This thread started with a question from Leon Gierat who had a Mercier frame that he wanted help identifying prior to renovation. By coincidence I had an identical frame that I was also trying to understand prior to renovation. I had tentatively dated mine 1977 on the basis of the date of the Campagnolo gear it came with, but that has to be slightly unreliable on the basis that my frame also came with undated Campagnolo cranks, which are earlier.
I have since done a massive amount of searching for pictures on the web and have gathered some data on what features were incorporated in what years.
Both "mystery" frames are evidently high quality with more than usual hand finishing. Apart from that, the significant features are: Drilled Campagnolo dropouts; "Scooped-out" tops to the seatstays; Braze-ons for:- Campagnolo gear levers, cable guides on top of bottom bracket, cable stop on rear chain stay; bottle mounts on down tube, racing number tab under top tube, but NOT guides for rear brake cable on top tube.
Coincidentally, I have another, later frame with the same tops to the seat stays, a greater than expected amount of hand finishing and Vitus rear dropouts with hand worked Campagnolo front dropouts. It is otherwise different in having a gear lever clamp stop brazed on instead of lever bosses, no number boss, but DOES have guides for the rear brake cable on the top tube. The frame is in good original paint and I am certain that the fork belongs to the frame. Vitus dropouts appear to have been introduced sometime after 1980, although (at least some) team frames through 1982 have Campagnolo dropouts
The first conclusion is that all these frames are hand-made Mercier Service Des Courses because of quality and commonality of features.
The second conclusion is that they are made later than 1977 on the basis that I cannot find any frame made in 1977 or earlier that has gear lever bosses or cable guides on the bottom bracket.
The third conclusion is that the frames are made earlier than 1980 on the basis that I cannot find any frame made in 1980 or later that does not have rear brake cable guides on the top tube. All team frames made in 1980 ot later have gear lever bosses and number tabs under the top tube.
The one thing that mystifies me is the shape of the seat stay caps. These two frames and the later frame I have are the only ones I can find with that design. The only other designs that I can find on SDC frames in this timeframe are, in chronological order:
Flat caps with slight wrap-over, inscribed MERCIER Similar to the above but less flat area, inscribed with a Crown and script "M" Rounded ends with no wrap over - two frames, both ex-team frames 1980 and 1982, might not have been built by Mercier "Fluted" ends, no engraving Ditto but with engraved Crown and "M", like Peter Rogers' frame
Norris Lockley provided a wealth of information on the company and its products and postulated that these "mystery" frames might be from the new "Prestige" range introduced in late 1977. In the absence of anything else, it has to be considered a possibility that these unusual seat stay caps, along with the extent of hand finishing, are an indicator of the Prestige range. It will take more data to confirm or refute that. The only thing that makes me a bit sceptical about it is that I have two of them, the second probably circa 1981, and that there are 3 of them owned by listmembers out of a total of not many Merciers owned by listmembers as far as I can tell. It seems too much of a coincidence, but on the other hand I have been keeping a close watch on ebay, including French ebay, for quite a while for anything similar and have recently been doing much more searching. I have looked at more pink frames than I ever wanted to and I have not found anything similar.
Conclusion: Hand made service Des Courses frames of 1978 or 1979. Open question as to whether they are from the Prestige range introduced in late 1977.
I would request a final bit of help please:
How can I determine what tubing is used in these frames? The possibilities appear to be:
Reynolds 531 Reynolds 753 Super Vitus 980 Columbus SL Many thanks.
References:
Leon's frame:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/
Peter's frame:
http://petersclassicwheels.blogspot.com/
I hope to get decal manufacture under way this week. If you think you might want some and haven't already told me, then let me know. If you have already told me you might want some, I will order enough, but you need not feel committed - if you change your mind I will put them on ebay or buy lots of frames to stick them on.
The decal style will be 1977 onwards block letter style, white letters with black border. I cannot detect any significant change in this style through to a 1982 team frame, although I believe that (some) customer frames had changed to a script style by then. A pre-1977 decal could be produced with a minor change to the graphics.
Hugh Thornton
Cheshire, England