Mercian build

yep that's my questions answered!
betcha start dreaming about that frame soon. mercian have got their system nailed boss

So once we had got the frame size we then had to look at the Geometry

Mercian go by the KOPS method

K.O.P.S. (Knee Over Pedal Spindle)

You place the ball of your foot over the spindle of the pedal

Then they adjust the seat tube angle

Until Knee, foot & spindle of the pedal are in a straight line

they measure this invisible line with a plumb bob & a bit of string

Well we did this and we learnt a couple of things

First of all I ride on my toes and not the balls of my feet

This is because my toe clips are too small

medium instead of large

Also as well as my present frame being a little small

I reckon my saddle is a bit low and all

Since I got back I have been experimenting with saddle heights

Most interesting of all though

'apparently' I have long femurs

Which according to the KOPS method give me a seat tube angle of 72.5°

As opposed to my present seat tube angle of 74°

Quite a difference

The 74° on the bareknuckle whilst great for sprints

Is too steep for sitting in the saddle and pedaling

And I know this because my present saddle is rammed back as far as it will go.

But 72.5° is a pretty ‘relaxed’ seat angle for an ‘aggressive’ bike

& this is going to be an aggressive bike and it needs to look like one

in the end I settled for a 73° seat tube

I figured that I can move the saddle back a tad if need be

Anyone know anything about the KOPS method...?

from what I can gather it is to find the best 'seated' position to ride in

MERCIAN 'Strada Speciale' built as a 1970's 'road track' with chrome track drop outs
55.5 cm seat tube 73° seat tube angle

Only remember this: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/kops.html

HIPPY – have read the entire piece ‘The Myth of KOPS’

I pretty much came to the conclusion that I might try and find myself a Look Ergo Stem and try and few different bar positions to find the optimum position between flat riding and sprints. Knowing now that the KOPS method is only an approximation I am glad I moved the seat tube half a degree forward from the position calculated for me by Mercian.

For maximum power, the cyclist's leg should be nearly extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke

I thought that this was interesting as on my present ride my legs most definitely were not fully extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke. I think because the Miche Aeropost that I had in there looked a bit odd when extended too far out of the frame. So I switched it for a gold Nitto Jaguar post I had lying around & I went for a blast this morning. Raising the saddle gives me a far better fit.

The next measurement taken was the top tube length

Setting the stem length to 100mm

Mercian then adjusted the top tube length on their jig

for a 'comfortable fit'

This came 55.5 cm

Which makes this frame 55.5 cm square

There is something reassuring about that

Something to do with being nicely proportioned

So now we have

MERCIAN 'Strada Speciale' built as a 1970's 'road track'
chrome track drop outs
55.5 cm Square
73° seat tube angle

the-smiling-buddha HIPPY – have read the entire piece ‘The Myth of KOPS’
For maximum power, the cyclist's leg should be nearly extended at the bottom of the pedal stroke

You gotta watch this too. In theory you get the most power from almost fully extending your legs but you may not be comfortable doing it.
Was it Greg Lemond who adjusted his saddle higher based on fitting suggestions and then went back to his own, lower position because the suggested/calculated height fscked his knees?
I used to race with a lower than suggested saddle height because I found i could spin it up quicker.. important for reacting to breaks or sprinting. Personal preference always plays a part and a fitting won't necessarily be the end of things.

I'm still keen to get a cyclefit done. I did around 200k today on the Ribble and it was actually really good (I ride 56seat/56top and my Ribble is 56/58 - too long in the top tube).
I'm not sore much - no lower back pain, no arm pain (which I was getting on shorter club runs). I reckon my shorter stem and new saddle (with some adjustments) made a lot of difference.. it's just that i still want a new road machine and I reckon a fitting would be money well spent for something so costly.

Next up was the headtube angle

The bike I presently ride has a 75 degree head tube

I thought a slightly more relaxed 74 degrees would be more in keeping with this bike

I left the fork rake up to the builder but I am not much fussed about 'overlap'

I asked for close clearances at both at the front

and in the rear triangle

Geezer, what is wrong with the bareknuckle man...

