Hi Leon, It looks like I was way out concerning the age of your Mercier and the type of decals that it may have had. I hope that your restoration is successful. You certainly have a wonderful frame! All the best, Peter Rogers
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
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From: "Leon Gierat" <leon.gierat@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 5:44 PM
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: [CR] Help! Trying to identify a Mercier frameset
> 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