Mercier Mixte 700C

[Some Guy]

Thaks for the compliment. Actually the bike is very rusty and much worse condition than I was informed before I got it. However, the original design of the bike is pretty good.

I like the website you mentioned.
We may not be brave enough to have white tyres but who knows, I will keep that in our option for sure!
Can I see your build for your lady friend somewhere on the net?

Hi, this came from ebay ready powder coated with drop bars and a modern black wheelset for £22. Used plenty of Autosol and tinfoil to clean the bits.

I sold the modern wheelset for £50 and replaced the bars, levers, grips, wheeset, freewheel, chain, saddle, rack and cables. Tried to give it a more upright position.

It'll likely change to a lilac colour & get some earlier derailleurs at some stage. "Some Girl" loves it & uses it! http://i41.tinypic.com/29git86.jpg

 

[epic1400cs]

Hi hurin76, thats nice looking Peugot!
Is that model J8?
PM sent regarding randonneur, thanks.


Rich34, thats nice bike you have and looks almost the same decal type face - mine has shadow dropped to the right hand below otherwise idential.
In the long run, we might powder coat the frame.
Are there any people in France making reproduction of these decals?

Thank you very much for your great information!
I went to the tontonvelo site, its a great source for information isn't it.
I am glad to see that Mercier has lots of fans and amazing most of them are in Rose Pink! Shame my wife is not into Pink
I have to spend more time to dig deeper in that site to find info re Mercier.


Hi Some Guy, thats very dazzling bike!
Everything seems to be sparkling I might need sunglasses
It has very interesting bar grip, I like that, too.

 

[Rich34]

Cyclomondo on eBay is a seller I can recommend, and he has these:

http://cgi.ebay.fr/Mercier-decal-set-70 ... 4600c0d93d

The "Service Des Courses" decal wouldn't apply to your mixte, but the Mercier lettering is good. There probably are sources in France but in case you aren't keen on the ones in the eBay link the Retrobike member Gil_M is also very good to deal with, so you could send him a PM and see what he's got.

 

[epic1400cs]

Rich34, thanks for the link, that's looking great!
I might also ask Gil_M if he can make the decal with the shadow if I submit a image file.

 

[epic1400cs]

There has been a bit of progress...

Due to limited budget, buying new wheel is not an option.
My old cheap black anodized araya rim was dipped into Boots Caustic Soda and water then polished with power drill and Machinemart buff kit and build the wheel again.
For cosmetic and practical reason, we bought one size fatter 32c Pasela.

I polished up the original hubs with power drill again without much expectation but it came up pretty well.

Found a bargain on ebay..

These grips costs only £4 include postage from China. Bargain. Took several weeks, though.
Moved the shifter from down tube to the bar. No, I couldn't buy Huret lever so recycled shimano lever with SIS off.

I couldn't stand the big round chain guard so decided to splash out a bit.
I wanted to go with only one front chain wheel but! if I shift to larger gear at the rear, the chain derails from front chain wheel - may be the chain line is not very well designed.

Possibly the previous owner loves to turn the nut and this is the result.
I am not sure how to fix this one - any good tip without taking it to frame builder?

 

[Rich34]

That looks stunning, really nice. Your wife must be chuffed to bits - the wheels have come up really well.

 

[epic1400cs]

Hi Rich34 thanks, yes after tidying up the mudguard especially, the Mercier started to look much nicer.
I forgot how important these mudguard are for the styling of French bikes.

At the beginning my wife was very sceptical about old bike - she couldn't see its potential but after many compliments from her female friends she is happier now.

 

[oldbikes]

Hi epic1400cs, I know this is a very old post but I have a very similar Mercier mixte and wanted to know if you've still got yours.
Mine went for its first ride after the rebuild yesterday and the gears are far too high for the lady riding it. I am thinking of removing the 52 tooth ring altogether and using the 42 tooth as the big, is it possible to find a smaller inner rings for the Solida cranksets?

 

[oldbikes]

Update: I managed to get hold of another Solida Chainset in case my plans didn't work and I've used the 42 tooth ring as the outer and made a smaller inner ring out of a childrens 32 tooth chainset. A friend turned down the tooth thickness to suit a 3/32nd" chain and drilled a smaller BCD using a dividing head. After a bit of grinding and a lot of filing it doesn't look too bad!
Seems to work OK on the initial ride around the block - old style front mechs and friction shifters are so versatile compared to fussy indexed shifters (as we all know!)