Jim Cole wrote:
>
> A few years back I wrote Mercian for information on a frame I picked up
> and sent them the serial number. Last night I dug the letter out they
> sent me and it did say the "last two" digits of Mercian serial numbers
> indicate the year the frame was built. They seem to have good records
> as they told me my frame was originally built for a customer in Texas!
>
> Chuck mentioned:
>
> >Actually it's the first two digits on the '59 Superlight Vigorelli
> (1959
> >was when this model was first introduced).
> >The serial number appears on the lower part of the left track-style
> >fork end: #59760
>
> I have no idea if that "last two digit" date code is a hard fast rule
> for the entire history of Mercian. Any chance your frame was built in
> 1960? Chuck, your bike looks stunning and I would love to see
> additional pics and hear more about it. While Mercians are certainly
> common enough (I've had three) you hardly ever see one that pre-dates
> the bike boom here in the States much less one as early as yours. Very
> nice indeed!
>
> Jim Cole
> Memphis, TN
Jim,
I think you and Mercian are totally correct. Mine must be a _1960_ Superlight Vigorelli!
I remember seeing lots of Mercians in the mid 1970s and thinking they were pretty unremarkable (all the ones I saw had the ubiquitous long point lugs). Then about three years ago the 1960(!) Mercian showed up at a friend's shop. The owner had died and his widow sold the bike to my friend. The bike had been brought from England when the owner emigrated to the US. I had never seen a Mercian with fancy lugs ("Bikini" lugs at that...cut away to almost nothing). I was also looking for another Path Racer because of my new addiction for fixed gear riding. Like most of the old bikes I find, this one had original parts to find to replace the "improvements" the owner had made over time. The worst was a derailleur hanger brazed on the track forkend and the right stay being bent out from 110mm spacing to something to accommodate a three speed freewheel! I ground off the hanger without removing any of the trackend (similar to an archeology dig) and the moved the stay back to where it was originally without any evidence that something had been amiss (not too hard with "pencil" seat stays).
Of course I have visited Mercian's web site and now realize that they had been doing very fancy lugs and very elaborate paint schemes for years and years, but those bikes hardly ever made it to the colonies I guess.
I'll mention the paint... the color has been described as "pesto cream sauce" with maroon and gold strips and maroon lining around the bikini lugs. The paint polished up nicely (40+ years old) and there is crazing that looks like a ming vase that gives the bike a charming patina. The longer I collect (and ride) these old bikes the more I prize an original finish even if it is faded, chipped, and even a little rusty in places.
I'll put up some snap shots of the bike if I can find them...
Chuck Schmidt South "the sun just came out" Pasadena, Southern California http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, T-shirts and Campagnolo Timeline)