Mercian & Peugeot
 

Hi all,

I'm into road and mountain biking, probably more so road these days. I ride a carbon Fuji on the road and mess about with a few mountain bikes off road. My main reason for joining the forum is because I'm experiencing a strange attraction to old steel bikes. I've tried to fight it but it's no good. I think I may be in trouble.

It all started when I acquired (totally by accident) two tatty old bikes. I quite fancied the idea of having a winter training bike, and these two are both exactly my size and will fit mudguards (which my fuji won't)

At this point I knew nothing about old bikes at all, so I was quite pleased when one of then turned out to be a Mercian with almost full Dura-ace kit on it. Did I mention EXACTLY my size? This one is no problem - I will fully restore it to original spec including a new Mercian paint job.

This leaves the second one as the winter hack. This is where I have some questions! I've ridden it a bit and it's really nice but I don't think it's particularly hi-spec, but I would like to know the model, age and frame metal. I've tried to match numbers and frame decals etc but I'm just getting more confused. Can anyone help? Frame number is Y80922187 (on bottom bracket) and the white label says PE10 VGB542R 60012276 2965.

The rear brake cable runs inside the top tube. I have hopefully attached a couple of piccies. Currently it's 14 speed with sis shifters on the tube but I'm thinking of adding 105 brifters(?) and an old ultegra rear deraillieur with more gears but I might just leave it as it is. Any thoughts?

Thanks

conncarr

That Mercian is sweet. I honestly wouldn't change a thing about it, the paint looks fine too...go ride the heck out of it while you work on the Peugeot.

I'm far from knowledgeable about Peugeot's but that serial number appears to be telling you its a PE-10

You might find you like the Downtube shifters...give em a shot for a little while.

Looks to me like you acquired two pretty sweet rides.

You'll probably have to spread the rear stays and realign the dropouts to fit around a 130mm hub. You're quite correct in your intention to do a period-correct restoration on the Mercian. It's a special bike. Do what you want with the Peugeot. It's nothing special, just a nice rider that can be made better with some component updates.

The Mercian actually has a fair bit of fine surface rust and the Mercian company is about 1 hr north of me, so a beadblast and repaint with original decals will do the job nicely.

I've spent ages looking but I can't find any mention of a PE-10 Peugeot. I think it's 1978 but I can't find anything in the catalogues.

I think I might stick with the 7 speed Sachs hub - the idea of re-aligning the dropouts is a bit scary and I can imagine it will be a real pain to tune the shifting if I get it wrong. Also the stays look so thin I'd be afraid to bend them.

I think I'll just service it and ride it!

It would still be nice to know a bit more about it though....

Thanks,

Conncarr

I'm almost always opposed to repaints but, given that Mercian is still in business and you wouldn't even need to pay for shipping, it might not be such a bad idea. What year is it? Do you know which model? Original spec. varied quite a bit. If it's simply surface rust, a good cleaning and polishing might do the trick.

I just visited the Mercian workshop in May and look forward to a return visit one day, perhaps to pick a new KOF Mercian?

I haven't really looked into the Merc yet because I wont be working on it until probably after Christmas. I think it's mid to late 70's and given that everything except the rear derailier is Dura-ace I expect it to be a reasonable level. Having said that it has mudguards and a rack so it's probably a tourer rather than a racer. I'll post some more details and numbers later this week and see if anyone can throw any light on it. I believe Mercian will provide all the info for a small fee, so when the time comes for me to take it in to them I will try and get the full history.

It would be something special to have them build a brand new bike for you. If it works out for you we should hook up and christen your new bike with a good ride out :-)

It looks too modern to be a 1978, especially if its 14 speed SIS, and then the TIG welding, aero levers, unicrown fork, etc. It's probably from the 1990s, which looks to be sparsely covered by the Peugeot sites.

Where do you live? I visit Wolverhampton a couple of times per year (wife is English).

Nice bikes!

My thoughts also. It was only the frame number Y80922187 that made me think 1978. I'm not really bothered as it's going to be a winter training bike, but it would be nice to know :-)

I'm just outside Rugby, which is almost around the corner. Lots of good, quiet lanes to ride around here. As long as you are 5'6" I'll have a bike you can borrow for a spin when you are over. If you are bigger, you'll have to buy the new KOM :-)

Nice Peugeot bike you have there.... looks similar in ways to my old Peugeot I've been cleaning up recently. Mine is an 89 model though.

Doesn't the 8 number serial plus the 8 at the start of that number make that a 1988 September made frame? possibly from what I read... Y8(year)09(month)22187

I'm from Manchester UK... good to meet someone reasonably local on this site!

Here's mine before clean up...
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/a...nkIco/side.jpg

I don't think Mercian has ever made - at least not in the last 3 or 4 decades - what would be called a low-end frame. At worst it's hand built with Reynolds 531 and good lugs and drop-outs.

Nice folks there, a real "Mom and Pop" outfit with Pop working at the store and Mom managing the workshop. I loved (patiently!) dealing with them from a long distance on my new frame (came out absolutely fabulous, BTW). I talked to both of them plus a couple of other folks quite a bit during the process. Woulda loved to have been able to deal with them in person. Take pictures and post them for us when you go!

I'm sure if you go in there looking for a re-spray they'll look it up and tell you all about it gratis. They'll want to anyhow so that they can put the correct tubing transfers on it. They have a supply of old ones so they can make it look just like it did new.

Chris

Thanks for the interest. The peugeot is ongoing, and I've got some 105 10speed indexing brake/shifters and ultegra rear deraileur for it (ebay). I'm currently servicing all of the moving parts, so I should be up and running (riding) with it soon. I'm in touch with Mercian now, so I should have info about that bike soon. I'd love to do the merc first, but good things come to those with patience and I want to do it properly.