Re: [CR] How Remarkable is Mercier? Are You Kidding?

(Example: Framebuilders:Jack Taylor)

From: "P.C. Kohler" <kohl57@starpower.net>
To: <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
References: <444CE476E8C84B6CB02BC2C6B29CDE54@peterb10252309> <8CBECDE565361D5-1540-2CF1@mblk-d33.sysops.aol.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 20:00:08 -0400
Thread-Index: Acoex0UXpwE8DyteRNmdsN6KRog1hQAAwwAg
In-Reply-To: <8CBECDE565361D5-1540-2CF1@mblk-d33.sysops.aol.com>
Subject: Re: [CR] How Remarkable is Mercier? Are You Kidding?


"While never really having been a Francophile I do enjoy my collection of French bikes - Bertins, Gitanes, Motobecanes and yes 2 Peugeots. At least they are not.... "Oh NO! Another Campy bike".

;-) Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA"

Actually, the 1970s pro Merciers were "another Campy bike"! So that should cut them some slack around here. Like Moto Team Champions in the 1970s (but were not the 1980s blue ones, French spec'd I believe). Washington was always a French bike town in the Bike Boom and I don't recall seeing any Merciers around here. Indeed, you don't see them on eBay often of any quality. I'll wager you the pro quality ones are rarer than any of the big cycle manufacturer "team replicas" and then some. I have had a search on eBay France for ages for one and never found one. And in a 60-63 cm frame, I don't anticipate ever doing so.

Dale mentioned how Mercier was an "unremarkable" bike that did remarkable things. Indeed. And true, I dare say, of practically every pro bicycle made. How indeed was Coppi's Bianchi more remarkable than another? Or Bartali's Legnano? Or Pingeon's Peugeot? Did Poulidor think anymore of his Mercier than Nadal ponders his racket? As an avid collector of "team replicas" what makes them desirable is the combination of the machine (admittedly the best the firm could make), the team, the kit, the palmares and the "ethos" that is associated with great teams like Mercier, TI Raleigh, Brooklyn, Peugeot and BIC. Not all of us are acolytes at the altar of lug finishing and frame brazing. And I suspect neither were most pro cyclists. Well, at least the French ones, right?

Peter Kohler
Washington DC USA