A complete rebuild can easily exceed the cost of the bike.

Main areas to watch for is swapping 451 wheels for the more common 406 size, better brakes, taller seat post and new bars. Plus new tires.

That's why a mini velo is inexpensive but you can drop serious coin configuring it the way you want.

NormanF you are correct, a rebuild can exceed the cost of the bike. I myself am trying to keep my costs down but they are definitely exceeding what I thought they would be. I am attempting to keep the brake calipers and just replace the brake levers and pads (with Kool stop continentals). And hoping I don't need to drop another $50 on a set of tektro r559's. I still need to get new skewers and a few other things before I assemble my Nano.

But when I do you all can expect some pics.

Amen. I'm still dropping...

Hey Abu,
I have to say again, I love that mixte mini velo! I have a 52cm mixte that I just completely rebuilt and man is it a great riding bike. I need to create a thread for it as I purchased it from another bikeforums member.

May I ask what bike is that and is it available in the US?

I am thinking about getting a mini velo for the wife in the near future and I know she would NOT want a diamond frame. So a mixte like that might suit her fancy, and if she didn't like it, I could always retrofit it to fit me! :-D

Thanks, man. I dropped another $50 on my mixtevelo this weekend, with the installation on new tires and a leather-lined bottle cage. Anyway, I don't think you can get this, a Bannard Sunny, anywhere anymore. Bannard is a bit of a zombie, and no longer makes the Sunny.

If you are keen to drop some coin, an option in Bangkok is a Bruno Minivelo.


Another is a Made-in-Kyoto E.B.S. Leaf. You can use a Japanese forwarder like Tenso.


SOMA makes a mixte frame, the Buena Vista, in 559 and 622 size. Bruce Metras, a regular here, mentioned he was building one.

Nice! A leather bottle cage will look really nice on that frame.

I am interested in the Bruno Mixte F for her and it's listed at 52000 yen which is about $465.00 but I'm not sure how much the 3rd party shipping would cost. Have you ever ridden a Bruno? Any idea about the quality of frame and components like? If I would have known it was possible to get 3rd party shipping I might have gotten a Bruno minivelo 20 instead on my Nano.
Anyhoo, thanks for sending these tips my way... Something to think about if she decides she wants a minivelo. I certainly appreciate it.

Never ridden a Bruno, but have seen and pawed the Minivelo. Nothing wrong with most of the components. It's a bit old school, with threaded headset, quill stem, stem mounted shifters. My only beef is the low BB height due to the 406 wheels and horizontal chainstay.

https://flic.kr/p/Ttkf7U
https://flic.kr/p/UKQzGK
https://flic.kr/p/UyhraF
https://flic.kr/p/UKQPKe
https://flic.kr/p/UKQP7a

Mercier nano upgrades

Velox tape.
Drilled out presta valve hole to fit shreader valve.
Slime tubes.
Shwalbe marathon 20x1.5 tires with green guard.
11x32 cassette.
Shimano 105 crankset 53/39t.
Wellgo platform pedals.
Shimano hollowtech II bottom bracket.
Cheap aluminum​ seat post with 25.4 to 29.2 shim.
Vintage used Selle san marco regal saddle.
Delta axlerod skewers.
Threadless adapter.
Specialized 44cm short shallow drop bars.
80mm threadless stem.
Kmc x8 chain.
Shimano 105 front derailleur (came stock with claris fd).
Tektro brake levers.
Tange seiki 32 passage dx threaded headset.
Personalized decals- Dude Sweet and lightening bolts.
Jagwire shift and brake cables and housing.
Kool stop Continental brake pads.
Shimano friction control bar end shifters.
Origin 8 cable stops.
Greased the hubs, seatpost, quill adaptor and bottom bracket threads. Had to have lbs remove bb drive side cup as it was siezed in the bb from the factory. My buddy said it took them 2 hrs to get that cup out of the bb.
I also have black Wald shorty fenders that I will be installing soon, I just need to cut them so the caliper arms can still reach the rims.

This bike is fast becoming my go to Urban cycle. I Cruise on this bike about as fast as on my Soma Double Cross or Univega Sportour. Fun, quick and nimble are words that come to mind when riding this bike. It's not as heavy as I thought it would be. I am really glad I took the plunge and purchased this bike. Enjoyed every minute of outfitting and upgrading this bike. Thanks to everyone who posted in this thread over the last few years, I have learned a lot from so many of you guys through this thread.

[MENTION=422222]Cowick22[/MENTION] Handsome! *Except the droopy saddle pack.

If these ever come back in stock I'm getting one to go with my hooligan...


