New bike day! Gilles Berthoud Epervier Randonneuse

Euro-Asia Imports was a large West coast importer of high quality bikes and parts for many years. They recently closed their doors and a large part of their inventory was purchased by Ben's Cycles of Minneapolis, MN. Ben's has started putting some of this new inventory on their eBay store and while perusing that, I found a 58cm Guilles Berthough Randoneering bike frame, the "Epervier".

I knew the name Berthoud, it is best known for it's high quality bike bags, but also as a small builder of fine bicycles. After a few days of thinking it over I got the okay from Shelly to buy it! Here it is:

Gilles Berthoud Erpervier

Ben's description of the frame had indicated that a 26.8 seatpost and 22.0 (French) handlebar stem was needed. I was resigned to looking for some high quality French parts for it, but on inspecting the frame I found that a standard 27.2 seatpost fit and the stem size was actually the standard 22.2. This frame was built in France but I guess by that time, (late 90s or early 2000's), the builders had transitioned to an international standard. Or maybe it had been specified by Euro-Asia, I don't know but it worked out well for me!  The description stated a 28mm tire was the max, but I've fitted 32mm Gravel Kings with plenty of room. I may have to go down to 28mm with fenders, but we'll see.

Frame construction is of top quality; filet brazed joints for most of the frame except the bottom bracket, which is lugged. Some of the nice features of this frame include; an internally routed rear brake cable, a chain hanger on the seat stay, a chrome chain guard on the chain stay. It has a threaded eyelet under the rear brake bridge for a fender installation. It has another eyelet on the back of the seat tube which I think is also for fender installation. (I have purchased some Berthoud fenders for this bike but haven't tried to install them yet.)

For the build, I took most of the components from my Mercian Olympic; Stronglight 86 BCD crank, Shimano 105 hubs and rear derailleur with 10 speed cassette,  my Simplex retro friction shifters, Nitto Bar and Techmomic stem and Campy Nouvo Record seatpost with Velo Orange Mod 6 saddle. Finally, I fitted Campy Nouvo Record Calipers, (the longer reach ones) with Tektro levers.

Here is the bike with the old Rivendell/Carradice Boxy Bag.

There were two other subtle features which weren't included in the description which both worked to my benefit! 58cm is on the small side of my optimal bike fit, but this frame also features a sloping top tube which raises the bars. Also, there is a 1 centimeter extension on the top of the head tube which also raises the bars. As a result, the bike fits more like a 60cm, the perfect size for me!

The proof in the pudding is in the riding and I lost little time on getting the bike on the road. The cockpit set up was good and I felt very comfortable on the bike almost immediately. It was responsive. I believe this bike has a relatively short trail so the front end should feel lively. On a fast descent the bike felt quite planted which sort of surprised me. I switched to a handlebar bag because the old Velo Orange Saddle bag had developed a tear. Handling remained solid. The bike is easy to ride no-handed.

Generally, the bike feels fast. It makes sense since this was designing for fast touring. I might even say that it planes! The light Dedaccia steel tubing probably has something to do with it, but mainly, I'd give credit to the designers and builders at Berthoud

This view shows the slope of the top tube and head tube extension. Also note the handlebar bag now installed.

All in all, this turned out to be a lucky find for me. It's definitely a keeper! However this means I'll have to let one of my bikes go...looks like my Raleigh Pro will be up for sale now!

January 2026 What's up?

At Camp Far West Reservoir, April 2025.

It's been a while since I've posted here, so I thought I'd add a short recap of last year's riding and a few updates on my current bikes. 

I ended 2025 with a total 4105 miles, not too bad considering I missed most of June, July and August due to our road trip to Alaska! I did have to push myself a bit to get over the 4,000 mile mark at the end. I also managed to do my century, May 2025 century ride. 

2025's century ride, May.

Equipment-wise, my experiment with 10-speed cassette friction shifting continued with mixed results. On my Olympic, the shifting with Simplex retro-friction shifters and a Shimano 105 RD was very good. But shifting on my KOM, which used SunTour Barcons and a couple of different derailleurs had a problem in one particular gear, the third largest cog was difficult to find and tended to skip to the adjacent cog. Eventually. I got tired of the problem and switched back to 8 speeds. At the same time I added my Shimano indexed bar end shifters for fun. The result has been successful and I don't miss the trouble I had shifting, although I still don't know what caused the problem. Future experience has caused me to suspect the Bucklos cassette, more on that later.

Around the end of the year I got the urge to do some mods to my Ritchey. I decided to give the 1X transmission fad a try. I picked up a massive Bucklos 11-42 10 speed cassette, a 38T narrow/wide chainring, and a Microshift Sword RD. I made the mistake of ordering a Microshift 10 speed upgrade kit for my Microshift 8 speed bar end shifter.

It was a very interesting exercise getting the bar end converted and it gave me a lot on insight as to how they work, however, the barrel diameter of the 8 speed shifter is not compatible with the Sword RD, there's not enough cable pull. I finally had to order a Microshift bar end specifically designed for that type of RD. 

That wasn't quite all I needed to do, however. I could not get reliable indexed shifting. Eventually, I noticed that the derailleur was not bottoming out (in the highest gear, outermost position). I added a 1mm spacer to the drive side axle. This pushed the cassette away from the frame just enough to get everything aligned properly! 

At this point the shifting was more reliable but still a little noisy in a couple of gears. In frustration, I ordered a Shimano 11-42 cassette and installed it, just to see if the cheap Bucklos was the problem. The noise has abated and shifting is now pretty reliable! Could it be that the cheap cassette was the problem? Well, it's hard to say for sure, some time in the future I'll re-install it and see.

Here's the Ritchey with it's new 1X drivetrain.

A close up. The M/S Sword equipment seems pretty nice.

One thing I had to get used to with 1X is the position of the rear derailleur while in the largest cog; It's almost parallel to the chainstay! I had to double check online resources to ensure I had the proper chainlenght. This is the new normal I guess, but it looks alarming at first. 

This derailleur position is okay!

Another change to the Ritchey is the tires. I've given up on tubeless technology. It is just a pain to keep going, especially on a bike that isn't ridden all the time. So I pulled the 47mm Gavel Kings off and install the tubed 42mm's for now. I'll have to find some tubes for the 47's some day as they are still in fine shape.

And so, that's the recap of a less than remarkable year! I hope to get some more interesting rides in during 2026, so stay tuned!

On Rioso Road, May, 2025.

May 2025 Century ride

 

Entering Nicolaus.

I was able to complete this year's edition of my annual Century at a relatively early date, before we leave for our trailer trip to Alaska next month. Once again, I traveled the loop in a counter clockwise direction and included using McCourtney and Rioso Roads, passing through Sheridan on my way to Nicolaus and the Garden Highway. This results in a total mileage of 108 miles.

Here's the plot of my ride from MapMyRide

I has checked the forecasts for this day and conditions looked to be ideal; Dry with highs in the mid to high 80s and no significant winds.

I got an early start, 7:00 AM, (early for me, LOL), and wore some 3/4 length knickers and a windbreaker. The windbreaker came off fast, but the knickers stayed on until I reached Nicolaus. For food I brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a bunch if dried apricots. I ate an apricot about once an hour and had the sandwich at my mid point under the I-5 bridge.

A short stop at Racoon Creek to take off my warmups.

On Rioso Road, heading west towards Sheridan.

Somewhere past Sheridan I noticed an increasing northwesterly wind. This didn't really hinder me and by the time I reached the Garden Highway, the wind became a real ally, giving me a nice push for that section of the ride, which is significant.

Entering Nicolaus

Traffic along the Highway was very light indeed. Several cars were parked on the shoulder at time, probably fishermen trying their luck.

Quiet Day on the Garden Highway, running along the Feather River.

Viewing the farmland along the Garden Highway.

Near Verona, looking back at the confluence of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers.

At last I reached the I-5 bridge, my usual rest stop point. Last year the little park was closed but it was open this time. Checking my mileage, I realized this point was actually at my 60 mile mark! This year I decided to try to change out my riding shorts to ensure my padding wasn't too sweat-soaked. I was able to change in the restroom at the park. Then, it was back on the road. Shortly after I started, I noticed a sign warning that "W Bound" Garden Highway was closed for construction! I thought it was weird to describe any part of Garden Highway as "West Bound", and hoped it wouldn't affect my route.

As it turned out, the road did veer to a more E-W orientation, fortunately, I was "East Bound" and sure enough, the other lane disappeared!

The mid-ride break under the I-5 Bridge

Anyway, my ride continued unabated. Soon I arrived at Discovery Park. When turning into the Park, notice that you can simply turn left onto a bike path that will lead you straight to the American River Parkway.

Partway through I stopped to check my phone and found it's battery was running low. This happened to me before so this time I brought a backup charger, plugged it in and continued my ride.

 

Entering Discovery Park, notice that bike path going to the left will take you to the Parkway.

The rest of the ride was uneventful. I continued up to Beales Point SP. Unfortunately, the snack bar isn't open yet! Oh well, I had to settle for more tepid water.  Checking my phone, I found a message stating that charging stopped due to an overheated phone! I took the phone and charger, which had been in my jersey pocket, and stuck them into my saddle bag, hoping that environment would be a little cooler. It seemed to work as I didn't lose any data this time!

A post-ride picture of the Mercian.

Equipment notes:

Well, the phone problem was really the only trouble I had on this ride! I rode the '80 Mercian Olympic shod with 32mm Gravel King slicks and had no issues, not even a flat! Shifting with my new 10 speed cassette was very good, with very few missed shifts. Overall, I was pretty comfortable for the entire ride.

I carried two water bottles, one stowed in my saddlebag to keep it out of the sun. Changing the shorts at the midpoint seemed to help, although this day was not super hot. I would definitely do this on a really hot day.

Statistics summary, 13.5 mph average is pretty good for me!

This was a good ride! I was pretty happy with my time. I always recommend this ride be done on days forecast to be under 90 degrees!

2024 Wrap-up

Long Ravine Road on my Camp Far West ride.

 2024 was a fairly quiet year for me cycling wise. My total mileage was a hair over 4,500 miles, my best month was April, when I rode 604 miles. In May I rode my century, doing 108 miles on the 7th of that month. Other significant rides included an 84 mile jaunt to Colfax and Grass Valley in September and my 68 mile Camp Far West Gravel ride in April. Also in May, I went down to San Diego and was able to ride the Descanso-Cuyamaca-Mt. Laguna ride.  I didn't ride at all in June because I was on our European cruise, and a lot of August was lost due to camping, so 4,500 miles wasn't too bad. I did not get to do any bike camping, I hope to get something like that done this year!

Near Mt. Laguna, looking down at the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Equipment notes for 2024.

The seat tube failure on my '82 Mercian.

Gear-wise, the most notable change was the loss of my '82 Mercian fixed gear ride! The seat tube broke at the bottom bracket. I haven't tried to repair of replace the bike. To be honest, my knees actually have felt better since I stopped fixed gear riding so I don't know if I will build a new one. I also don't mind freeing up space in the garage to a more manageable  stable of 5 bikes!

Now all of our bikes fit on the garage wall!

Nitto M-12 fail!

Another change brought about by an equipment failure occurred when my Nitto M-12 front rack snapped at the fork crown! I hadn't even noticed that until I read something about those racks on the iBOB forum. I looked at mine and sure enough, it too had cracked! The rack was pretty secure even without that attachment point but I removed it anyway, along with my handlebar bag and I hung my Carradice Pendle back on the saddle. I have to say that the bike seemed to handle a little better without the front bag and there was no more noise from things bouncing around inside, so I also removed the handlebar bag from my Mercian Olympic and replaced it with my Zimbale saddlebag. Both of these bags a re a little bigger than I need in the summertime so I may be looking for a slightly smaller saddlebag soon.

