OK, more and - more importantly - better pics.

I removed the ugly chainguard and the pump and weighed the bike before taking this picture. 21 lbs. Not bad.



I'd already confirmed it was made by Méral yesterday, by checking the dropouts. Méral took pride in these "pattes Méral double depart":





The main question that remained was: was this an Altra contract build, or did someone just stick some Altra decals on this Méral. After a closer look at the headbadge I think I know the answer:



I came off easily, to reveal the remnants of the Méral logo:



Méral head tube, from the interwebs: