I agree with others who've chimed in here. Definitely NOT Mercian. I have a couple Mercians, and a couple older catalogs. The seatstay caps are wrong, the fork crown doesn't look like any I've seen on a Mercian, the Tange tubing and Suntour dropouts are dead giveaways that it is NOT a Mercian. The serial number is off. And the cutouts in the lugs are not typical of anything that Mercian does. Probably a nice quality Japanese frame, and despite the horrible paintjob, probably a good rider for $20.
Kyle Brooks Akron, OH
> [Original Message]
> From: Mark Ritz <ritzmon@sbcglobal.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>; <tod@tkopix.com>
> Date: 3/4/2007 11:06:37 AM
> Subject: [CR]RE: Mercian Cyclocross
>
> Tod sez: Howdy,
>
> I picked up a frame today off of Craigslist. Looked interesting
> lugged with canti bosses no eyelets.. 20 bucks.. The paint is in
> gross condition, somebody started stripping and stopped halfway
> through. There are remnants of Mercian decals all over the bike
> (headtube,seattube.downtube). It has diamond shaped cut outs in the
> lugs, italian concave seat stays looking.. On one of the paint levels
> i found a remnant of Tange tubing sticker.. the fork steer says
> Tange.. The dropouts are Suntour GS. The serial number is also odd..
> 378033... All of which does not seem to point to any Mercian I
> researched this afternoon..
>
> Tod,
>
> I think you're right; that's no Mercian. It looks to me like a mid-80's
> Univega Gran Turismo, the touring bike of the line. I sold a lot of these
> in the day. The staycaps, lugs, and bottom bracket, even the braze-on
cable
> stop on the chainstay, all point to this or a similar Miyata model. I
think
> the previous owner removed the eyelets that would have been on the bike.
> Hopefully, others can chime in...
>
> Mark Ritz
> Missing the NAHMBS in Arcata, CA
> But I rode my SOMEC yesterday and it didn't rain!