October- Breast Cancer Awareness month. Some wonderful Women in my life, family and friends have been devastated by this. Every October I pick a favorite bike and bring out the pink accessories to highlight the fight. The reception is both positive, thoughtful or ugly.

This year is the Nano Mercier’s turn!


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I think it looks great. I like the pink and black together. Simple but elegant.

Pink October is over. Time for a “new” version for my Mercier.

Took most everything off so it would transport easier to the bike shop. Time for a better headset after I resize the headtube.

i will weigh the bare frame for general info. Then I will be upgrading from 7 to 9 speed. From touring to speedy.

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Please let us know what the frame and fork weigh. What exactly is required to change the headset? Are you going to ISO?

Will do. For the headset I plan on using ISO. This means I will be reaming the headtube and crown race to 30.2 and 26.4 I plan on using a Tange HS in silver.

This will be a fun winter build!

Weigh Day

I took the frame and fork over to the LBS and used their Park hanging scale.

Frame 6#7oz
Fork 2#

When scheming on weight reduction I guess the first place I would look here is the fork. Have not had much luck finding a lite weight 20” mini velo choice which fits the frame needs.

But then I really don’t want to go weight weenie on this.

Next, the headset!

Careful or you might find yourself building your grandfather's axe.

:roflmao2:Not much chance in that! Overall I am very happy with the frame and fork. Components are always changing so in that respect, maybe the “handle”?

Close to bringing the frame in for its winter HS resize. Came up with a nice pair of titanium security skewers also for the build.


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2 bucks well spent!

Such a sweet machine, I would like to pick it up and run away with it!

Geepig You certainly could make a better getaway riding these! Not that I’m suggesting...

The idea of a small basket intrigues me. With small mass low enough the effects could slow the somewhat fast steering down and take the high HB bag out. Make for a nice picnic bike set up. I have enough of these baskets to try when I finish putting the bike back together!

It makes more sense to mount the basket to the frame headtube for minimizing the effect on stearing.

Since we are writing about a Nano Mini Velo, which has no carrier block, a basket makes perfect sense.

You can still add support for the block. l have seen commercial options or you can make your own.

Grocery store run last Wednesday

Baskets getting a lot of use.

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I know, it still has the flowers from the fall.
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Front basket easily holds a gallon of milk.

Deciding what other people could, should do with their own machines is not cool. Your BF names is cool, BTH!

Whoa, it was just a suggestion. That's all. What is BTH?

All good my friend! BTH is suppose to be BTW= By The Way.

I been monitoring the BD Nano for the past 10 months or such. Do they ever bring this bicycle back with updates or, is it always the same each time they bring it back? I would like to see this frame/fork become wide enough to accept 50mm Big Apples plus fenders. Give it V-brakes to make way for the tire width upgrade.

Always the same as far as I can tell, though at some point I'd imagine the shifters and rear derailleur will become hard to get from Shimano. Updating components is MUCH easier than updating the frame.

The changes you mention would mean an entirely new frame welding jig tooling and using new tube lengths, bends, etc.

I would imagine if they really thought there was the demand, that they would clone the VO Neutrino frame as the next gen Nano.

Having dusted off my Nano after a rather long winter storage stint, I was reminded of the changes I’ve wanted to make to if for some time, and of this thread. Aside from switiching the rubber from skinny Schwalbe Kojak to meatier Maxxis Torch awhile back, I’ve not done anything to the bike since the flurry of initial mods, That was nearly 10 years ago, so I reckon spending a little on a few choice bits is justifiable.

I’d been resisting dumping too much money into the Nano because I got it as the cheapest way to try out the minivelo thing, with the plan being to get a better bike if I liked it. And it’s really a trash bike, the Nano, and is never going to be a good bike by my standards. But, finding minivelos here in the USA is pretty difficult, so I’m becoming resolved to love the one I’m with.

My biggest peeve has been the handlebar. I think the bend is ugly, but it’s also too deep, so I’ll probably start there. The Soma Hwy One 25.4mm is a direct replacement, but considering options, maybe I should seek to replace the stem as well, which itself is nothing pretty, to accommodate modern standard OS bars.

Does anyone have any suggestions on the stem situation? As you can see in the pic, I need quite a bit of rise. I know the quill-to-ahead style adapter would be a quick solution, but I don’t really like the look of the taper into the quill. Is there such a thing as a thread on steerer extender, which perhaps functions as a headset locknut? Of course a better looking quill stem would be fine, too, provided it has a removable faceplate.


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Mercier Nano minivelo

I gotta agree that your handlebar setup looks ugly. However, it's the angle that you have the bars set at that's bothering me. Re-adjust so that those drops are level. Everything will then fall into place w/the Universe and everyone will have you to thank for it. I am serious about the drops.

BTW, what size and model Maxxis tires are those?


I got a mini-velo frame/fork to build up, that's probably a lot more appropriate for a large person than the Nano is. Also a hell of a lot more usefull, IMO. Simon-Bikes.de designed it and uses if for all of their models. Obtaining it though, unless you live in the EU, requires a go-between and, you'd have to translate the ordering process on Simon-Bikes from German into whatever you speak. But that's what I did and now I have it.

Hmm, I wonder if the little bit of bar rotation would look that much better; I could give it a try, but I’d set them as they are so that the Tacx Lumos bar end lights were most favorably aimed. The Lumos’ housings are in bad shape, though, and unpleasantly sticky for some reason, so they’re nothing to stop me trying the rotation now. I still dislike the shaping of the bars, though, and they’re too deep in the drop.

The Simon Bike Bici frame looks neat; how much was it?

I’m running the Maxxis Torch in the 1.75” width, in the 120tpi folding version. Nice tire, though I don’t really push the rubber on this bike very hard.

Pay no attention to what I said about your bars, then. I prefer bars with deep drop because they provide a distinct difference between the hoods and the drops. For that reason, I don't use new handlebar designs, only vintage.

The frame with the Bici logo is the same one they use for all their bicycles. The one I ordered is the same, just unpainted.

The unpainted frame/fork was 650 euros. Shipping to a purchasing agent in Germany was 19 euros. Cost for the purchasing agent (MyGermany .com - No affiliation to me) to ship it to me in the US was 93 euros. Cost to have Simon-Bikes powdercoat it first would've been 40 euros. I instead had a local powdercoater do it for about $215 because I wanted a special metallic hue that Simon-Bikes wouldn't do.