Road Cycling - Mercier Serpens

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kidspjm
06-17-03, 08:03 PM
Hi,

I am interested in purchasing a new road bike and would like to find the best value possible. I recently viewed the Mercier web site and the Serpens looked like a pretty nice deal (Reynolds 853 with ultegra components. Anyone out their own a Mercier Serpens or have experience with Mercier cycles? I haven't been able to find a lot of information outside of their web site.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

FOG
06-17-03, 08:23 PM
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24733
shokhead
06-18-03, 08:13 AM
That should be a hint.You cant find much info.

FOG
06-18-03, 11:17 AM
I wouldn't worry about not finding much info. There are relatively few dealers for this bike, especially since one of the dealers is discountbikes.com which sells it for about $1200. If I had a LBS I wouldn't want to compete against a .com either. It seems like a well speced out bike for the price. The reviews on roadbikereview.com for a similar company, motobecane, seem to indicate that the deals are for real. It's an 853 frame with an ouzo pro fork and ultegra. Good stuff. You probably would have trouble buying the components on the frame for what the bike costs. Check out the geometry-if it suits you go for it. If not save your money.
shokhead
06-18-03, 11:50 AM
Motobecane been around about 1000 years.I dont know,whats the history of mercier.
Rich Clark
06-18-03, 12:12 PM
Originally posted by shokhead
Motobecane been around about 1000 years.I dont know,whats the history of mercier.

Both brands have essentially the same story: highly respected French names, legendary in cycling history, that stopped marketing bikes in the US some time ago.

So the rights to use the names in the US were purchased (by the same US importer, I believe) and are borne by Asian-made bikes that seem to share many of the same design elements and features with each other and with similar bikes from brands like Fuji.

By all accounts they are respectable bikes, and good values. They are not French, however, and their designs tend towards the generic. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The only question mark -- and it is one -- is the stability and future reliability of the company that stands behind the warranty.

RichC