1969 Mercian tourer refurb advice?

[stuffedolive]

I have recently had my wife's 1969 Mercian resprayed and rechromed, rear triangle spread to 130mm and a couple of other bits. All done by Mercian and its beautiful and she's pleased as punch.
However, its still got some tired old kit on it. Old Campag Tipo hubs with a 6-speed block, old Shimano derailleurs with d/t shifters.
I want to put on new wheels, but they have to be sympathetic to the bike and a completely new transmission, with a cassette. I would prefer to stay with d/t shifters.
We are in Birmingham.
Does anyone have any recommendations for someone reasonably local who would be best to take this on?
Alternatively does anyone have some advice as to the most appropriate new components to complete the task?
Many thanks...

[Brucey]

.... rear triangle spread to 130mm .....I want to put on new wheels....

don't you mean 'have to' put on new wheels? The old wheels won't fit properly any more.

You don't say what use the bike will be put to, what gear ratios you want to run, and if you want to use indexed shifters or not.

Personally I'd be tempted to build it up with period correct campag parts, but this precludes having a rear cassette hub and maybe very low gearing too.

cheers

[foxyrider]

.... rear triangle spread to 130mm .....I want to put on new wheels....

don't you mean 'have to' put on new wheels? The old wheels won't fit properly any more.

You don't say what use the bike will be put to, what gear ratios you want to run, and if you want to use indexed shifters or not.

Personally I'd be tempted to build it up with period correct campag parts, but this precludes having a rear cassette hub and maybe very low gearing too.

cheers

No reason you couldn't use a cassette hub - I certainly have and will utilise that set up on my Eroica bike using friction d/t levers for 8 speed. Maybe something like the nice polished Athena stuff wouldn't look out of place. You can probably find a Campag Rallye long arm mech too so you could get a wider and low gear range that way. A trawl of Ebay will turn up almost anything you may desire - at a price of course.

The latest Potenza stuff is available in a polished finish as well as black and wouldn't look out of place teamed up with appropriate shifters etc.

[Cyril Haearn]

Like to see some pictures
Could you keep the old parts? Maybe they still work and just need a tidy/service

[stuffedolive]

Thanks for the responses.
Currently she has a Stronglight ch/set running 46/32 and a 13/24 6-speed freewheel on Campag Tipo hubs and Mavic Mod3 rims.
She has an old 105 rear mech and a 90's campag front mech with 105 dt shifters.
She'd like a better range of gears.
So I was considering a 9-speed set up with a 13-28+ cassette. But what (if any) dt shifters could I use? And what (campag) rear mech would suit?
I will try to attach a photo. But in that it has wheels from another of my bikes. I suppose I could just leave these on but they have a 6speed freewheel too so I'd still have the same gearing problem :-/

[Brucey]

you can get DT shifters that do 6, 7,8,9, or 10s shimano derailleurs and some of them have a friction mode too. Most friction DT shifters will handle 10s road shimano derailleurs but some struggle with 10s campag derailleurs because the cable pull is that bit more.

For a better gear range you could use 13-28 and buy a 28T chainring and then you would have a lot more low gears than at present. With this freewheel/cassette 7s would be enough for me. You can also choose to convert to a triple chainset (by buying another chainring, a triple bolt set, and (usually) a longer bottom bracket) to give say, 28,38,46.

In broader terms you have the choice between making a classic bike and just sticking on modern stuff. Maybe your wife has a strong preference one way.

For modern stuff you can use almost any 9s or 10s campag rear mech with friction shifters and 7/8/9/10s cassette. Or you can use shimano stuff and have indexed DT shifters.

For classic stuff you could respace the tipos to 130mm, fit a 7s freewheel 13-28 or 14-28, use any one of dozens of different rear mechs in friction mode.

If going the latter route, I'd be tempted to go the whole hog and ditch the modern brakes too. In fact I'd probably have had (narrow spaced) canti bosses put on the frame when it was refurbed, which would have given the choice of running period correct brakes or some more powerful modern ones.

If putting on modern-ish stuff that doesn't look too modern, might I suggest an older shimano cassette hubset (7s UG) which has a slim centre barrel, spaced to 130mm, fitted with an 8from9 cassette?

cheers

[Samuel D]

So I was considering a 9-speed set up with a 13-28+ cassette. But what (if any) dt shifters could I use?

With a 9-speed cassette, you could use the Shimano Dura-Ace SL-7700 indexed down-tube shifters in combination with any Shimano road rear derailleur up to 10-speed (except 8-speed Dura-Ace or 10-speed Tiagra) or any Shimano MTB derailleur up to 9-speed, providing it has the capacity for the cassette and chainrings in question.

Alternatively, these 11-speed-compatible friction shifters look like a fun way to shift the 11-speed Campagnolo Potenza option that foxyrider mentioned.

If it was my bicycle I would probably have kept/put the spacing at 126 mm and used a 7-speed Shimano set-up. At 130 mm, I’d go for the next best thing: 8-speed!

[stuffedolive]

Thanks again for the ideas.
Unfortunately at 126 I couldn't get a 7 speed to fit on.
Also I went with more modern brakes as the period ones on there before were just useless !
I'd like to stick with campag if possible.
Anyways plenty of ideas here - just need to source some suitable wheels ... any ideas where I can get some around Birmingham?

[foxyrider]

Thanks again for the ideas.
Unfortunately at 126 I couldn't get a 7 speed to fit on.
Also I went with more modern brakes as the period ones on there before were just useless !
I'd like to stick with campag if possible.
Anyways plenty of ideas here - just need to source some suitable wheels ... any ideas where I can get some around Birmingham?

Pop back up to Mercian?

[Brucey]

Unfortunately at 126 I couldn't get a 7 speed to fit on....

but at 130mm you will. You can respace your present rear hub to 130mm and use it with a 7s freewheel quite easily I expect.
BITD I ran 7s/128mm and had less wheel dish than any conventional format; not all 7s freewheels are created equal (some fit 126mm easily, others don't) and neither are all frames equal, clearance-wise.

cheers

[stuffedolive]

Sure a 7 will definitely go on now.
However, as this is her main bike, for reliability's sake I think I want new wheels - the old 126 ones are destined for her old Colin Cape race bike which she'll only ride occasionally. Also I'd rather go cassette as its easier to replace than is a freewheel (I'm getting old and weak).
As for a triple? - wasted on her ! A compact double will do just nicely

[Brucey]

thinking about it BITD frames were often made with domed ends to the stays, and a crank in the plane of the dropout, so that there can be a clash between the chain and the frame when trying to use the smallest sprockets on a modern hub that is built to use all the space as efficiently as possible. I have seen (older) frames where the chain will run OK in top gear, but will jam on the frame when you try to shift on and off it.

You may find that you need to adapt the hub spacing slightly to overcome this kind of problem. My favourites for doing this would be a screw-on freewheel hub or a shimano cassette hub; both have threaded axles that allow everything to be respaced and adjusted. Campag cassette hubs are mostly very difficult to respace in any way, because the axles have shoulders on them that make for tricky adjustments.

BTW Spa cycles sell chainrings that fit that chainset, and you can go down to 28T inner.

cheers

[Cyril Haearn]

Thanks again for the ideas.
Unfortunately at 126 I couldn't get a 7 speed to fit on.
Also I went with more modern brakes as the period ones on there before were just useless !
I'd like to stick with campag if possible.
Anyways plenty of ideas here - just need to source some suitable wheels ... any ideas where I can get some around Birmingham?

Edgbaston cycle jumble has been mentioned, it was cancelled recently..
I upgraded my Gillott to fixed, that might be worth considering

[stuffedolive]

Thanks both
This Ch/set came from Spa and smaller rings could be part of the solution. At the moment 32/24 bottom is just too big. Its a shame Spa are so far away. I know they build wheels too but I would prefer getting wheels locally. I used to build my own but I'm way out of practice
She got rid of her fixed some time ago. I built her another one based on a pretty Peugeot frame but she didnt ride it, so our daughter nicked it and put a single free on it ... heathen!

[stuffedolive]

Thanks all
finally decided to use the wheels in the picture, NOS L/F Campag Record on new 28sp Mavic hoops, with a new 7sp 13-28 with a 30t inner up front.
Works lovely with a resonably low bottom gear and cheaper than new wheels.