If you look at the ebay images of the referenced pink Mercier 300, I always liked the stay treatment at the rear dropouts on these. A couple of quick, easy cuts with a saw and the resultant pointy-shaped ends, to my eye, add a touch more elegance versus the plain treatment on the similarly priced ($250) Peugeot PX-10, Jeunet's or Motobecane's of the day (although I did like the Gitane top-eyes better). I seem to recall the Mercier frames being pinned and silver brazed when I was nosing around in the bottom bracket shell of one some 35+ years ago. Inferior, budget racers for sure compared to the high-end Campagnolo equipped favourites of the day, but grasping for the silly little details like that sort of made me feel like I was in the big leagues even though, in retrospect, both the crummy bike and I were really just poseur's.
I still have the crummy bike.
And I'm still just a poseur.
>From Merriam-Webster's dictionary:
Main Entry: poseur Function: noun Etymology: French, literally, from poser Date: 1869 : a person who pretends to be what he or she is not
Steve Kinne New York, NY USA
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