My two saddlebags.

Another mod I did was to switch to 10 speed friction shifting. 10 speed cassettes and chains have been dropping in price and I've read that the friction shifting with then was at least as easy if not easier than 8 speed. I found some Black Friday deals on both 9 and 10 speed cassettes. I tried a 9 speed first but found it was not all that easy, but the 10 speed shifted fine! So I now have 10 speed cassettes on both of my Mercians for a longer term trial. I still have some adjustments to make; I get an occasional skip in the two largest cogs when really bearing down on the pedals. I think it may be a chain length and derailer "B" screw issue. We shall see.

I also went on a pedal buying rampage and installed Shimano PD-A520 SPD pedals on all of my road bikes and also found an NOS pair for a spare! I find these pedals are more comfortable than the standard MTB style SPD I have been using so I decided to stock up since, of course, they seem to be going away.

A sharp eyed reader may also notice that I am using a full size frame pump again. The Topeak Road Pump is getting hard to find now, but I have found that it is an excellent pump for high pressure road tires. That's something I had forgotten, having been using mini pumps for a while. But once I tried one of these on the road, I ordered two more! They're great!

So much for 2024, I'm looking forward to more adventures in 2025!

So long 2024! Below are a few photos from the year.

On McCourtney Road on the Camp Far West ride.

At the Camp Far West/Long Ravine Road junction.

A map of my century ride.

While in Amsterdam, I spotted this! The rail on the right allows you to roll your bike up or down the steps!

Typical Amsterdam street scene.

I spotted several of these, seem like great city bikes, note the integrated lighting!

Once again a stop on McCourtney Road while on a ride.

September riding, goodbye to my '82 Olympic and other musings

 

On Dog Bar Road

September arrived so quickly! Seems like it was spring time just yesterday. Now, 100 degree weather has roasted Northern California for much of the summer. The longer nights of September are beginning to temper the heat, and mornings are consistently mild. Watching the forecasts, I noticed that Tuesday was expected to be relatively mild, with highs reaching "just" the low 90s, so I decided it was time for a challenging ride. 

The route I selected was one I haven't done in a long time, but I figured I could get it done fairly painlessly. I would ride up to Colfax following Placer Hills Road, then from Colfax I'd take Highway 174 to Grass Valley. From Grass Valley I would follow Dog Bar Road back to Placer Hill Road and follow that through to Auburn then finally return on Ophir and Taylor Roads back to Rocklin.

Here's a low-resolution plot of the ride.

It was a fairly strenuous ride with a lot of climbing. I made it tougher when I arrived at Colfax. Instead of dropping down Placer Hills Road and following the frontage road into town, I chose to follow a road that seemed to be a shortcut into town. Unfortunately, it turned out to be both longer and to contain more climbing! After finally reaching Colfax, I got on Highway 174 and headed towards Grass Valley. I stopped at Cedar Creek to get a cold drink and snack before dropping into Grass Valley. 

From Grass Valley, I connected to Dog Bar Road and headed south back to Placer Hills Road. The stretch on Dog Bar was hot and I began to feel a hint of a cramp in my legs so I lowered my gear and took it easy, finally reaching Placer Hills Rd and making my way to Meadow Vista, where I got a chance  to refill my water bottle with the great, cold water fountain at the grocery store, free of charge. What a great service!

On the climb out of Meadow Vista I experienced stronger leg cramps. I was able to gear down and spin until the cramps let up. That was the last of the cramping I experienced on this ride, thankfully. They probably were a result of the heat I experienced on this ride; well, that and the climbing!

Anyway, I finally pulled in at 8 hours and 16 minutes. A pretty long time for a sub-100 mile ride, but the climbing really takes its toll.

No mechanical issues on this ride, I used the KOM with a triple crankset.  Didn't even have a flat!

Post-ride view of the KOM. No mechanical issues.

Goodbye to my original Mercian.