Nothing wrong with the bareknuckle

infact the bareknuckle is my meat & potatoes bike

The Mercian is the realization of a long held dream

it shall be used on sunny days for training and for long rides

Mostly though its that I kinda got into building these darn things

It appeals to a creative side that I never new I had

[I'm not sore much - no lower back pain, no arm pain (which I was getting on shorter club runs). I reckon my shorter stem and new saddle (with some adjustments) made a lot of difference.. it's just that i still want a new road machine and I reckon a fitting would be money well spent for something so costly.

ever tried a LOOK ergostem...?

MERCIAN 'Strada Speciale' built as a 1970's 'road track'
chrome track drop outs
55.5 cm Square
73° seat tube angle
74° head tube angle
close clearances front and back

So next up was the paint

Mercian have a reputation for nice paint

http://www.assenmachers.com/Picture%20Gallery%20Mercian.htm

You can go to Mercian

and get a nice retro style paint job included in the price of the frame

my inspiration for this bike was this

I have pretty much gone for the same paint job with different colours

For the colours I chose French blue enamel as the base colour

and Royal blue enamel as the highlight colour

lug lining to be in the Royal blue & transfers in white

http://www.merciancycles.com/finishes.asp

numbers 41 and 28

MERCIAN 'Strada Speciale' built as a 1970's 'road track'
chrome track drop outs
55.5 cm Square
73° seat tube angle
74° head tube angle
close clearances front and back
French blue enamel
Royal blue luglining, headtube banner, fork crown and seat tube bands
White gothic transfers

to get some idea of how these colours work together

look at your Windows start up screen...;)

do all these extra trimmings cost or are they included in an overall build cost
i just think of all those top end luxury cars that cost 50k but once they got you to go for the four wheels option and the steering wheel option price bose stereo ends up at 70k did you agree price up front or do they fix you up at a certain price inc. all detailing and lugwork
i am sure above somewhere you put a rough price is it coming in at that price ?

My Vigorelli cost £480 - that includes sizing and custom build, and any paint job (barber poles up the seatpost are extra). That includes lug lining and a highlight colour for the headtube etc. It also includes a choice of transfer, and a choice as to where they go. Not bad if you ask me, mine wont be here until September, so I can't tell you how it rides after all that!

the-smiling-buddha to get some idea of how these colours work together

look at your Windows start up screen...;)

I'm not sure that's a good sign of a good, well thought through color scheme and design..... ;-) ......... Now, behold my Mac OS X start up screen ;-)

colour is a very personal choice, I liked the idea of French blue enamel because I live in France, a darker blue and white are the obvious accent colours...

I only really noticed the Microsoft colours where exactly the same after I visited Mercian

you can be sure that Microsoft didn't come by these colours by accident

the chrome, fork crown paint and seat tube bands were extras

as was the choice of tubing

all that blue rminds me of the italian football national team...not france oh hang on...it kind of does now that i think about it :]

Mercian offer a choce of Reynolds 531, 725 & 831 tubing

Initiually I was going to go for the 531 but in the end I went with Reynolds 725

largely because this was what Mercian advised

they seemed to think that I would notice the difference of Reynolds 725

over and above Reynolds 531

but that I probably wouldn't benefit much by going for Reynolds 831

I would be very interested to know if anyone has an opinion on 725 as a choice of tubing

as 'goggling' does really shed much light on the matter

631 not 531 - They don't manufacture 531 anymore. I asked them for 531 and they looked at me with a funny face and asked me if I especially wanted a heavy bike :-) I bought the cheapest option of 631 - I couldn't quite stretch for the 725...

actually jon now you mention it , I did exactly the same thing, I initially asked for 531 I'll be interested to know how much of a difference an extra 100 quid makes...?

Well, the 859 pro team they offer is supposed to be almost Stainless and super light - A friend of mine told me to go for that as he works in steel - but it was just too much. I really do think that the £100 will make a difference. I just get that feeling with Mercian, and the fact that they are using superb quality steel that there will be a difference.

What is the pricing diff between the three options?

STRADA SPECIALE 631......£495.00 + VAT
STRADA SPECIALE 725......£610.00 + VAT
STRADA SPECIALE 853......£690.00 + VAT
STRADA SPECIALE 853 PRO TEAM......£725.00 + VAT

With the chrome drop outs, mercian seat tube lug, 725 tubing, additional paint banding, a Ceeway LC19 fork crown

incl VAT the price came to £830

Ta!