Identity of French bike/frame

[goneriding]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can throw any light on the identity of this bike frame. I found the bike in an old fallen down pig shed or whatever in the Limoux area 3 years ago and it's been festering in my shed since, like these things do. Anyway it seems to be quite a good quality frame, possibly Reynolds 531, double butted but I've no way of telling. It had good quality components, Mercier stem and handlebars, Mafac brakes, Stronglight cranks and chainset, Stronglight headset and bottom bracket, Suntour rear mech, Kyokuto pedals. It was covered in oil so its all in good condition except for marks and surface rust on the frame. I'm going to bung it on Ebay because its just too nice to leave it in my shed. Its small...I can't make out the name on it, could be the name of a bike shop.

 

[Midlife]

..............It's the right colour for a Mercier

Shaun

 

[goneriding]

..............It's the right colour for a Mercier

Shaun

Sorry but I don't get it :?

 

[Midlife]

Mercier bikes were notoriously pink

Shaun

 

[goneriding]

Re:

Shawn that looks bang on, well done dude.

 

[Midlife]

Yep, pink bikes back in the 70's were a rare breed but Mercier sort of cornered most of the market LOL Just googleMercier pink bike and there will be thousands

I had a pink Falcon bike in the 70's which was a rarity as it should have left the factory in blue....... and the only pink one in the club here's a pic of it now hiding in the garage.

Shaun

 

[Little Al]

I think your bike could possibly be one which came from a now defunct Midi Pyrenees regional racing team that had part sponsorship, possibly bike frames supplied by Mercier I under stand they broke up in about 1984 but looking at the gear tunnel on top of the BB I would guess yours is an earlier year than that, from similar frames possibly early 70"s but could be later.Although the Mafac Racer brakes were the way to go in the late 60"s early 70"s. If original fittings.

 

[non-fixie]

I'd say it's a mid- to late seventies Mercier. And a nice one at that. Here's mine from the early seventies, for comparison. The chrome and the Campagnolo dropouts are a bit of an anomaly, but otherwise it looks quite similar to yours, as far as I can see: