headtube founded 1946 1946 founder tom crowther lou barker headquarters derby derbyshire england website merciancycles.co.uk mercian cycles is an english custom bicycle manufacturer based in derby derbyshire . 1 mercian was founded by tom crowther and lou barker in 1946 and named after the ancient kingdom of mercia . 1 early frames built by mercian were known as crowbars a pun on the surnames of crowther and barker . 2 3 mercian cycles operates a retail shop in alvaston . 4 current production is around 300 to 400 frames per year with 20 % being exported outside the united kingdom . 4 as of 2010 touring bicycles account for around 67 % of mercian s production with track bicycles making up another 25 % . 4 frames are generally custom built to a rider s required dimensions and may use hand cut lugs . 1 mercian frames were traditionally built using steel originally reynolds 531 1 though as of 2010 newer steels such as reynolds 853 and reynolds 953 and part carbon construction were in use . 4 before steel was superseded by lighter materials riders using mercian won national and international competitions . 4 from the original founders the business passed to ethel crowther ex wife of founder tom crowther . 4 it then passed to mercian framebuilder bill betton . 4 in 2002 mercian cycles was acquired by grant mosely and jane mosely . 4 mercian has recently commissioned frame colour schemes from designer sir paul smith who owns and rides several mercian track bikes . 4 notes edit a b c d kolin and de la rosa 1979 pp. 60 68 http www.merciancycles.co.uk history http www.derbytelegraph.co.uk bygones firm wheel deal crobars mercury rising story 21103845 detail story.html a b c d e f g h i juden 2010 pp. 37 38 references edit juden chris august september 2010 . kingdom of mercia pdf . cycle magazine . guildford uk ctc the uk s national cyclists organisation . issn 2042 9460 . retrieved 2014 05 25 . kolin michael j. and denise m. de la rosa 1979 . chapter 6 mercian cycles limited . the custom bicycle . emmaus pa . rodale press . isbn 978 0 87857 254 0 . external links edit official website v t e british bicycle manufacturers current a bike bickerton boardman bootie brompton campion condor dawes defiance dolan ellis briggs enigma titanium falcon genesis halfords hetchins holdsworth islabikes lotus mercian moulton muddy fox orange paper pashley pedersen phillips planet x raleigh reynolds ridgeback robin hood saracen strida thorn ti group whyte defunct ariel bsa british eagle carlton claud butler chater lea coventry eagle coventry premier elswick hopper flying scot f.w. evans freddie grubb harry quinn hercules humber norman perry roberts rover royal enfield rudge whitworth sun sunbeam triumph viking warrick witcomb components brooks england dunlop middlemores saddles sturmey archer this article related to a bicycle manufacturing company is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mercian cycles & oldid 663536262 categories cycle manufacturers of the united kingdomcompanies based in derbycycle manufacturer stubshidden categories all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 22 may 2015 at 13 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view