Well. Curiouser and curiouser. I would say that my frame is EXACTLY like Leon's with the same top eyes and same fork/stay end treatment, drilled dropouts and racing number tab. I do not know whether mine had a chrome front fork - it is not immediately obvious because of all the work that has been done on the frame and shotblasting prior to repainting. I know nothing about the history of mine, having bought it from a third party on ebay. They knew absolutely nothing about the bike and seemed to think it was made up of two bikes because some bits said Mercier and other bits said Campagnolo. My frame has been converted, fortunately expertly, into a touring frame with brazed on fender eyes, dynamo and lamp brackets and saddlebag support. All that is going to come off.
As far as I can make out, the only original parts on mine were the Campagnolo SR seatpost and the Campagnolo 1st generation rear derailleur dated 1977 - but this may be misleading and I may be totally wrong dating the frame as 1977, especially since I have a later frame with Vitus dropouts (like Peter's) with the same seat stay top eyes as Leon's and mine.
Norris - thank you so much for that wealth of information. Can you give us any guidance as to how we might determine what tubes are used and can you suggest anything else that might help us tie down the date?
As far as decals go, it looks like they will be 15 - 20 GBP for a pair of downtube and a pair of seat tube decals and a Service Des Courses headbadge BUT with the headbadge on silver plastic film instead of aluminum foil (but I think it will look almost identical from what the company showed me). However, I shall pursue getting it in aluminum. The style will be white block letters with black border as used on team bikes from 1977 onwards - until Mercier went to a script like Peter's. 1976 and I don't now how long before is very smilar except that the arms of the "C" are straight instead of curving at the ends. I could probably get the manufacturer to change the graphics for a run of those if anybody is interested. Likewise, I could probably get them to do black with a gold border as on some Merciers if there is a demand. Decals will be printed on thin vinyl film with the letters on an application tape so that they all line up correctly. I have had no problem clearcoating over previous decals from the same company.
Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England
From: Leon Gierat <leon.gierat@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Help! Trying To Identify a Mercier frame/bike To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Date: Thursday, 24 June, 2010, 22:18
Hi Norris,
Thanks for the informative and detailed post. I have not spent anywhere near the time that you have researching this frame, or the marque, but I have found it difficult to find much real information on the internet about anything to do with Mercier.
I'm afraid I can't shed much light on the history of this frame. My wife was living in France when we were just boyfriend and girlfriend, and she was doing a bit of cycling with her local cycling club. She could only afford one bike, so she had a mountain bike, and spare slick tyres for the road.
One of the elder statesmen of the club decided that she needed a road bike if she was going to be road riding, and so gave her this bike that had obviously been "done up" for winter use, with a selection of cheap parts (i.e. unbranded wheels, mix of cheap sachs and shimano gears, etc). I think the only original part still on the bike was the seatpost.
If it is as you say, a top end custom frame (perhaps even a pro frame?), it seems surprising that it would be relegated to this status, however I wouldn't ever condemn anyone for taking a utilitarian point of view, after all these bikes were designed to be ridden, and it's fair to say that this one has had a lot of use.
Are there any further measurements of photos I could take to help in the identification? Would external tube diameters help, or were they all much the same in those days? I think some columbus tube sets had internal ribs that I could look for?
I've searched high and low for a frame number, but couldn't find anything, which agrees with Hugh's assertion that it would've been on the headtube badge.
If it was an 80's model, that would give me a dilemma - I have a pair of wheels; Mavic 500 hubs laced to SSC rims, which would be really fitting on a bike like this, however they are actually getting very good use at the moment on my perfectly modern and contemporary cyclo cross bike (well, I rebuilt the rear onto a Hope hub, but I could always put it back the way it was). Perhaps some parts are just too good for putting in a case and admiring, and I'll have to find something else.
Leon
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 8:43 PM, Norris Lockley <nlockley73@gmail.com> wrote:
> Considering the long-term presence of Mercier bikes in the French Pro
> peloton, not a great deal has been written about the bikes that Poulidor,
> Bobbet ( at one period in his career), Leducq, Antonin Magne, Rene LeGreves,
> Francis and Charles Pelissier, Lapebie, Archambaud, Speicher, Zootemelk and
> many others rode. There are volumes about the riders but very little about
> the bikes.
