The first two bikes in Emanual's post were what I've alway thought of as Mercier pink. My wife's mid-70's Mercier with butted 531 maintubes is that same pink. The last bike Emanual posted and this one look a somewhat different pink, more "rose" maybe. Also maybe just slightly metallic, whereas the earlier ones were gloss pink, no hint of metallic. Even compared to the newest of these bikes however, I don't think the bike Amir posted to start this thread looks even remotely like a Mercier. The pink is still wrong and the chromed lugs, especially the half-chromed seat lug, say Italian or maybe Mexican clone of Italian, not French.
Someone brought up off list that they don't think Merciers in the early 60's were pink and that the pink team bikes were probably introduced in the 70's or late 60's. I think our image of pink Merciers is mostly one of Poulidor in the 70's, so I really don't know when that color came into use on the team bikes. Aldo may not be able to help much here as his archives are mostly black and white.
I have to disagree a bit with our All Powerful Listmeister saying Merciers were unremarkable. They were high end French bikes and shared most of the features of other high-end French bikes like Peugeot, Gitane, LeJeune, and Motobecane. Like all except Peugeot the "team" models were all Campy, while the next model down was usually Stronglight/Simplex. Only Peugeot did not offer a Campy model until the 80's. I guess one could say all the high volume French bike including Mercier were similar, but one could also say the same about the big name Italian bikes at the time including Derosa, Pogliaghi, Bianchi and Colnago. At least Mercier, like Bianchi, had a distinctive signature color.
If Mercier did only choose the pink color for the team frames beginning around 1970, it was an unfortunate choice in terms of participating in the US Bike Boom. Pink was very much regarded as a "feminine" color in the US in the early 70's and no macho racer or would be racer would be caught dead on a pink bike. I'm sure this hurt Mercier sales in the US In The Day, and I doubt very many pink Merciers were sold in the US In The Day, especially not the high end racing models, for which the market was almost exclusively male. This would be kind of like trying to sell pork chops in Saudi Arabia or Iran. Some things just don't fit the culture.
Regards,
Jerry Moos
Big Spring, Texas, USA
> From: Peter & Monique <pjrogers@rogers.com>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] [?? Probable Spam] Re: Mercier TdF Winners?
\r?\n> To: "EPL" <lowiemanuel@yahoo.ca>, classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Date: Sunday, August 16, 2009, 1:58 PM
\r?\n> Hi Emanuel
\r?\n> Many thanks for posting the links. They are lovely
\r?\n> bikes....I used to have a professional frame, similar to the
\r?\n> one in the first link, with the early seventies decals etc.
\r?\n> I purchased it new back in 1973.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I have posted my current Mercier before, but here it is
\r?\n> again. It is a much later model, but has many of the
\r?\n> attributes of the later of the frames shown in your link:
\r?\n> http://petersclassicwheels.blogspot.com/
\r?\n> (you will need to scroll down to see it)
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I'd love to find another earlier Mercier with the stripes
\r?\n> on the seat tube etc.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I think that pink is very distinctive and I guess this is
\r?\n> why Mercier chose it, though it is not to everyone's taste.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> These bikes are very French and the early ones look
\r?\n> especially good with Mafac/Simplex/Stronglight components.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> All the best,
\r?\n> Peter Rogers
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Barrie, Ontario, Canada
\r?\n>
\r?\n> ----- Original Message ----- From: "EPL" <lowiemanuel@yahoo.ca>
\r?\n> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> Sent: Sunday, August 16, 2009 12:44 PM
\r?\n> Subject: [?? Probable Spam] Re: [CR] Mercier TdF Winners?
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Some good pics of pink Merciers here:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://www.43bikes.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://www.speedbicycles.ch/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://www.speedbicycles.ch/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> My brother bought one second hand c.1974, already a
\r?\n> well-used Service des Courses race bike and an amazing
\r?\n> ride.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Emanuel Lowi
\r?\n> Montreal, Quebec
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
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