Here's another project that I completed this year, a full restoration of a Mercier Services des Courses road bike. The pink “Service Des Courses” is the iconic Mercier racing bike of the 70’s and 80’s, as ridden by the famous Tour de France rider Raymond Poulidor. I restored this particular one from a faded, battered frame and rusty fork to like-new condition:



I found the frame on eBay France two years ago. It was hand-made in France from Reynolds 531 steel and featured Simplex dropouts. The lugs are long-point and have nice windows carved in them. It carried the famous “fait main” (hand-made) sticker on it, but I suspect it might not have been the top model at the time due to the lack of engraved seatstay caps. I completely restored the frame set: the original paint was in bad condition, so I stripped it to the steel and then had it powdercoated in a shade of pink as close to the original that I could find. Reproduction decals were then added, again matching the original decals exactly, with several coats of automotive clear coat over the decals to protect them.

The chrome fork had some rust, which I removed and polished out. All components received a thorough cleaning in an ultrasonic bath, followed by servicing and tune-up. I used bright white cable housing and matching bar tape to complement the lettering on the bike. The drivetrain is all Simplex, from the LJ derailleurs, to the famous retrofriction shifters, to the original Simplex cable clips and guides.



I installed a modern sealed bottom bracket from Velo-Orange with sealed bearings and a chromed spindle. I could have gone with a period-correct bottom bracket, but I got the V-O one cheap at a swap meet and was very impressed with the quality. I always build and restore bikes with the hope that they will be ridden often, a little modern technology, especially when hidden away like a bottom bracket, can go a long way to improving the ride.

The saddle is the original Mercier edition Selle San Marco. However, the bike is not truly “tout Francais” as the brakes are a matched set of Modolo Course calipers and levers. The wheelset, which I took from a JP Routens bike I restored last summer, features Italian Grimeca hubs with French threading for the freewheel, which is a 6-speed Sachs-Maillard. The rims are Vuelta and the classic skinwall tires are Michelin.



You can see more hi-res photos and as well as how much it finally sold for on my blog at: https://djcatnap.com/mercier-service-...e-restoration/

Quite the job bringing this beauty back. Nice work.

I like your philosophy of restoring these bikes " to be ridden "

It looks great. Nice functional resto that retains the original feel.

You do nice work, Catnap. I am impressed with all your bikes.

Very nice! (Unless you plan to raise the handlebars quite a bit, the brake cables are a little long -- someone razzed me about that with the Capo Modell Campagnolo, so I am just passing on the razz. )

Great build! So pink that it really makes a statement!
Do re-think the brake cable routing up front though,..... the one for the front brake looks a bit tortured....
There's a good possibility that I'd eventually look for a Mercier for myself, as The French brand always seem to peak my interest every time I see very nice example like yours. but I still need to get over, or used to the shades of pink the come in.
Is there any story to why the company chose the color for their bikes?

Magnifique!

Thanks everyone for the kind words! Yes the brake cables look a bit long in the photos. As to why pink became their iconic color, I do not know. Perhaps it was due to an affiliation with a team sponsor?

Looks really nice! Any "before" photos?

I think it was to make the bikes stand out in the peloton.

**** yeah, pink! Love it.

Nice work, [MENTION=128980]Catnap[/MENTION]!

Interesting question. So far, I believed that purple was Mercier's own color for the team they sponsored, that just got lighter over the years, but I'll happily be corrected.

Yeah, those cables are crazy long, but the new owner should be able to deal with that easily enough. And since we're talking bicyclettes françaises, I think the verb you were looking for to describe your heightened interest comes from the French:

[h=3]pique/pēk/
[/h][TABLE="width: 549"]
[TR]
[TD]verb

1. stimulate (interest or curiosity).

[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

i know i had some, but have been unable to find them. the pink was lighter / faded with lots of scratches, and the fork had rust all over it. otherwise it looked the same (same decals, etc.).