A 1936 Mercury is getting a new life.

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The maiden voyage is today. Sitting on it I can tell the position is perfect, semi-upright with good leg extension at the bottom of the pedal stroke and yet my feet are almost flat on the ground. I am pleased to say everything fits and works as planned. Here are some crappy pics from last night.
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Don't take this the wrong way, but it's gonna get stolen.

Know how I know? Because I'm not a thief and I would steal it.

Take precious care of it or you are GONNA lose it.
 
BTW, it's so awesome, my eyes started welling up and I got all emotional.

That is one beautiful rig.


Just look at the expression on your kid's face. Even he is worried about it!
 
Lonewolf said:
Don't take this the wrong way, but it's gonna get stolen.

Know how I know? Because I'm not a thief and I would steal it.

Take precious care of it or you are GONNA lose it.
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That is my biggest fear. I was sitting by my computer one night and heard glass break and then someone said it's not here" Ran outside to find my trucks camper shell back glass shattered. Someone was trying to get my Ellsworth Epiphany which I had taken out just minutes before. I have several very valueable bikes, I keep them all in a locked garage with individual cable locks secured to a 4 inch standpipe embedded in concrete. They can still be stolen but it will take time and tools. I also keep detailed records of all serial numbers and parts for insurance purposes but some things just can't be replaced, like the time and passion I put into this build or the pride I feel when I stand and admire this bike.
 
That's a great post. Do you have a gun?

I live in a great section of town and we have nearly zero crime. I will also shoot dead, anyone I see on my property (after I have dragged them inside and tortured them for hours).

If someone had busted a rear window on a vehicle to steal something, it would make the paper where I live.

I pray your stuff stays safe.

Wonderful job on this build, Man.

Now, only because I care- if I had one thing to say about it that could be taken as criticism, it would be the obtrusive brake levers. I don't think they belong on that bike. It's like they don't fit in with everything else. I think you should look for older exposed, polished aluminum levers. Visually they get in the way of the shiny detail, contrasting the dark frame. It looks like you have two large chocolate bars floating in front of the perfect bike.
 
Lonewolf said:
That's a great post. Do you have a gun?

I live in a great section of town and we have nearly zero crime. I will also shoot dead, anyone I see on my property (after I have dragged them inside and tortured them for hours).

If someone had busted a rear window on a vehicle to steal something, it would make the paper where I live.

I pray your stuff stays safe.

Wonderful job on this build, Man.

Now, only because I care- if I had one thing to say about it that could be taken as criticism, it would be the obtrusive brake levers. I don't think they belong on that bike. It's like they don't fit in with everything else. I think you should look for older exposed, polished aluminum levers. Visually they get in the way of the shiny detail, contrasting the dark frame. It looks like you have two large chocolate bars floating in front of the perfect bike.
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I have moved since that incident to a much better area but there have been incidents of bikers being followed home from the trailhead by thieves looking to steal a bike from a rack or an open garage. I was followed once but I noticed them and did not drive home. I agree a polished lever would be ideal but I like the Maguras. They are in keeping with the Clunker homage. Most of the original repack bikes had oversized moto style levers. I thought about striping these and polishing them. They would probably come out very nice since they are aluminum but they are NOS and therefor pretty valuable so it seemed wrong. If I find a polished pair I may swap.

Thanks for the input, thats why I posted here. Opinions are always welcome.
 
I have been riding the bike for the last 2 days. Sadly the old forged fork has a bent steerer that was too slight for me to notice. The headset kept wanting to come loose and if I torqued it down I couldn't steer. It also appears to have a slight bulge which means the stem tends to move and if I over tighten it the bulge will just worsen. While I reall liked the truss rods after day one I removed the fork and replaced it with a cruiser fork. It is not a Tange but until I can hunt one down it will suffice or I may have one made special. I missed an Ebay Tange today that an MTBR member alerted me too and I am pissed. After replacing the fork and riding today I can say I am in love.

My overall impression of the bike is this: It is absolutely the most comfortable bike I own. I can't even begin to describe how wonderfully comfortable this bike is. The riding position is perfect, not too upright to mess up the handling, not too aggressive to put pressure on my shoulders, arms and back. The Brooks saddle is vastly more comfortable than I expected. The little bit of give in the leather and the springs is like having a suspension seatpost and its wide profile is nice. It cruises up the hills with ease because I am getting great leg extension in a slightly recumbant position so I can really put the power down.

The steering is certainly not like a cross country race bike. With the wide bars and headangle it feels alot like some of the downhill bikes I have ridden. Standing with my thighs clamping the saddle coming down Lopez Canyon today it felt wonderfully stable and balanced just as I had hoped. The ride is nowhere near as harsh as my other 2 steel rigids but I think that is mainly due to the larger volume tires and the saddle. The bottom bracket is fairly low and I believe this contributes to the very stable feel and handling.

