Mercier Service des Courses

Finally got the Mercier Service des Courses

back together...

after quite a few hours of cleaning and polishing..

...I had this pile of shiny parts...

...another hour or two of assembling..

 ..I was left with very nice 1977ish Mercier Service des Courses.
And as we all love Raymond Poulidor, I now have the right
 bike to take out for a spin, after spending the evening reading
1960'/70's  Miroir-Sprint magazines.

I have only taken it out for one run so far, The Simplex SLJ
worked beautifully. Although you would hope so, as this 
Gold anodized SLJ wasn't far off the price of the Campagnolo
Record gear at the time.

The Mafac brakes also worked well, although took
a bit of time set up just right.

So I would say, a nice bike overall, not in the same 

league frame wise as a TI Raleigh, but then this isn't

really a team replica bike either. 

 Nice Maillad 700/AVA wheel set, helped set off 
the whole package.

Joop Zoetemelk in yellow for Mercier.

Barry Hoban, winner of 8 TDF stages, rode for Mercier

through out most of his career.
  

It does have quite a few nice little touch's to remind you that it

is something a bit special though.

The gold lining, slotted main lugs and of course the individual

number on the head badge, only seen on the

 Mercier Service des Courses. But my favorite thing on the bike

is the ideal Robour saddle, the first I have used, and I loved it.

 So I would say, if you like your bikes to come wrapped in a bit

of cycling lore, as I do, or you like something a bit out of the

ordinary group set wise, see if you can find one of these.

They are not outrageously expensive, probably one of the better

classic buys on the market (in my humble opinion).

Pou-Pou

The Mercier Service des Courses Project.

 I have long been a big fan of Pou-Pou 

other wise known as Raymond Poulidor,

you can check out his incredible record here.

So of course this means, I have always lusted after 

one of the pink Mercier machines that Pou Pou always

raced....

While Peugeot PX 10 are thin on the ground here in 

New Zealand, Merciers are pretty well non  existent,

 a Mercier Service des Courses, which is their equivalent

to the PX 10 or Team Raleigh, forget about it.

So I finally had to take matters into my on hands 
and sell a couple of treasurers to fund

 the import of  a respectable Mercier from France.

I wanted one that had the gold Mafac Simplex SLJ groupset, 

which I know is kind of tacky, but what can I say...

Although this model wasn't used by the Mercier team

in the late 1970's, because unlike Peugeot, who where still

using a full French group set, the Mercier team had

finally gone all Campagnolo.

But you know full campy race bikes are a dime a dozen

how many do you see with a full French gruppo?

After a few months of searching one finally surfaced that fitted

the bill, and the owner was very helpful in finding a reasonably 

cheap service to get it here.

The Mercier Service des Courses as unpacked.

And about an hour later....

Ready for cleaning and reassembly, sounds so easy.