At the behest of Merziac.... A Jim Merz PP059
 

So here is a 68cm C-C Jim Merz that was built in Portland at his shop in the early 1970's. Jim tells me that he is unsure of the date because it pre-dates his build sheets (all of which I recently went thru at Doug Fattic's request) This frame came with Merz custom built front and rear racks that look like they took as much time to build as the frame itself!
My history is relatively short...

This started with an eBay posting for a light touring frame some time circa 2000. It was a bare frame and fork with a beat up yellow paint job... but what caught my eye was the claim to be a Merz frame and the 68cm seat tube length.... it was a long shot that I bid low on and won. In following up with the seller; I quickly learned I was dealing with the builder himself. Turns out he was clearing out his shop and this frame had hung there on the wall for decades. He offered head tube stickers and script transfers for the day I might build this frame up. This day came back in 2016 when I worked with Paul Evans to help me do some work on the frame in preparation to use it on a circumnavigation that my wife and I have embarked on. Because this was a bare frame, I had a blank slate and it is now a full on Rinko-build. Space to store bicycles is limited on a Farrier F36 trimaran and I thought I'd give Jan's ideas a try. can't seem to enjoy the Bike Friday ride, even a little bit.
One late change came last year when a big black SUV ran me down in a bike lane down on the South Island. This resulted in a Taco-ed front wheel, bent fork, bent crank, and damage to various body parts that heal. I bent the RT Suntour crank straight then worked on a fork jig to attempt a straightened fork; rebuilt the front wheel and had to off-center the dish because the fork never came out right.... Anyways... of a bit more interest was Doug Fattic offering to build a new fork for this bike when I asked about sourcing a new one on this site.
Pictures to follow

Seat Tube 68cm c-c (69.8 c-t)
Top Tube 61cm
Fork Rake 61,mm
Trail 41mm
Head tube 26.1cm 73 degree
Cranks Suntour XC Expert w/20T
Headset Ritchy Logic
Brakes MAFAC Raid
Bottom Bracket Phil Wood JIS
Rear Hub Shimano XT
Rear Deraileur Shimano LX
Rear Tire 700x44C RHC
Front Deraileur Deore XT
Stem Nitto Technomic
Handlebars Nitto Noodle ?
Front and Rear Racks by Jim Merz
Front Bag spanner Nitto F-15
Interupteur and Drop Brake levers Tektro
Seat Brooks B17
Front rim and spokes DT Swiss (NZ replacement as only 36H rim in New Zealand!)
Front Hub SON contactless and Edelux II light
Front Tire Panaracer 32C (new fork built for 700x44c w/fenders)
Front handlebar Bag by Shoichi (Japan)
Rear bags and front panniers by Gilles Berthoud




https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...31d9f27afc.jpg
Original Merz rear rack
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...29f044212d.jpg
Brakes Pivots were added by Paul Evans of Evans Bicycles Orcas Island


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...37c2b5a494.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dee64cc309.jpg
Rinko KD The fork needs to be pulled from the headset
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7c66927a9d.jpg
Size comparison next to my wife's TI-Cycles (Portland) S&S coupled bike we brought with us.

That's fantastic, love a great story like this, tx so much for sharing. :thumb:

Well, great minds and all that, I have 5 of Jims bikes including the one that was his already mentioned and 1 of a dozen or so MTB's he built before he went to Big S.

Been a fan of his ever since high school when I met him early on.

Also have a brand new Strawberry that Dave Levy built after Andy bowed out of the project.

Doug reached out to me about the fork but angles and such are above my pay grade so I was no help. :o