Wondering about the video above. The yellow one and silver one look great with black components. I wonder who built those up or if they were prototypes. Wish they sold them like that, and you can see the difference in size between the 53cm and the 48cm. Even a blue nano with a nice looking woman on it!

Looks great... What's involved in installing a 105 crankset? What bottom bracket/crankset does the nano frame take?

Yeah I couldn't really get that pack to sit just right. I have a bar bag the fits under the top tube I might try out.

BTW just as an FYI this is the headset I went with:
Look at this on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/381938306285

I know we had discussed headsets for this bike in the past. I had a buddy of mine that owns a bike shop install it because of the potential stack hieght issue. On paper we thought it might need a spacer but in actuality we ended up installing it without the lock ring and it works like a charm.

Thank you very much.
Wow I am glad I gotine when I did, I was worried that they might sell out.

https://www.bikesdirect.com/products/mercier/nano.htm

Here is the listing for it. Under the pics is the detailed specs list....the crankset is just some generic one that is on pretty low quality. When I was removing it the threads stripped out of the drive side as I was removing the crankpuller tool...it wasn't cross threaded or anything but it did take some pretty tough tugging to get it out, and the aluminum the crank is forged from seemed pretty soft.
The bb is a generic sealed bearing bb and one of the cups was siezed in there so it took a couple hours to get it removed... So beware of that.
I used a Shimano bbr60 hollowtech II bb. It fit without issue and the crankset did as well. There are videos that explain how to install both of these components on YouTube...just Google installation of them and they should pop up. It's best if you have a torque wrench and have the bb faced to get the paint off.

[MENTION=422222]Cowick22[/MENTION] Glad the headset worked out!

Those were the prototypes with 451 wheels. I have the yellow one hanging in my shed with a crooked frame.

I know it's different for the cassette but for the crankset 8, 9, 10, 11 speed crankset will all work with the 8 speed chain on the nano?

Thanks for posting. What happened to the frame? The yellow one is my favorite. Did it have a quill stem to threadless adapter in the video?

I am not sure. I went down on it once (wet railroad tracks), but I am not sure if it was a sloppy prototype or if I bent the frame, because it was at least a year before I noticed it (got it in 2011, found it in 2012 or so). It's only a few mm off at the rear, and I had put washers in to center the wheel in the dropouts. The last time I rode it in summer of '15, the chain fell off taking off from a stoplight and broke a spoke. It hasn't moved since. Occasionally, I think about un-cannibalizing it and finding some non-sucky brakes for it. But I have enough to worry about.

It has a quill stem IRL.

I owned 2 of the bikes in the video. I still have the Silver Shetland. I acquired the little black Nano from another bike forum member and had it for a while till I passed on to another owner. It was really small. The Silver one is one of my favorite bikes. If I had to keep one bike that would be it. I own 2 other mini velo's but neither fits me as well as the Silver Shetland.

I found this thread the other day and was enthralled. I love to wrench on bikes and I thought that a Nano would be the perfect bike to upgrade over time and to leave at work for quick lunchtime rides. Sadly, they are out of the 53cm models. I contacted BD and they said that they would be back in stock "any day now." Yet, I have a feeling it could be weeks or months until they arrive. I'm having a hard time waiting. Has anyone else had to wait for BD to restock them? Any idea how long it will take? Thanks!

-Shin

About 6 weeks ago they told me the end of May so maybe they are expecting some... there's a couple of cool mini velos on eBay right now... A Soma and a bianchi a origin8 also but I'm kind of set on the 53cm nano...

That Bianchi is beautiful. And a 55cm too. Very tempting.

Hopefully the 53CM orange Mercier's will be back in stock soon. Kind of like that one.

-Shin

As someone who ends up following this thread from time to time and kinda hooked on the mini velo thing, it seems like it may take a while but they bring back the Nano's again eventually. It's a pretty good buy if you want to get something to play around with.

Another option is the Java Limited CL. I have an older version of that bike that I got on ebay that was lightly used a couple years ago. I don't love the geometry of it but after seeing what a new one online was (around $500) I figured I would give it another try. I do love having the option to put some fat tires on it which is the way its set up now.

Shin,

It is like Christmas is being delayed. I had to wait on mine. It was out of stock and that was in 2012.

Mirfi

Yeah, I really want it now! But word is that I will have to wait until the end of June before they get them back in stock.

On another note, has anyone taken their Nano to nine or ten speed with the stock rear wheel? Would there be any re-dishing required? Is it possible? I would like to upgrade my Nano to Shimano STI shifters and the Claris would work because they are 8 speed. But would the nine speed Sora or ten speed Tiagra work as well?

-Shin