madpogue 

Bonus points for the reg plate.

tjfastback66

1981 Univega Specialissima - restored. Craig's find 10 miles from my home with an asking price of $45.00. The ride is AMAZING!

etherhuffer 

Work in progress. Got this earlier this year. Pulled off dead Schwalbe Marathons and put on 35mm Panaracers. Overhauled the cantilevers. Changing out bars to Nitto 177 next. While a custom for the prior owner, it was odd that no front fork bosses were on it, nor was the fork crown drilled. Frustrating. I may get a different fork with all the stuff already on it, like a Cross Check fork. Work in progress....

Nice Nitto rear rack

Fork, no bosses to be found......

Lascauxcaveman 

Oh man. Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?

polymorphself 

I've never done such a thing so not sure what the cost difference between buying a new fork and getting the current fork drilled would be? If it were me I'd do that before throwing a different fork on, this bike seems worth it. I'd also probably get the mid fork bosses added and have the fork repainted (looks like just black?).

etherhuffer 

Yes, all those considerations in play. I have a drill press, no problem there. But adding bosses correctly then repainting adds up to a new fork or more. Also could use a slightly taller steerer, so that comes into play as well.

etherhuffer 

Fun to see all the cool steel. Good weather the next two days, you can cool off on a ride!

merziac

This, no way I would ever sully the Mercian with a Surly fork.

etherhuffer 

I certainly get that! Drilling the one I have will get me a small front rack using p clamps at the fork. That will likely be enough for how I ride. And I looked and think it might have been a Soma CX fork that has low rider front mounts. Gugie is brazing up a Fuji S12S LTD with front bosses, extra water bottle bosses, etc. He could easily do the work if a repaint does not look too bad. I think this frame was powder coated. I am going to pull the serial number and see what the build was from Mercian. I don't like to do mods without knowing what I have to start with.

Dfrost 

Roger,
You might want to find time for a visit to @gugie’s Atelier in Beaverton along with your Expedition. A bit more rake to that fork, so lower trail, might provide big improvements in front load handling. He did that to the front fork of my ‘79 Miyata 912, not a touring bike by quite a stretch, and it now does very well with any sort of front load, everything from just the basically empty big rando front bag, up to that bag full plus low rider panniers - even on a very windy day!

Before his changes (but after other updates over the decades):


After Gugificazione! when he added 8mm more rake (and a bunch of other improvements working with just the fork)

gugie 

If it’s glossy black powder coat, match is easy. Braze on rack bossed plus powder coat might be cheaper thsn a new off the shelf fork. If you want your bars higher, get a taller stem. A longer fork and spacers with ghe same strm might bring the stem expander up in the threaded area.

etherhuffer 

Argh! It's a threadless modern fork. Everything else I have has quill stems, but not this one. I ride with bars fairly high up ( back problems) so I am sort of in a corner. I am going to change over the bar set I prefer first and see where that lands me, then go from there. I think the Soma fork was around $160 and had a 350mm steerer. The steerer on the Mercian looks to be around 300mm or just a little more. Anyway, i have 2 other bikes that are rolling for now, this one can wait a bit until I sort it out.

mstateglfr 

Not sure what the axle to crown measurement is for the current fork, or what the rake is, but here are some possible options that vary in both numbers. Maybe one is close enough to be a good match?

https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/new...ory=774#attr=5 $170. 50mm rake, 390mm axle to crown, low ride rack mounts, fits up to 42mm tire. Black.
https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/som...=774#attr=2512 $170. 44mm rake, 389mm axle to crown, low ride rack mounts and mini rack mounts, fits up to 40mm tire. Chrome.
https://www.somafabshop.com/shop/232...gory=774#attr= $170. 44mm rake, 389mm axle to crown, low ride rack mounts and mini rack mounts, fits up to 40mm tire. Black.
https://blackmtncycles.com/shop/bike...er-cross-fork/ $175. 55mm offset, 400mm axle to crown, mid-blade rack mount, fits up to 48mm tire. Black. And a cool PBP fork crown.

etherhuffer 

The Soma CX classic curve is the one I was looking at. I don't know much about New Albion products

Germany_chris

you could drill the crown then just use a big HB bag

etherhuffer 

That is my starting point on this one. "First do no harm" then go from there. I really do prefer front loading. On the tours I did I used front low riders and the handling was fine, plus the dampening of the steering vibration really made the hands happier. This is far to nice a bike to muck up in the wrong way so being careful

mstateglfr 

New Albion is just a private brand of Soma's. New Albion frames use Tange Infinity tubing and cost a little less than the Soma frames.
Most of Soma's forks use Infinity blades, and the New Albion fork just uses an unbranded blade.

The fork I built in a class used .9mm Columbus Cromor blades- basically as basic as branded tubing gets nowadays, and it built into a quality fork that is a good mix of weight and stiffness. A Columbus SL fork blade has the same shape, taper, etc even though its a 'higher' tubing.
Just something to consider.

Prowler 

So many great looking touring bikes here. I've been enjoying this thread for years. Here's a current photo of my old lump. No where as nice looking as most of the bikes here but she's a worker, and a good ole pal. This bike has carried me and all my junk, for over 700 miles of fully loaded tours. And it has just played along on uncounted local adventures and cardio rides, like this morning's 20 miles in lovely fall weather. The Mule holds its own next to all my other, and often "nicer" bikes.

Along the SRT next to one of the dredging project settling basins, from days of yore

etherhuffer 

Yep. The best bike is the one you ride.

Chuckk

~89 Davidson Discovery - sport tourer
Mostly assembled by Austin's Eurosport Cycle (except the stem and saddle) back then with a Deore drive train and 105 other.

cinelliguy 

1976 Masi GS, California. Two owners. Carridice bags front and rear. 242 miles in the t


hree day tour from Redwood City on Monday October 17th. Day 1, Redwood City to Pebble Beach (102m/7.5K), Day 2, Pebble Beach to Cambria (102m/7.7K), Day 3, Cambria to San Luis Obisbo (39m/1.4K), load the bikes on Amtrak, ride to San Jose, and then I took CalTrain back to Redwood City. Epic tour with my good buddy and amazingly talented person Chris Anderson. Just such a great time.

gugie 

Oof! I'd agree then that a new fork might be your best bet.

etherhuffer 

Fuji Gran Tourer SE that was powder coated yellow, not a stock color. Clocked lots of miles

Small cog

I had been on the look out for a Raleigh Royal or Randonneur from the 1990s with Reynolds 708 tubing for sometime when a one owner model in the right size came up on Ebay a couple of years ago, the problem was it was 150 miles away and the seller did not offer postage so I got on the train with my panniers and camping gear and rode it (most of) the way back, I neglected to pack a Brooks saddle and the standard one got the better of me in Oxford where I got on the train.



Apart from the saddle I dislike drop bar so I changed both and took it for a weekend tour of North Devon which showed me what a nice bike it was to ride with or without a load.



I liked it so much I stripped it down, repsrayed the frame with aerosols and badged it as an RRA the tourist model of which was Raleigh's top of the range tourer 50 year previously to this one. I also fitted a Shimano Alfine 11 speed hub and replaced most of the parts with Velo Orange which I find to be nice quality with a vintage vibe to them.
All was well until six months ago I was rear ended by a car while cycling down to the supermarket denting the top tube and damaging a few other parts, the driver's insurance paid out for the damage and it went off to Argo cycles in Bristol for a new top tube and a professional respray, while they were at it I got them to replace the vertical rear dropouts with horizontal dispensing with the need for a chain tensioner and add another bottle carrier to the bottom of the downtube, they did a great job and it is back together now although it is a bit too chilly now for longer tours so I am looking forward to next summer.

romperrr 

Goodness, glad you're okay! Lovely bike, interesting to switch to horizontal dropout, makes sense given your needs. I'm wondering about your rear rack. I see it's attached at the dropouts, is there a third attachment point? Otherwise, I'm wondering how the rack doesn't move when loaded up?