Sad news, Mercian Cycles will soon be history after 78 years. I've owned 10 and still have five ride able. Oldest is my 1973 Vigorelli track bike, which I still ride on the Atlanta Velodrome and believe this the Atlanta Motor Nascar Speedway (non competitive). I have a 63cm 1977 Professional (long point Prugnat lus like the Raliegh Pro, but with long point BB lugs. I raced this bike in Europe with the Army and here in the states. I had Mercian respray and re-gig for 135mm. Unfortunately, after another 8,000 k, the down tube cracked with over 300,000 kilometers. I guess plastic and ugly is the game now. I do have a Celeste carbon Specialissmo (2019) that took the parts off the Professional. 😞
possibly the most honest answer to "why I don't review bikes" in youtube history. have an MA40 36o front wheel on an old Gitane I ride frequently. will probably last longer than I will.
I love riding my 1980 Gitane Super Corsa, bought from the original owner, upgraded to modern components, rides great and Fast,😊, and yes i saved all the oe parts.
Nice to hear, l have one as well, although interestingly enough it has a stronglight headset, versus a campy unit, and came with lyotard pedals, everything else is campy, l got it on craigslist so no real history, on the bike, l dont know how it was set up originally from gitane. It's a 60 cm frame. A nice ride tho. lm pretty sure it's a 70/71, lm kind of partial to old french bikes. Lol.. when l younger, l couldn't afford a new bianchi, or a bob jackson, french stuff was more budget friendly.. Enjoy.
I managed a bicycle shop in Salt Lake City in the 90s that sold Bianchi. We had an employee that purchased a Bianchi Centinario which was a limited edition (100 pieces if I remember correctly) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company.
Seeing the Mercian at the end of the video ... latest big news in the UK is that Mercian have entered a voluntary liquidation phase. Great sadness all round as yet another old school builder bites the dust.
I think the front derailleur with the fenestrations (holes) was the correct Nuovo Record derailleur… The Super Record front derailleur has the same cage, but a black titanium swing arm to make it lighter. The “no holes” one is the Gran Sport I think. I could be wrong, but I think you switched it out to the Gran Sport front derailleur. Love your channel and think you’re awesome!
You can date no holes N.R. by the lip on the front leading edge. Pre-1978 would be flat with no lip. When the holes started (79?) The no holes became G.S. In 1978 the CPSC put safety rules out that changed the shape of the QR to curved from flat. Same for brake QR (dome shape). The rear derailleurs gained the flavored plastic covers. All of these features would be period correct around '79 when the worked there way into selling stock.. A Cinelli Unicanitor saddle was de rigueur for the early to mid 70s period but I think a match for the handlebar leather cover (1980s sold as set if memory serves) would be the Cinelli Volare. A further detail on period correct Cinelli bars and stems pre-1979-80 is the oval embossed Milano logo on stems and crest-shield logo on bars. Fly-C logo was really an 80s change. Your TTT bar and stem are more correct for a Bianchi. Whew, all that said I'm no purist myself - Just hung around them and bought a couple of Italian bikes in 1980 and around '86. I'm semi-capable of dating Colnagos pre-Saronni models - so before '82. I say do vintage in a pleasing to the eye way. Your Bianchi looks great.
As someone who only recently (~3 y ago) got into bikes, and vintage steel frames have turned into my favourites, i cannot help but be speechless at the Campagnolo parts in your possession :O - Incredibly nice! I really need to start scouring our garage sales at some point to get a grupo together!
My first Bianchi was an early 1980's Superlegerra( sorry if I misspelled). I bought the frameset and built it up with a Nuovo Groupset. The front derailleur had the cutouts. The Super Record front derailleur had the same cage but the pivot arms were black. I think this frame is earlier because it has clips for the brake cable housing.
@@JohnsVintageRoadBikeGarage I started riding in a club in 1984 (32yo at the time) and bought my Bianchi that Fall. It was new but had been in the shop's inventory for years. Your bike is older than my old Bianchi. I wish I still had it. It was a classic "Reparto Corsa" frame set.
Love the channel! I’m still riding the Legnano I bought new in 1973 and I love the content you have from those Nuovo Record years. Keep up the great work!
John, I'm sure you're aware a lot of the pro level racing bikes in the 70s offered campy super record as upgrade , both full groupo and derailleurs only. Some guys kept em stock, some guys hot rodded them. The Bianchi most likely had nuovo record, but only the nerdiest purist would object to super record upgrade. That said, the Bianchi looks right just the way you did it.