A broken seat tube at the bottom bracket!

One morning I attempted to have a fixed gear ride. As I left the parking area I hear a weird noise coming from my "82 Mercian Olympic. Coming to a stoplight, I dismounted and tried to find the cause, but no luck. I took the bike home and put it on the stand. It was there that I discovered the sad news; The seat tube had snapped at the bottom bracket! It was a bit of a shock, I've owned this bike since it was new in the spring of 1983. 

You can see daylight through the crack!

Well, I did get my money's worth from this frame, but it's still sad to see it go. I've been wondering if running it as a fixed gear for the last few years was too much of a strain on the tube. I've torn it down and will probably dispose of the frame eventually. It's kind of hard to let it go.

Since then I haven't set up another fixed gear and to be honest, I feel like my knees have been better off. I may not go back to fixed gears after this. As an added bonus, all of my bikes now fit on the garage wall! Also notice that I have upgraded my bike hooks to some nice heavy duty ones I found on Amazon. 

The new bike hooks offer a more solid support.

This Year's mileage and other thoughts.

The year's statistics through the end of September, haven't been too bad:

Map My Ride's stat page for the Calendar Year.

Riding 531 miles in September brought my yearly mileage to a little over 3,600 miles; within 400 miles of my goal of 4,000 miles for the year. With three months left, I should be able to approach 4,500 miles, maybe even 5,000 if the weather holds and I get time to ride.

Gear, kit, etc.

Gear wise, I've been collecting spare parts for my 86mm BCD crankset, I even found an SR Apex in pretty nice condition on eBay for a nice price.  The sweet thing about this deal is that the crank was a triple, so I get three chainwheels! I may still get a few more chainwheels from Spa Cycles in the UK as they have a good selection. 

This SR Apex came as a triple but can be easily changed to a double.

I'm also stocking up on Shimano SPD road pedals, the PD-A520. I've found those to be very comfortable and work quite well for my road cycling. I bought one NOS pair and then got a good deal on some lightly used ones so all my road bikes will be equipped with them

Shimano PD-A520, my latest favorite pedal.

I'm looking forward to cooler Fall temperatures, maybe I can get another 1,400 miles in before the end of the year!

May 2024; RIP Mercian

My fleet of Mercians.

I was saddened to hear this week that Mercian Cycles of Derby has ceased operations. Mercian had been building bicycle frames for 78 years, they were ten years older than I am!

I was a big fan; Over the past 40 years had bought 4 different Mercians; 3 new and one used frame, here they are:

My first, an Olympic frame bought from La Mesa Cyclery in 1983. I considered it a touring bike, it is in fact more of a sportif style geometry. This is it's current configuration as my fixed gear road bike.

I bought this one new direct from Mercian via email in 1999 to replace my Colnago. It's an Audax Special which turns out to be a renamed Olympic! This one was actually a tad smaller than my Olympic, so I eventually sold it. (Wish I had held on to it now!)

My King of Mercia Tourer, it was my retirement gift back in 2013. A 60 CM frame, probably my ideal size.

Another Olympic/ Audax! This one I got used on eBay and had it updated. It's big at 61 CM but it is actually a pretty good fit.

The geometry of the Mercians, in particular the Olympic/Audax geometry, meshed well with my body. Way back in 1983, when I was getting rid of most of my bikes to strike out on my career, the Mercian was the only bike I kept. I even sold my Peugeot Super Comp as I always felt more comfortable on the Olympic!

I've got a lot of good miles and memories on these bike...

Touring with a pal in 1983.

Same 1983 tour.

The 1983 Olympic in (around) 2014.

The KOM arriving in 2013!

Just out of the box, 2013.

One of my first rides on the KOM.

Sub-24 hour overnighter on Foresthill Road.

Gravel grinding on Finning-Mill Road.

Touring through Yosemite.

Well, it's sad to think they're gone. I hope the employees can recover and carry on. Deep down I had hopes to maybe order one more someday, Sorry to think that won't happen now.