Browsing the SJS website while looking for something else, I noticed the Mercury is now on Mk 3. Was there ever a Mk2? I'm sure mine was just plain Mercury when I bought it a couple of years ago.
Anyway differences I can spot include -
New EBB, says you can now use any combination of rings, I assume this also means you have more adjustment, which IMO is a good thing. I knew what I was getting so no complaints but it always struck me that the small weight saving of a mini EBB was a high price to pay for the reduced practicality. Maybe it now shares the same EBB as the new Nomad, that would certainly make sense from a manufacturing POV.
Also gone is the ability to use caliper brakes, not something that I'd have considered so no thoughts either way.
There seems to be three bottle fitting in the underside of the down tube, I'd have to be in expedition mode before I considered putting anything there, in which case I wouldn't be on the Merc, but maybe others have a use for them.
What other differences? Out of interest only, I've no intention of swapping mine.
My only gripe doesn't seem to have been addressed - the combining of the guard and rack fittings is an irritation, why would a designer do that to a bike that is otherwise so versatile? I can't believe it's a huge cost saving and the aesthetic considerations are minor. I can't be the only rider who sometimes wants to run it with one or the other and would like to do so independently. The way Thorn build them up its a choice of rack and guards or neither. Other than that, two years and around 9,000 miles on and I'm still a very satisfied Mercury rider (Or maybe is it a Mercury Mk 2?)