>
> Mercier was an important company, and was considered to be one of the real
> movers and shakers of the French cycle industry in the period from the 1950s
> through to the late 70s. As late as the mid 70s the firm employed over 300
> staff and produced around 120,000 bikes per year of which 85% were
> models.orientated towards roadc racing. Although the Lejeune company from
> outside Paris had also a notable presence in the prloton it was a small
> company compared with Mercier from St Etienne. The two companies share
> another thing in common - the difficulty in understanding their range of
> models.
>
> For some time I have been trying to put together an article about Mercier,
> but apart from dozens of photos of pink (rose) coloured bikes, I have little
> text. However at just about the time that this enquiry hit the CR List, I
> had made an interesting discovery about Mercier..and I had also managed to
> overcome the computer problems that have dogged me for about three months
> now.
>
> In the 50s Mercier depended very largely on Rubis and Kromo tubing made in
> St Etienne for their lightweight frames..and then graduated onto Reynolds
> 531 DB for the next twenty years or so. Certainly the firm was still using
> Reynolds as late as 1976. However by the time the 1981 catalogue was
> published the company had switched all its lightweight frames to Columbus
> tubing.
>
> Around that time, perhaps the late 70s I recall cycling in the French Alps
> and calling in a lightweight cycle specialist's shop in the beautiful
> lake-side two of Annecy. We were discussing lightweight frames when he
> srung a surprising question on me. - In your country do many lightweight
> frames built from Reynolds 531 suffer from splits in their tubes?
>
> I explained that it certainly wasn't a common occurence..sometimes cracks
> around a tube, particularly with the new 753 tubing... He then proceeded to
> show me a Mercier frame whose seat tube displayed a two inch long split down
> its length. Apparently an increasing number of Mercier frames had been known
> to split..rather than crack. Does Reynolds make a type of seamed Reynolds
> 531 ? was the next question Like me he thought that all that type of tubing
> was solid drawn. He mentioned that Mercier had decided to start using some
> Columbus tubing sets...
>
> Back at my workshop after the holiday, one of the first repair jobs was a
> mid range Raleigh road frame..Reynolds 531 frame and forks, the head tube of
> which had developed a noticeable split. From a closer examination of the
> tubes it was evident that the tubes were seamed, so I concluded that TI -
> Reynolds were actually producing seamed 531 for the large cycle
> manufacturers.
>
> In the 70s all Mercier's Reynolds 531 frames were individually hand-built
> using small hand-held brazing torches. The firm also had a Service de
> Course workshop for its custom frames A feature of most of these frames is
> the treatment of the ends of the seat and chainstays and the fork blade
> tips, whereby they domed ends are filed almost to a point. This treatment
> can be seen clearly on the Mercier on Brad Stockwells' Wooljersey site. The
> same treatment can often be found on the frames of the Mecacycle company
> ,Cizeron, and Tonic Cycles all of whom were based in St Etienne, Mecaycle
> and Cizeron being in the same street as Mercier.
>
> However the stay and fork end treatment on Leon's frame - the scolloped out
> ends - is much more akin to the treatment adopted by most of France's
> craftsman-builders. That feature couipled with the reinforced fork crown and
> the number-plate hanger make me think the frame is very much a custom built
> Mercier..rather than just a high end model from Mercier. I have seen several
> similar frames from the mid 70s.
>
> The odd features of Leon's frame are the almost GIOS-like shouldered
> top-eyes. These are not at all like those used in the mid-70s which were
> pointed oval plates with the name MERCIER engraved into them.. Do we know
> that the frame is Reynolds ? or is it possible that Leon's frame is an 80s
> model, custom-built and made of Columbus tubing in which case it would be
> the Tour de France Recorde model - especially if it had a chrome-plated
> fork.
>
> As for transfers, Hughe...you can count on me as I need several sets.
> Durable transfers were never Merciers strong point.
>
> Norris Lockley
>
> Settle Uk...just getting back into the saddle both literally and
> metaphorically speaking.