1st November 2020 - Mercian King of Mercia - build restarted

Weather up here has been pretty wild with the wind getting up to 87mph today! 

 Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, I didn't manage to get a ride in. I did however manage to make a start putting the King of Mercia back on the road for the winter duties. Spent a bit of time over the afternoon sorting bits and pieces for it between other jobs. I faffed around with the Stronglight chainset and the Stronglight bottom bracket for longer than I should have as it was a 120 axle which should have been spot on for this, it still needed a spacer to stop a chainring bolt touching the chainstay. Once that was sorted it was just a case of making sure some of the items I had for it fitted and worked together. Only got so far along but pretty right to cable and chain up now I think. The bar tape is looking to be white cork with white cable outers. 

 While I have had this a few years now and while my other Mercian has seen all the work and has even had the respray as well as being a superb riding machine, I just always prefer outright tourers for touring. This one is also being put to winter use to justify staying, more to me mentally than anyone else. 

 The tyres are 30mm but there looks like I could go 33 but might be a bit tight with a guard on there. There looks to be more clearance than on my road KoM, though I think from memory I may have run Vittoria Randonneurs in 30mm. These Jackie Browns I have been running on my Jack Taylor and they are good wearing but very supple, high volume which make for a nice comfortable ride. On One do them from Panaracer but they just bought the moulds from Rivendall who Panaracer used to make them for. 

 Spec so far: Chainset: Stronglight triple Bottom Bracket: Stronglight adjustable Stem: 90mm Nitto Handlebars: Nitto B135 Randonneur 42mm Headset: Tange Mercian stamped Brakes: Mafac Cantis with Shimano pads - soon to have Koolstop Salmon pads Brake Levers: Mafac with Dia Compe hoods Brake hanger - Dia Compe adjustable. Gear shifters: Dura Ace 7401 8 speed downtube Front derailleur: XT 735 triple Rear Derailleur: XT 735 Long cage Wheels, currently Ultegra hubs on Open Pro rims but soon to have dedicated Shimano 600 hubs on Wolber GTA gentleman rims Tyres: Jackie Brown Mile Munchers 700 x 30mm 

 Anyway, hope everyone is safe and well and had a decent weekend. 

 Jamie