Beautiful 1979 Meral Super Randonneur. Translation below.
Hello
I'd like to introduce you to my other Méral, Un Super randonneur 1979
This bike carried out Paris Brest Paris of 1979 and 1983, this one was sold to me by its first owner.
I have completely restored it
11-tube Reynolds 531 frame with chromed front and rear dropouts
Huret duopar titanium derailleurs
Maillard 6-speed 14 28 zycral freewheel
Strong 99 chainring 48 38 28 crankset
Stronglight BDP with titanium axle bearings
JDD Meral needle bearings
Meral pedals
Mafac 2000 brakes on cleats
Mavic rims on Maxi Car hubs 1.8mm 2mm butted stainless steel spokes
Panaracer 700 x 32 tyres
GB aluminium tyres
Meral front and rear panniers
Berthoud handlebar bags
Dynamo Sanyo
Brooks saddle
Meral Super randonneur restoration. Owners translation below.
On Saturday, I went to a small bike market organised by an association workshop. There's nothing too big, just the basics for everyday use. I have a chat with the president of the association, and one thing leads to another and the guy takes me on a tour of the cellar and shows me a pile of bikes that haven't been serviced.
In Strasbourg, a city full of hipsters, everyone wants a racing bike to ride 450 metres a day in the city.
In the smaller towns, it's the newer, urban bikes that are popular. This workshop has a lot of support from the local council, they mainly hire bikes out to tourists and have agreements with waste collection centres. They have lots of parts and mountains of bikes. They'd be interested in a partnership with my workshop, and I'm going to do my utmost to make it happen.
In the middle of the indescribable mess, I quickly spot a nice low rear rack. The rest is the same.
The answer to the question ‘How much do you sell it for as it is?’ made me think of an April Fool's joke.
According to the information I've found in the meantime, it was made by hand but mass-produced: a single framer, Francis Quillon, who later founded Cyfac, made all these frames, at a rate of around 200 machines a year.
No matter, this is a genuine, high-quality touring bike.
It's a Méral super randonneur in Reynolds 531, re-enamelled, with a beautiful fork, fine finish, and cleats and inserts all over.
Three photos from my backyard, but it wouldn't look much better in the sun anyway, given the layer of grime.
I like 52cm with a big seat and a long stem, I even find them more comfortable.
Sachs Huret. The equipment is good, although it could be better: Stronglight cranksets (28 - 38 - 4, Sachs Huret derailleurs, Mafac 2000 brakes.
The wheels are mismatched, but the two hoops are 650Bs with double walls and eyelets. The hubs are Maxicar at the front and Spidel 700 at the rear. In short, excellent wheels on excellent hubs, so I'm not going to bother with a new pair.
A Sanyo dynamo controlled by a shifter, stainless steel mudguards and a shifter complete the package.
It came with a pannier that was completely baked, so I'll see if I can get it back.
After hanging around in a cellar for a few decades, this tourer is very dirty, but it won't take much effort to restore it to its former glory. A saddle, tyres, a front light and a bit of elbow grease.
Weight: 12.5 kg.
Bike disassembled.
The frame weighs 2.3 kg with fixed bottom bracket shell, headset shell and brake cable left in the horizontal tube.
The fork weighs 650 grams.
The 26.2mm seatpost is a little tight, but I tried 26.4 and it's already better.
The only bad news is that the eyelets on the front carrier are busted, I think they were welded on. But a blacksmith friend of mine who was in the workshop is going to fix them quickly.
The tyres are ordered, the frame cleaned, the headset greased and reassembled.
In the meantime there have been a few changes.
The Kojak tyres were warmly recommended to me by a cyclist friend.
Sachs brakes are a questionable choice, but:
The clothesline-style cables are a pain in the arse when touring
The Mafac hoods were dry and not at all comfortable
In terms of ergonomics and efficiency, it's something else!
The brake caliper release knob can be very useful in the event of a puncture
I like the look of them.
The hastily fitted tape was just a temporary thing that was lying around, and I've already changed it just to dress it up.
As for the front bag, I've got several in stock, but this one looks very practical, so I'm going to try it out for a while.
Note that I can put my camping kit (tent, mattress, meat bag) in ONE Ortlieb bag, I still have the second one AND the front bag for everything else, which leaves me plenty of room.
Finally, I'm reluctant to put an almost new Brooks B17 in place of the Idéale.
Thanks for posting those Mérals. I like Méral. Their trying to make hand-built quality bicycles at mass production prices is laudable. Very much in line with what the Féderation Française de Cyclotourisme wanted to achieve in 1946 with their concept of a vélo "Type Fédéral": a quality bike for he common man.
Thanks for posting those Mérals. I like Méral. Their trying to make hand-built quality bicycles at mass production prices is laudable. Very much in line with what the Féderation Française de Cyclotourisme wanted to achieve in 1946 with their concept of a vélo "Type Fédéral": a quality bike for he common man.
Hard to reconcile in my head, Goeland or Rene Herse as bikes for the common man
I now know the name Federal is not just a model name as I'd seen the above two. Thanks
There was, of course, never going to be an agreement on any form of homologation between the constructeurs of high end machines and the mass manufacturers, but it seems they did agree on principle and apparently many tried to honor the FFCT's wishes to make cyclotourisme more accessible than it had been before the war. Herse wasn't about to put steel rims on his bikes, but his Féderal is made with off-the-shelf parts, and not the most expensive either.
A couple of examples from the 1970's Gitane and Motobécane catalogues:
There was, of course, never going to be an agreement on any form of homologation between the constructeurs of high end machines and the mass manufacturers, but it seems they did agree on principle and apparently many tried to honor the FFCT's wishes to make cyclotourisme more accessible than it had been before the war. Herse wasn't about to put steel rims on his bikes, but his Féderal is made with off-the-shelf parts, and not the most expensive either.
A couple of examples from the 1970's Gitane and Motobécane catalogues:
The Motobecane catalogues I've posted are 1974 onwards. One from memory is an American issue. No mention I can see of Federal. Do you know the dates of the catalogues above? The steel rim comment made me laugh
, Sachs Huret derailleurs, Mafac 2000 brakes.
