Mercian Cycles is a custom

bicycle A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

manufacturer based in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

.Kolin and de la Rosa, 1979, pp. 60-68 The firm was founded by Tom Crowther and Lou Barker in 1946 and named after the ancient kingdom of

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

. Early frames built by Mercian were known as "crowbars", a pun on the surnames of Crowther and Barker.Mercian Cycles, n.d.Orford, 2014 Mercian Cycles operated a retail shop in

Alvaston Alvaston (/ˈɒlvəstən/ or /ˈælvəstən/) is a village and ward of Derby, England. Alvaston is situated on the A6, three miles south-east of Derby city centre and probably owes its name to Allwald. It is bordered to the north by the ...

Juden, 2010 until early 2019, when it relocated back to its manufacturing unit within Derby. As of 2010, production was around 300 to 400 frames per year, with 20% being exported outside the United Kingdom; in the same period,

touring bicycles A touring bicycle is a bicycle designed or modified to handle bicycle touring. To make the bikes sufficiently robust, comfortable and capable of carrying heavy loads, special features may include a long wheelbase (for ride comfort and to avoid p ...

accounted for around 67% of Mercian's production, with

track bicycle A track bicycle or track bike is a bicycle optimized for racing at a velodrome or outdoor track. Unlike road bicycles, the track bike is a fixed-gear bicycle; thus, it has only a single gear ratio and has neither a freewheel nor brakes. Tires are ...

s making up another 25%. Frames are generally custom-built to a rider's required dimensions, and may use hand-cut lugs. Mercian frames were traditionally built using steel, originally

Reynolds Reynolds may refer to: Places Australia *Hundred of Reynolds, a cadastral unit in South Australia *Hundred of Reynolds (Northern Territory), a cadastral unit in the Northern Territory of Australia United States * Reynolds, Mendocino County, Calif ...

531, though as of 2010, newer steels such as Reynolds 853 and Reynolds 953 and part-

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...

construction were in use. Before

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

was superseded by lighter materials, riders using Mercian won national and international competitions. From the original founders, the business passed to Ethel Crowther, ex-wife of founder Tom Crowther. It then passed to Mercian framebuilder Bill Betton. In 2002, Mercian Cycles was acquired by Grant Mosely and Jane Mosely. Mercian has recently commissioned frame colour schemes from designer Sir Paul Smith, who owns and rides several Mercian track bikes.

Notes

References

* (This article about Mercian Cycles formed part of the magazine's "Made in Britain" series about the UK bicycle industry.) * * *

External links

* Cycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Derby {{Cycle-manufacturer-stub