Mercian tandem colourful fun times on a bike made for two

fenders on....... few tweaks, matching bar end shifters, pannier rack and saddle bag then we will be good to go.

Looks great, very dapper indeed!

Thanks buddy. It's turned out quite a bit more classy and tasteful than i first intended.

Much much nicer, the silver accent really work very well with the entire bike.

Are you still on the original rims?

Thanks Ed. Really liking the way its maturing......Wish i could say the same about it's owner.
yup, i'm using the Mavic G40/MA40. seems to hold the 32c tyres fine. The wheelset was hardly used, going to run it for a while.

What about this Velo Orange rack? it can be mounted on the cantis, also if set up carefully, can be used to mount onto the mudguard.

mmmmmmmmmmm.......... nice...... very verrrry nice..........new years day, slightly foggy head......should i? SHOULD I?

edit: very foggy head.........whats your name again......

and a very happy new year one and all. xxx

Such a great build, you still planning garish saddles or did you get your pink and yellow craving fulfilled?

ha ha yes, this totally cured the desire for ott colourful bikes....... Think i'm going to keep the brown Rolls. They do the job.

32s will be fine. I've been running pasela 37s on someroad rims for a while without issue, inc some loaded riding.

Classy tandem luckyskull.

I just gave my better half her Mercian mixte. She loves it.

Thanks Skully. Good to know the 32s will be ok. Any pictures of the mixte? Did you change it much in the end?

It will be okay, but you have to run a higher pressure than idea to prevent the tyres from rolling off the rims unfortunately.

He's probably read that somewhere^. Yeah, wider rims are preferable for wider tyres, but 32s are almost narrow enough to be borderline - nothings ever going roll off anything, I'd put money on that.

re: mixte Yeah I put some VO french touring bars on it mounted so they drop a tiny bit, so needed new flat levers, and some tan leather grips I picked up. I dug out some lovely old bottle green blumels mudguards to put on it, some pasela 28s I had stashed, and a black B17S I got as a freebie. Unfortunately it's a bit of a mish mash of colours (light blue and maroon frame, dark green mudguards, tan grips & black saddle)... but somehow it looks nice. I can't stand matching bars & saddles.

Next is to p-clip a silver rack on it (or use the chainstay bridge hole as the brake is elsewhere and think about some luggage for it. Someone gave me a Tweed run 2011 bag they got at a clearance store, it has a Union Flag on it that needs to be removed - it'd be nice to get a pair, don't know if they ever did a driveside one... The bag itself seems pretty nice!

He's probably read that someone re^. Yeah, wider rims are preferable for wider tyres, but 32s are almost narrow enough to be borderline - nothings ever going roll off anything, I'd put money on that.

When I had a 32c on the mavic open pro, I notice some flex when the pressure are not high enough while cornering, which felt rather spongy giving the impression that the tyres is twisting out of the rims, but on an idea rims like the A319, the flex isn't noticeable at a lower pressure and rolls better is all.

23C felt awesome on the A319 thought.

Skully, it sounds beautiful. The colour combo sounds just about right. i would love to see it. Are you going to post a thread of its progress? Stick a picture up, I'm sure the image in my minds eye isn't doing it justice.

This is the 3rd Mercian I have owned. I have a touring frame, yet to be built and a road frame(that i passed on to a really good friend). The build quality and handeling of the tandem and road bike is/was just superb. i'm sure your other half will love it.

Aslo, what rack are you going for? I love the VO one, but can't justify £150 price tag at the moment. A nice vintage chrome one with curved lines would be great.

I looked at this chart. According to sheldon brown, it should be fine to run 32c tyres on my rims.

after looking at the chart again, it is maybe a close call. my inner rim width is 13.5-14mm......... i'm going to see how it goes.

Chart's old, Zipp recommended 23c on their 23.79 mm rims for optimised

inner or external measurement? ...........like the chart, my rims are old(stock).

Advice on steel canti mounted rear racks?

......something that has the style of VO, but not the price tag.......

I have UTFS, but may have missed something.

As promised, a scanned pic of my Claud Butler SWB from the 80's. As you can just see, it had Mafac cantis with XL blocks which still didn't stop us, particularly when we got 60x12 wound up, there was no such thing as an 11 then or we'd have used it!

Had to sell it in the end as several slipped discs retired me from cycling for many years.... But, it's bloody addictive, so back I came.

I absolutely love what you're doing with that Mercian, it's both beautiful and (more importantly) fun!

Looking at the Claud makes me want to start a 'bikes we wish we hadn't sold' thread.....

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What a beauty! were you racing?
I think at some point i would like to invest in a larger outer ring (if i can ever find one). With a stoker, on the flat you can pick up enough speed to warrant a 60t........but as you say, slowing down can be an issue. ........ maybe a second rear brake?

and for the moment, we will just me light touring......

this is crazy nice