Marty says:- I'm considering buying an early 1980's Mercian and would like to know what the club rider's in England and the like thought of Mercian as a "custom'' weight....or where exactly it stands in the heirarchy of collectable and rideable bicycles from the CR approved era (in my case 1981).I would love to buy many of the bicycles I see listed on ebay, in England, or for sale by CR list members in England, but I prefer to buy something I can see first hand and available locally to me, here in the United States.I've been following the comments by all on the F.W. Evans, Selbachs etc. by our list members "across the pond", and I hope we don't lose any list members over the current discussion. You guys bring a lot to the table and from my one touring experience in Great Britain and Ireland in 1989 your bicycle traditions and clubs really are something to behold. No doubt that Mercian were very well respected frames that had a following nationwide. It is my recollection that they sold a frame with fancy lugs, was it a Vinctoire ?, into the eighties when few other makers did so. I think Arthur Metcalfe won the Milk race on a Mercian in 1964. Sadly what Marty says about British club life no longer applies. There are two clubs based in Brighton and neither has a clubrun throughout the summer. British Cycling claims record membership but it has got me beat how that can be true. Most of the guys racing want to be in a "team" so they can have the doubtful priveledge of buying a "team jersey" at cost and think they look like a pro. Meanwhile traditional clubs stagger on with members aged under forty considered to be youngsters. The days of the sixty up club run are long gone and given the traffic on English roads it is perhaps just as well. Ray Green, England
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