The braking is very good. I run Avid Elixers on my main rig and they are quite powerful. The Sturmey drum was super easy to setup. On my first ride I felt the braking was a little lacking but I realized the stock clamp for attaching the arm to the fork leg was not good for the fork I had. On the new fork I used a hose clamp and torqued it down tight and after some breaking in the power is really good. The best thing about it is the progression, you get a smooth progression of power through the pull of the lever. The rear roller brake is enough to lock up the rear wheel with pretty light lever pull.

The cranks and bottom bracket adaptor have worked out very well. I am glad I opted for the 170mm crank due to the lower bottom bracket. I haven't had a rock strike yet but I am sure to at some point. The Nexus hub shifts flawlessly and was suprisingly easy to setup although the instructions suck and it did not come with brackets that had the right angle for my dropouts so I had to do some creative dremel work on the ones it came with. The gearing range is pretty wide. I was able to make it up all the hills in the canyon and had plenty of top end for the downhills.

One thing I love about it is the attention it gets. Even my boss said it was the coolest looking bike he had ever seen. Tomorrow is national trails day so I am taking her out on a group ride. This 7 month project has been worth every every ounce of blood, sweat and frustration. A 74 year old bike has made me feel like a kid on christmas morning again. I love this thing, by far the most satisfying outcome to a rebuild or restoration. I hope I am still riding this thing when it turns 100.
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While not my style,I understand what you want from this bike & how you intend to use it.Having said that,anyone with any sense at all HAS
to compliment you on A)a very well planned build,B)knowing what you wanted & what parts would get you there & C)your execution & commitment to the build...EXCELLENT JOB!...go ahead & grab an extra piece of raisin pie...you deserve it,my friend...Pappy 8)
PS-I couldn't talk you into going back to the truss rod forks,could I? Love that classic look!
 
If the fork provides sufficient strength and geometry that agrees with you, forget paying for a Tange. Weld a tab for the brake, and spend the money on re-chroming it. :|
 
A true work of art. Stunning. I haven't posted in over a year, but I had to break radio silence for this one. Time to wipe up the drool.
 
Thanks for all the kind words. I am immensely proud of this one. 40+ miles of dirt over the last few days and it has held up and performed very well. Braking has gotten progressively better during the break in. The saddle is a little squeaky but it is very comfortable.
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Very nice.
I like that it gets dirty as well.
 
you were not afraid of getting it dirty were you ! i like how the dust sticks to the black paint :D nice build ! have fun
 
The Mercury came out real nice great selection of parts, good to see you ditched the flat blade fork, only pain would've resulted. If I might ask, where did you get the powdercoat done been looking for places in SD but can't find any recommendations outside of cyclart which is anything but inexpensive?
 
There are a couple of options in San Diego and both do a great job. If you're closer in toward the City RW Little is very good, for north county Decorative Metal Finishes (DMF) in escondido is also very good and typically about 20% less than RW Little with no reduction in quality. They powder coated the frame below for about 65.00. Perfect coverage and finish. I'm also pretty certain that they are the people Velocult uses for their needs. Not certain who did Aaron's frame but it was likely one of the two. They also do great chrome work (they rechromed the fork in the second image). DMF is my personal preference.

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socal_jack said:
The Mercury came out real nice great selection of parts, good to see you ditched the flat blade fork, only pain would've resulted. If I might ask, where did you get the powdercoat done been looking for places in SD but can't find any recommendations outside of cyclart which is anything but inexpensive?
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I actually found a nice Pre-war forged fork that I intend to put back on this bike. Believe me it will hold up. I am 40 years old and I will be saving the hard riding for the Ellsworth or one of my other modern bikes. This will see light trail use only along with my daily commute. RW Little in San Diego did the powder. They do good work and pretty cheap.
 
yewhi said:
There are a couple of options in San Diego and both do a great job. If you're closer in toward the City RW Little is very good, for north county Decorative Metal Finishes (DMF) in escondido is also very good and typically about 20% less than RW Little with no reduction in quality. They powder coated the frame below for about 65.00. Perfect coverage and finish. I'm also pretty certain that they are the people Velocult uses for their needs. Not certain who did Aaron's frame but it was likely one of the two. They also do great chrome work (they rechromed the fork in the second image). DMF is my personal preference.
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Thanks, I had one reference to RW Little but the person seemed to think the attention to detail in as far as having to reface everything later was subpar due to overcoating. As always I guess YMMV. I'll check on DMF.

sandmangts said:
I actually found a nice Pre-war forged fork that I intend to put back on this bike. Believe me it will hold up. I am 40 years old and I will be saving the hard riding for the Ellsworth or one of my other modern bikes. This will see light trail use only along with my daily commute. RW Little in San Diego did the powder. They do good work and pretty cheap.
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Tubes will always outperform rods, that's why you don't seem them anymore check all the photos on here or ebay as far as forks bent backwards it's really laughable. As much as I enjoy the old frames, don't let the weight fool you they aren't really that strong so as long as they are seeing light duty as you say, no problem but... no jumping. I can rebend both frames and forks(even old tubular) by hand as one indication can't do that on a lighter modern steel frame, BTW I'm 52 and wrecked up a fair amount of this stuff as a kid when I was way, way lighter :)
 

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