In mid-May, I took delivery of my new gunmetal grey Mercury Mk 3. Following are my notes on my first impressions of the bike after covering about 250 kms over the past few weeks.
First impression first, then. As Marcia, my wife said, “Ooooh, what a finish!!” And from a friend, after learning I’d named the bike “Freddie” (more on that below), “Freddie really is a handsome dude!” #s1 and 2 below are early photos from our back yard.
The back story
To set the scene, some acknowledgments are in order. Forum readers will recall Moronic’s detailed-and-delightful account of his new Mk 3 over the last six months of 2021. Ian deserves a fair bit of the credit for my decision to purchase a Mercury, so I’m happy to thank him publicly for his compelling review of the bike.
That said, purchasing the Mercury was not an open-and-shut matter. Sarah and Robin at SJSC have been patient and accommodating, and both professional and personable in managing what became a complicated order. The simple thing would have been to purchase a complete bike. But, Canadian duty on a complete imported bike is 13%; and to that figure, an additional 13% sales tax is applied. The result is a total cost about 27% above SJSC’s list price. Canadian policy effectively priced me out of buying a complete bike, so I decided to do what I did with my Raven – buy the heart of the bike from SJSC, and get it assembled here.
In early January, I asked Sarah if I could put my name on a waiting list for a Mercury Mk 3 frame, anticipating that one might be available in 18 months or so. She said that SJSC still had some frames, and – lo! – it turned out that there was a gunmetal grey 550S that would fit me. I ordered a large portion of a Mercury from SJSC – frameset and forks, built-up wheels, brakes, and some smaller parts. I completed the kit with some items in my workshop – Brooks B17 Special, Shim UN55 bottom bracket, MTS Touring Lite pedals, Stronglight cranks, a Rivendell Bike Works alloy chainring, and a Connex chain. From online sources I secured alloy mudguards and randonneur bars and a set of (soon-to-be-extinct?) 650B x 1.6 Marathon Supremes & XXlight tubes. Then, as I’d done eight years ago, I asked Tall Tree Cycles here in town to assemble the bike.
The biggest “thank-you”, as always, goes to Marcia for her understanding and long tolerance of my two-wheeled obsessions.
And the last bit of the Back Story, naming my Mercury “Freddie”: Informed and witty people, hearing that choice, said, “But of course -- that’s perfect!” I can’t claim to know Queen’s music well, but I do have a longstanding soft spot in my heart for Zanzibar. (TANGENT ALERT!! An extended sidebar comment follows. Skip to the next section, if you wish.) In December 1969, when I was but a tender and callow fellow teaching in northern Zambia, a friend and I hitched a ride to Dar-es-Salaam on an empty oil tanker returning to that city with a load of copper ingots. From Dar, we took the ferry to Zanzibar, arriving late on a Saturday night. As we disembarked, we were engulfed—almost overwhelmed--by the scent of cloves. Zanzibar produced most of the world’s cloves at that time, and the clove-oil works was just down the pier from the ferry. I had read some of Zanzibar’s history, but this was all a bit much for a country boy from rural Ontario. The combination of the crowded Old Town and its market, the demi-tasses of coffee divine, the fragrant night air and the pristine beaches -- I had to pinch myself discreetly, just to be sure I hadn’t died and gone to heaven. There was a dark side, too, less publicized – this was just a few years after Karume had seized power, and we saw men grabbed off the street at night and bundled into unmarked black vans.
A decade later, I was lucky enough to work with a Zanzibari woman. She was and is smart, organized, and beautiful, and she makes some of the best samosas—both baked and deep-fried—that I’ve ever tasted. I once asked her if she’d ever thought of setting up her own business—her samosas were by far the best in town. “You know, John,” she said, “I’ve thought about it, but decided against it. If I set up a business, doing this would become a job, and I’d much rather just make my samosas for my family, friends and colleagues. But thanks for the compliment anyway!”
