Hi Everyone,
I think I was on this mailing list before, but quite a long time ago, so hello again. As a brief intro to myself, I ride road, MTB and cross, have raced all three, but am generally too busy with the family to take competition too seriously these days.
I've also been hanging onto a few vintage (?) bikes and frames for years, thinking that one day I would do something with them, and this is the beginning of that journey. Tucked away I have a 1936 Claud Butler, and a 1950's or maybe 1960's Carpenter 531 tandem with lots of Campy bits (not a full set, sadly). Not sure when I'll get around to those though.
So my first project? I am trying to identify a Mercier. I know it's a Mercier, because it has a nice embossed "Mercier" on either side of the Fork Crown, an an embossed "M & Crown" at the top of the chain stays. In fact, it basically looks very similair to this one here, but there are differences:
http://www.wooljersey.com/
It has the same drilled dropouts, and lugwork, etc. It has a 126mm rear spacing. It has a 26.6mm Campagnolo seatpost (original?). It's not a record, I don't think. It's not polished enough, but it's fluted with a nice anodized head. The flutes are not pink, like in the one above.
Forks were chromed. The BB cable guides are Campagnolo.
You can also see the original pink paint showing through under the nasty home respray. It's a sort of metallic, deep pink, which was a signature colour for Mercier, I understand.
Can anyone help me identify the model, quality, and the sort of decals (or scans of decals) etc I should source for it. I'm going to restore it as a period bike, but not go for a "catalogue" spec (although if there was such a thing, I'd love to know what it was). It will be built as the sort of bike that someone of the time would have ridden (i.e. all my current bikes have a mix and match of contemporary equipment that I like). I've already got some simplex retrofriction shifters, a Mavic 501 rear mech, Mavic 501 hubs, campag brake calipers (not sure the model, but very shiny :-), so I guess I'm a third of the way there.
Pictures here to help the identification:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/
Thanks for your help.
Leon Gierat,
Bristol, UK