Mercury 40

[rualexander]

Anyone bought a Mercury 40 yet?
Looking at the specs and have asked Thorn a few questions so far.
It seems that they have rationalised their line up a bit and come up with the Mercury 40 to replace the Mercury Mk3, the Club Tour, and the Audax.
But from what I can gather there has been a bit of a downgrade on some features, notably the frame fittings like cable guides, rack mounts, etc are now no longer stainless steel, and the paint is no longer the Imron of the Mercury Mk3, possibly back to powder coated?
Seems a backward step, but probably based on economics I guess.
Considering a frame to base my rohloff on as haven't used my Sherpa much in recent years since getting a gravel bike from another brand 😱.

[Jags]

sounds a bit cheapskate maybe they thought nobody would notice.

[Moronic]

Disappointing on the fittings, if that's so. Although realistically it would be a real-world problem only for your grandchildren, unless you're planning a few round-the-world trips. A paint downgrade would be disappointing too.

I'm still really enjoying my Mercury Mk3 650B. Perfect for my use envelope of day rides and light touring, tar and gravel.

Hard to know whether the 40 will be as good, especially as I doubt many Mk3 owners will trade for a 40. Probably it's not quite as good, but that's still very good.

The Mk3 is a great frame for a Rohloff because the rear dropout is designed to prevent the hub outer from rotating without the need for a torque arm, and the cable runs are  Rohloff specific and well thought out. Albeit you still need to protect the frame from the cable outers, in places.

[JohnR]

Considering a frame to base my rohloff on as haven't used my Sherpa much in recent years since getting a gravel bike from another brand 😱.

Depending on your intended usage, this discussion might be of interest https://thorncyclesforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=14396.0.

[John Saxby]

Following up on Moronic's comment,

I'm still really enjoying my Mercury Mk3 650B. Perfect for my use envelope of day rides and light touring, tar and gravel.

Yep.  Here, the only interference is from our inaptly named "spring weather": cool, wet, and windy, with occasional 30º days thrown in...

[Moronic]

Are you feeling clever to have got your Mk3 while you could, John? I'm certainly delighted that I stretched to the purchase of mine at a time when that needed some faith.

I've been stepping up the riding after having succumbed to various distractions, among them moving house (but not far). There's a lovely 40km (25 mile) cycle route (one way) that now begins pretty much at my door, and ends at a rustic outer suburb that offers several cafes. And a train that can bring me all the way back.

There was a time when I would cycle both directions, and I'm nearly back to that. Working my way up to it.

I've attached a few pics from the ride last week. The Merc really is a superb steed for this kind of going. You could argue that just about anything would be, but I would claim that not many other options would so effectively combine liveliness with comfort, and none with so little maintenance.

[Moronic]

I should add for completeness that it's not all like this - the trail I mean. Some bits are quite rough, other bits are quite steep, and there's about 10km of pure gravel. The pics were taken as boast shots - 'guess where I am today'. Forty km on this trail is harder work than the same distance on a typical public road, except that motor traffic is mercifully absent.

[John Saxby]

Are you feeling clever to have got your Mk3 while you could, John?

  I'd like to say I timed it all well, Ian, but really, I just lucked in.  There was this fellow on the Thorn website who praised the Mercury, and I thought, "Why not? If it's good enuf for Ian, it's good enuf for me."

I sold two good bikes to cover much of the cost:  My Raven went to a friend of our daughter, who was over the moon about it when she rode it: "I don't have to fuss with derailleurs, I just twist the grip to the right gear!" She's toured in Ireland with it.
Then, I sold to my yoga teacher, the ti-framed Eclipse light touring bike I bought here in Ottawa in the winter of 2002-03.  This was the first really good bike I ever bought, and I was treating myself, as we were going to South Africa for three years in Aug 2003. The Eclipse was a lovely bike in many ways, but I had innumerable problems getting the gearing right. (But there's often a silver lining:  my frustration about not being able to get my lowest gear on a steep uphill in the Ottawa Valley in 2013 led to my discovery of & eventual membership in the Church of Rohloff.)  My yoga teacher bought the bike for his teenaged son, who never rode it much, and then announced he wanted an e-bike. I kept quiet, though it crossed my mind to offer to buy it back...

But my Mercury (named Freddie, of course) has been a delight.  It does most of what each of the other bikes would do, and I no longer need the Raven's medium/heavy touring capabilities.  I've done overnights and a weeklong tour in West Qué (with Ron Séguin); on these, and on day rides, I find myself saying, "Dang! This bike works sooo well!" A couple of years ago, I was visiting friends in the back country of the Ottawa Valley, and on my ride out of town, I eased past two women riders.  One said, "Oooooh, fancy bike!"  I said, gallantly, "Thanks, lass!"  She smiled.

That road you have as your "regular" ride looks a treat, Ian.  This spring, I've not been riding as much as I'd like (wretched weather, heavy-duty head cold, etc.) but I've started riding across the river and into the hills and trees of Gatineau Park. (Will assemble some photos and post those.)  Today, I rode to the base of the long/steep hill to the lookout which is the turnaround for my favourite 33 kms/2 hrs 15 mins out-and-back.  The canopy of trees has blossomed in the past two weeks, and just two days ago, my wife and I saw & heard the largest wing of Canada geese we'd ever seen/heard -- there was 80 or 90 of them overhead, heading for a bay on the Ottawa River for the night; perhaps going -- where? -- further north in Eastern Ontario, I'd guess.  Absolutely magical sound, and with the trees' foliage, confirmation that summer really has arrived.