rode the bike briefly and while no expert (far from it) it felt to me both quick steering and soft over rough ground, due perhaps to it being made of Reynolds 531? The seat tube is 27.2 and it has 40.7cm chainstays. There is a frame number on the outside of the right Campagnolo dropout. The fork ends are Campagnolo too. There's an F on the underside of the BB. And that's all there is. Oh, and the lug points have been thinned, indicating to me that care was taken in the frame's making.

My friend had the forks repaired by Mercian and had them drill the brake mounting hole to take Allen-key Campagnolo calipers. He drilled the rear bridge himself but the bike was made to take nutted calipers. He also painted the frame with a rattle-can with a Toyota colour.

What do you think? Any comments regarding any aspect of this frame will be appreciated...















There is an album of photos of this bike at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2298367...7617824097302/