I had made plans to go for a ride with Brian down his way for a ride out to Strathcarron (?) this weekend.
Unfortunately despite todays lovely weather, it wasn't today. We will have to see how tomorrow goes.
This didn't happen today due to the Mercian not being finished but more so as I was up through the night as Caleb has not been well.
I did have plans to head down around lunch after I had built the Mercian up. I wanted to get it finished as I really needed to get a couple of nice rides in on it before the winter so I could decide whether it stays and gets renovated or it goes. I also had to make sure the rear mech was realigned properly as I had to give Brian back his alignment tool he loaned me. (Thanks mate)
I have owned it for about 2 years and it has waited patiently for me to get round to sorting it out. I originally got it quite cheaply due to the quite badly bent rear hanger but with the right tool that was fixed with little bother and realigned nicely.
I do have other machines but Brian had his Andre Bertin ready to roll so it was decided to have a lugged steel road ride, I could have taken the Merckx but it seemed good timing to get it sorted. At least if Brian was on his recently acquired road bike, that I know he has been working on then at least I wouldn't feel guilty or lonely stopping to adjust and fettle.
Anyway the morning was spent putting bits and pieces on the frame while Caleb had his breakfast and played in the living room. I needed to go to town late morning to get a cassette as the Dura Ace rear mech has a max of 26 teeth and, of course, the lowest I had in 8 speed was 28. I said to Heather I was just heading to town and would drive rather than ride as I wanted to be quick as I might still try and get sorted for this ride. Anyway I was at the bike shop for a while longer than I anticipated and probably would have been quicker with the hour and a half round trip riding to the shop.
I should mention here that I am very lucky as I returned home to find Heather cooking lunch of Pancakes with Bacon smothered in Maple Syrup. Yes they are capitals as this is my favourite food of all time
Once home I then spent the afternoon outside fettling the bike on the stand doing the usual sorting of gears and adjusting the mech hanger slightly, not surprising considering how far out it was the first time.
Anyway it was a nice sunny and warm afternoon spent building up the bike and doing family stuff. Once the bike was sorted I headed out for a short test ride. I got about 20 metres when I realised that I hadn't tightened the brake levers.
Brakes worked but the levers were twisting on the bars. Anyway that sorted and back out. I did a couple of miles and adjusted the seat post and moved the seat forward slightly, let a bit of pressure out the tyres but otherwise all was pretty good. So I kept going on a bigger loop. The Mercian handled really nicely, very light and I had put on my old wheels from my Merckx, Ultegra and Open Pro and put on some Vittoria Randonnuer 32 tyres. This was a different feeling as it was still very sharp handling and with sure footedness but with a bit of 'give' from the larger size tyres. Very nice as the roads around here are just falling apart. I run 23mm on my Merckx and even those I have started dropping pressure, especially on the front.
I was well pleased and so went a bit further than intended and all was well. So for now it is definitely staying. I will give it a few more varied rides to make sure before it gets pulled down and put away until it gets painted. When it does get painted, the build will be different again as it will be a more light touring/audax setup befitting its King of Mercia title. Most likely a stronglight chainset, nitto randonnuer bars etc, the stuff on it today was from the spares boxes and while great stuff its a bit more racey than I need. Save that for the Merckx.
Anyway I hope you all had a nice day whatever you were up to.
Here's some pics.
Jamie
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