Mercian Cycles no more

[ldrcycles]

The legendary Mercian Cycles has entered voluntary liquidation- https://road.cc/content/news/mercian-cy ... ion-308501

Not a lot of detail to go on, although I've seen comments that the shop appeared to be inactive about a month ago.

[WyvernRH]

The legendary Mercian Cycles has entered voluntary liquidation- https://road.cc/content/news/mercian-cy ... ion-308501

Not a lot of detail to go on, although I've seen comments that the shop appeared to be inactive about a month ago.

Yes, a sad outcome. They haven't had an actual 'shop' for a while, they have been concentrating on the frame building/refurbishing business at the workshop.
I have friends who have run a business for many years in the UK building custom steel frames and they went the other way, diversifying to supplying 'custom builds' using imported frames of various materials alongside the custom stuff, also selling specialist/high end parts from their hybrid workshop/retail establishment. Still, they have been scraping along in the current UK economic environment.
Hopefully someone will pick up the bits from Mercian on a smaller scale but really I think it is a sad fact that high quality steel frame building is going to retreat to a very small scale garage business option. I certainly could not make it pay in Oz.

Richard

[GaryF]

The bike world I have loved is constantly changing and I find myself reflecting more and more on the past and not keeping up with the times. I'm getting old.

Mercian Cycles ceasing to exist is another narrowing of my bicycle world. I have never actually seen a Mercian bike but I have admired their bikes in magazines and books, etc. I am sure they have added to the lives of many a cyclist and that will live on.

[elantra]

The bike world I have loved is constantly changing and I find myself reflecting more and more on the past and not keeping up with the times. I'm getting old.

Mercian Cycles ceasing to exist is another narrowing of my bicycle world. I have never actually seen a Mercian bike but I have admired their bikes in magazines and books, etc. I am sure they have added to the lives of many a cyclist and that will live on.

You are not alone in lamenting the passing of (another) quality business.

I don’t know when things started to get rocky in the business of custom bicycle manufacturing but so many iconic brands have either closed down or been bought out by investment companies and sometimes screwed over.

Hopefully the Mercian name will not end up being just purchased for trademark purposes and applied to some generic mass-produced product range from the other side of the world.

[WyvernRH]

The bike world I have loved is constantly changing and I find myself reflecting more and more on the past and not keeping up with the times. I'm getting old.

Tell me about it...

You are not alone in lamenting the passing of (another) quality business.
I don’t know when things started to get rocky in the business of custom bicycle manufacturing but so many iconic brands have either closed down or been bought out by investment companies and sometimes screwed over.

High quality frame building has never been a way to get rich, in the UK at least. You always really needed an active shop to make ends meet and even then, you were more likely on a beer and chips diet rather than champagne and caviar. The fancy frames pulled in folk to the shop and the shop made money with mundane sales as well to support the frame building so you could keep the frame prices realistic for the average joe. Once steel stopped being the frame material of choice for the racing types back in the late 80's/early 90's you were reliant on tourists (well known to be mean so-and-so's ) and retro enthusiasts with money - an ever-decreasing pool of folk willing to spend serious cash on a custom frame. Then the Internet comes along and rips into your shop sales and you really start to struggle. Specialist stuff like tandems and recumbents were not so badly hit but just don't have the turnover to keep a business alive full time.
Nowadays with skilled East European/Asian frame building undercutting the market (especially in the mid-upper level stuff that turns over more quickly) you really do need a major differentiator to make your product worth the price difference. Mercian just did not have that edge anymore in enough customers' eyes.

Pretty sure this scenario is the same in Australia nowadays especially outside the major cities.

Richard