I have a "thing" for Celeste Bianchi's. Back in the 80's, I would use MA40's all the time......I believe that I still have one of those rims left. That Cateye Solar on that C-Dale brings back memories. You could even plug in a Cadance sensor into the port. You can replace the battery, if the old one is dead. Every time I would crash with that Cateye on the bike, the bar mount would break. PS. I knew I guy who had one of those Mavic threadless bottom brackets, bolted onto a Mavic Starfish crank.
@@JohnsVintageRoadBikeGarage Seems Mavic no longer offers any rims that aren't BLACK? Sad. When I built-up our various vintage bikes to actually ride rather than just admire I found what I guess were a version of their OPEN rim in a silver finish, which with the decals peeled-off look vintage enough, but work very well, especially when it's time to stop with their welded seems and machined brake tracks. Maybe you can find some NOS? The Specialissima is crying for a set!
RU-vid's algorithm was spot on today! First video I've watched from this channel. Great video, narration, background music ---- all real fun to watch, John. I'll be at the Auburn meet. - Joe
I used to do the same thing but holy heck i cant tell ya how aggravated i am about tool loss and accessories.....i got hope of finding the remnants of the bike club
Volare`...oohh oh! 2 part..yes! Some history on them, how they came to be. Took mine out for a 30 mile ride the other day, smooth! Great job on the videos John! I always watch to the end!
Regarding the changes to the front derailleur design, that would part of the 1978 revisions most people refer to as the "CPSC" changes that affected the hub Quick Releases, brake releases, and front edge of the derailleur, and some other small details, like parts being labelled "brev" replacing "patent". So technically, a 1976 bike would have all the "pre-CPSC" characteristics, but parts from 1978 that are post-78 are still pretty close!
Johns Vintage is like a view space , relax , imagine yourself with it , maybe inspired to get a similar model too.. something you show off or nostalgia rides . . . We dont need performance numbers and reviews ...just a bit of the history, acquiring method , frequency of use and why .......haven't watched as much lately John because my vintage rigs were stolen , not to mention my personal reset did not include significant income of any sort ...however my bike passion remains. I built up a 2014 focus izalco pro...real cheap used and its so fun ...i want a new rig and then back to vintages....harder to find than 5 years ago too...everything rim between 80s and now is so fun ! Oh tools stolen twice over ...even our bike clubhouse landlord turned overnight and someone stored everything, i haven't caught up to it as we dont have club house and i just moved into a 1bd apartment....minimal
Wow lovely John.. great to see you out riding 😊🚴🏻 have you heard about Mercian in the uk went into liquidation yesterday such a shame lovely frames and quality.. 😢 Pete 🚴🏻👍
This is such terrible news. Those bikes were beautiful and flawless. So sorry to hear this. Can a few thousand of us band together, buy Mercian, keep the employees, and keep it going. We might all have to kick-in some money every year to keep it afloat but wouldn’t it be worth it?
John, had a Cannondale SM400 (I think) frameset built up with full Campy SR (minus the ti axles of course). Same color with Spenco grips and the same computer. Kinda makes you wonder...
From the SR300 to the sr 2000 the frames were identical. I was a Cannondale dealer back in the '80s and we would change the frames if the customer wanted a different color. They did have SR 800 for a while that was full. Campy. Check my channel past videos you'll see a Cannondale built up in green that I restored.
Yes, there's this myth that steel bike frames are soft and comfortable, almost to the point of being fluffy. That´s not always the case. Mine, which is made out of Ishiwata tubing, is quite hard. I wouldn't call it "harsh", because if I did it I'd run out of words to describe how aluminium frames ride. But it's a frame with racing DNA, so it can't bend when pushed hard. Yet it still absorbs vibration much better than an aluminium frame. (I find aluminium - or "aluminum", as they spell it in the US - to be by far the worst material to build a bicycle frame.)
Definitely very harsh ride. They're made for perfect tarmac on le tour or la giro. Best thing I did was put a padded seat WITH springs on it. Then riser bars with plenty of sweep for a more upright riding posture. Transformed the comfort on the bike and it's so much more fun to ride.
Campy's derailleur pulley dust caps, be they NR or SR were the same, as was the entire pulley assembly. Simple, straightforward with brass bushing-bearing inserts with the grease channel..... In the mid '80's their Record RD witnessed the beyond engineered pulleys with 12 individual grease bearings per in the center race that were set with adjustable male/female cone and caps, one on each pulley that was set indexed to the outer cage plate. Their current assembly has 'gone back to the future' with bushing-bearing and steel caps....... Talk to me about Carnielli (Bottecchi) or Nobilette if need be.......... ps: Mothers Mag/Alu Polish is to die for. pps: Joey Two Scoops was in three states today. Really : Unconscious, semi-conscious and delirious
