Velocult

Stephen and Erica’s 1979 Mercian Super Tourist Tandem

Anthony — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 21:48:05 +0000

We have a couple that frequents the shop with their awesome Mercian tandem. They worked hard on this bike and put lots of miles on it. We just figured it would be cool to let them share their history with the bike. There will be more detailed shots of the bike coming soon!

It’s a 1979 Mercian Super Tourist, and I don’t much about it’s life before it ended up on ebay in Minneapolis about a year ago.

At that point, it was equipped with the 48 hole Phil hub and tubular rims, cinelli bar and stem, Universal levers, and weird little riser stoker bars.

The buyer shipped the bike to San Francisco, completely disassembled it, had the wheels rebuilt with wide NOS Mavics, and never put it back together.

He put it back on ebay around February for Local Pickup Only. Honestly, he was a little sketchy as a seller, making a really lame listing, then taking it down and re-listing with more info. I exchanged a few messages to make sure he wasn’t a total flake. He seemed legit, so I made plans for a weekend dash to SF from Portland and pulled the trigger on his BIN price, which was lower than what he had paid by a good bit.

Erica and I spent every minute of a weekend driving down to SF, the weather cooperating perfectly for the I-5 passes in Southern Oregon. We spent about 3 hours in the city, picked up the bike, and headed home!

As you can tell, I/Stephen am shorter than Erica, but she insisted on being the stoker. The offer stands for her to captain, but she swears she doesn’t want to! This presented some weird fit issues, and since this was going to be more of a town and country bike and not a racer, I Frenched it up big time with Velo Orange Porteur bars, a long setback VO seatpost for the stoker, and threw on the Selle An Atomica saddles, which provide a LOT of fore-aft adjustment.

I crammed in the 28mm Grand Bois tires and smooth Tanaka aluminum fenders, with homemade mudflaps. Definitely into the danger zone on tire/fender clearance, but I’m a big proponent of squeezing the biggest tires possible onto a bike.

I also bolted on about as many things as possible to the front end: Since the fork crown is undrilled, I had to go with the VO Constructeur rack (sharing the single fender eyelets) and headset mounted VO decaleur for the custom Swift Industries Large Ozette rando bag. Other than a couple spacers for the decaluer bag mount, everything lined up surprisingly well.

This is the only tandem we’ve ever ridden, and it is a blast! It’s great for around town, but we’ve gotten out into the country on a 50+ mile ride and it was a delight. It’s our baby.

Specs:

1979 Mercian Super Tourist

- Full Super Record, featuring:

’78 only 4-hole thin-clamp FD

factory triple crank

”pista” sync cranks

- 48 Hole vintage Phil hubs newly laced to NOS 700c Mavic rims

- New IRD 6 speed freewheel (replaced the broken 5 speed Regina corncob it came with)

- Tanaka 40mm fenders

- Mafac Cantilevers with Velo Orange adjustable holders and Koolstop pads

- New VO/Dia-Compe city brake levers

- VO Porteur bars, with an old Nitto captain stem and very short and shiny mystery stoker stem

- American Classic captain seatpost

- VO long setback stoker seatpost

- Mismatched Selle Anatomica saddles

- MKS sylvan pedals

- VO Constructeur Rack and Decaleur

- Swift Industries Large Ozette rando bag

Stephen

Nelson Vails Visits Velo Cult

Anthony — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:32:14 +0000

Last week Olympian and Cycling Hall of Fame inductee Nelson Vails came by the shop to tell his story and do a Q&A with our customers. Most notably Nelson is known as being the first black cyclist to win an olympic medal. Nelson was a NYC bike messenger turned olympic athlete and his story is pretty remarkable and inspiring. Nelson was in Portland to raise money for the B.I.K.E. charity which you can check out here.

Kevin Bacon never stood a chance against “The Cheetah”.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Portland Afoot

Thomas Quinones — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:46:00 +0000

Starting and Ending at Velo Cult, the 60+ teams of two or more are taking advantage of public transit options like the bus, MAX, and Streetcar but are not allowed to use any sort of automobiles or bicycles to get around town to play the game.

The game will take full advantage of smart phones, transit planning apps, and TWITTER to track who is doing what and where, meanwhile they share photos and score points for creativity, coolness, and number of transit centers visited.

More details from the official site:

http://portlandafoot.org/game/

Twitter Stream:

https://twitter.com/PortlandAfoot

Jack’s Francesco Moser Signature Tattoo

Anthony — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:45:02 +0000

We had a very special guest in the shop this week: “The Sheriff” Francesco Moser. Jack took this opportunity to get himself and his Moser frame signed by the man himself. Yes, he really made it permanent just hours later.

Life Size Jenga at The Portland Bike Polo Tournament After Party

Anthony — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:39:07 +0000

They were playing life size Jenga at the Portland Bike Polo Tournament After Party. I think I caught the game at just the right moment.

Murph and his bike riding puppy

Anthony — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:35:50 +0000

Murph and Ellie stopped by the shop after a long day of work.

Jack Test Riding a Customer’s Schwinn! Getting RAD!

Anthony — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:52:32 +0000

Chris King!

Anthony — Fri, 03 May 2013 05:44:58 +0000

So, I swung by chris king today, and they hooked it up!

Peace
Jack

Tweed Ride 2013 Pictures

Anthony — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 01:44:49 +0000

Breadwinner Cycles Launch Party

Anthony — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:01:33 +0000

We had a full house for this event here at Velo Cult and it was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone who came out to show support for Tony Pereira and Ira Ryan with their new collaboration: Breadwinner Cycles. Breadwinner cycles is a combination of Tony and Ira’s style and function with a focus on US made parts and local building. These bikes are beautifully build and deliver in 8 weeks or less. Click here for more info on Breadwinner Cycles.

Along with this event being a launch party, it also served as a gathering of Tony and Ira’s custom bikes from years past including each of their first custom frames!