So Freddie, y’see, unwittingly carries baggage that I quite enjoy.
Freddie on the road
I’ve managed several rides of three hours or so with Freddie over the past few weeks. All have been in the immediate neighbourhood of Ottawa, and largely on the network of bike paths and secondary roads westward from the city, and across the river into the hills of Gatineau Park. I’ve covered some 250 kms on varied terrain, including some decent hills.
The summary conclusion: an outstanding bike – smooth, responsive, comfortable and stable.
In more detail:
• Freddie is noticeably if not radically lighter than my Raven with similar trim, by a kilo-plus (about three pounds). I felt that difference immediately, carrying the Mercury upstairs from my basement workshop.
• The handling is quicker and the bike feels more responsive than the Raven, as one would expect with the shorter chainstays and lighter weight; but at the same time, sure-footed and stable. I have yet to test Freddie in light-to-medium touring trim – I’m awaiting my Tubus Disco rear rack. After that arrives—late June/early July?—I’ll do a mini-tour, a night or two away.
• I’m about a gear faster in the upper range on Freddie than I was on the Raven. In the lower range—i.e., in hilly country—the numerical indicators are similar, but pedaling is noticeably easier, and I can maintain a better cadence. A key consideration here is my current overall fitness and health: I’ve been riding Freddie after a long winter with very little cardio-vascular training, and the osteoarthritis in my hips is becoming more serious. As things stand, the OA will limit my daily mileage on any tour, even short ones.
• The one surprise is a pleasant one – the new Rohloff is much quieter than the one on my Raven when it was new. So much so, that Freddie’s hub is as quiet as the one in my Raven after 18,000 kms.
• Our son-in-law, an electrical engineer, rode Freddie briefly, and came back glowing: “John,” he said, “I’ve never ridden such a bike. The engineering is extraordinary!”
• All the components work well together, though truth be told, I can’t tell any difference between the rear disc brake and rear V-brake (with Koolstop dual-compound pads) on the Raven. Maybe the performance will be different in the wet?
• I’ve made micro-adjustments during and after most of my rides. I had transplanted a Deda CF seatpost from the Raven, but towards the end of a 3-hour ride, it started creaking on uphills under even my modest power. Creakin’ called for tweakin’: I switched out the Deda post for its Thorn alloy counterpart, and – voilŕ! – the creak vanished. (The resulting peace of mind was worth the extra 5 ounces.) The Deda had a very nice two-bolt adjuster for my Brooks, however, and finding the right setting for my Brooks B17 has taken more time than I expected. Much the same has been true of the rando bars I bought from Velo Orange. These are nominally unchanged from the ones I bought for the Raven eight years ago. But, on measurement, they are slightly different, offering less flare on the lowers and less upward-and-inward “swoop” on the uppers. I’ve added some gel padding to sorta-replicate what I had before – and asked Sarah, who happily bought my Raven, to let me know if she ever decided to change the bars.
• Lastly, with the shorter chainstays, my Hebie Chainglider didn’t quite “just bolt on, sir.” Will post a separate note on that under the “Feedback on Chaingliders” topic.
Brief as they’ve been, then, I’ve enjoyed my rides with Freddie. Unloaded, the Mercury is smoother and easier to ride than my ti-framed light-touring derailleur bike; and as noted, much more responsive than my Raven. I hope to have a better sense of its touring qualities in a few weeks’ time.
Part of the reason I’ve enjoyed my rides is the early arrival of summer in the Ottawa Valley. We had a cool-damp-late spring, complete with a light snowfall in late April; and then that was followed by a weeklong heatwave in mid-May. By the end of May, all-of-a-sudden we had a full mid-summer canopy in the woods. It was sublime for cycling – just Freddie and me, with the sun-dappled bikepath, the full foliage and the birdsong (see photo #3 below). #4 shows the fresh green foliage and yer standard-issue lake in the Canadian Shield.
More to come as we cover more ground.
