Hi Guys - yet another Mercury for your approval...?
I bought the bike late last year in rather tragic circumstances - the original owner had bought the bike from Thorn with no expense spared; every option box ticked. Unfortunately the bike never got ridden more than a couple of miles as the owner developed an eyesight condition which stopped him from riding!
The bike is a 610L and came with flat bars - not for me, I prefer drops, but I tried them for 60 miles and then decided to change to drops.
A bit of a dilemma really as I didn't want to change the Hope hydraulic disc brakes - they were awesome, but no drop levers suitable for these brakes. Eventually I found Hope made a cable to hydraulic converter the V-twin, so I bought one and game on!
Over the last three months I've done a major refit to get the bike how I wanted it so....
1. Changed the carbon forks to Thorn steel ones as I wanted full mudguards.
2. 110mm stem with Thorn drop bars and a Gilles Berthoud shifter finished off with double wrapped handlebar tape.
3. Tektro brake levers.
4. Hope V-twin with new calipers.
4. Full SKS mudguards.
5. Dropped the gearing from 51x17 to 47x17 - 51 is way too high for me.
6. Easton EA70 micro adjuster seatpin with Rivet Pearl saddle. It was fitted with a (Shimano) Pro seatpin and Brooks B17 titanium.
Now I'm happy with the bike - it rides great; the brakes are still awesome and is finished off nice with the original DT Swiss black rims.
I've attached some photos of the bike and a close up of the Hope V-twin.
Pete.