Those are excellent pictures of a Mercier. My guess would be that it is 1975-76. I have been gathering lots of photos off the web so that I can make the restoration of my 1977 Mercier as authentic as possible, but the task is complicated, or perhaps made easier, by the fact that no two top-end Merciers from the era seem to be the same. This one for example has brazed-on brake cable guides on the top tube, which I have not seen before on a pre-1980 bike, and drilled Campagnolo dropouts, which I had not previously seen on any other frame than my own. The level of finish on these high-end Merciers seems to be exceptionally good, adding credence to the "handmade" decals that are usually affixed.
I was very please to see pointed out the cable ferrules fitted in place of the adjusters for the Campagnolo callipers - my bike came with incorrect adjusters and I now know that I need not worry about the virtual impossibility of finding replacements; I shall use ferrules too and persuade myself that it is authentic for a Mercier.
Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England
From: brad stockwell <brdstockwell@yahoo.com> Subject: [CR] Pink Mercier Pix To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Monday, 26 October, 2009, 3:16
Arno Volkers was asking about the quality of a pink Mercier, so while the topic has come up I have uploaded some scans of a nice example, from a book called something like the Guiness Book of Cycling.
The bike has some fancy stuff I've seen on other bikes, like drilled dropouts and brazed-in brake bolts. It also has "Mercier" etched or formed or carved into the front derailleur cage.
The cable adjusters on the campy brakes have been replaced with aluminum ferrules; somewhere I have a photo of Zoetemelk's bike circa 1975 with this same treatment.
I think the book is about 1977-ish. The bike must be from about that time, it has top-tube brake cable braze-ons, and an aluminum cage and "Z" clips.
It's a looker! Grant Handley sold one very similar to this one on Ebay back in 2001 or so, but it was too small for me -- I 56cm I think.
The link is below, I hope the server will shake-it-not-break-it:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
Think Pink!
Brad Stockwell
Palo Alto CA USA