If there's one thing I've learned in ten years of C&V membership, it's that decals don't mean much. At least not what you'd expect them to mean.

I have a high end Koga-Miyata masquerading as a Gazelle Champion Mondial, a Flandria in Raleigh team livery and quite a few Belgian frames with big names like Pinarello, Jan Janssen, Jan de Reus and Vittorio. Sometimes the decals are legit, sometimes they're not. In most cases they're there to add value, in one way or another.

This is where it gets interesting. Today I picked up this Altra-branded bike. Now, Altra is a rather well-known brand where I live. It is the house brand of a bicycle franchise organisation. They are usually city bikes built to a price, typically by a lowest bidder, to enable the franchise members to offer a cheap alternative to the Gazelles and Batavus' in their shop. Altras are not collectors items. Nobody searches for "Altra" on ebay.

Yet, when I saw this Altra pop up in the classifieds, I immediately wanted it. Knowing that Altra never had its own production facility, the odds were pretty good that this came from the shop that became famous for this frame style: Méral.

Méral was a small bicycle company in the Loire valley, founded in 1974 by Albert Metayer. Workshop manager was Francis Quillon, who is credited as the designer of this frame style. During its existence Méral has made a name for itself by producing high end quality bikes at reasonable prices. In 1983 Méral was taken over by Lejeune.

Anyway, this is what I came home with. Daylight was going, so only this one fuzzy phone pic for now. Will take better pics tomorrow.

SKS fenders, CLB brakes, Huret transmission and Atom (?) pedals seem to be original. Behind the fugly "Chain Disc" hides a nice Stronglight TS 50/40 chainset. ITM Krystal stem and Shimano Altus RD are probably later additions.

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Thanks so much for sharing this fascinating new arrival Your Unfixedness!

WRT Meral - each time I run across one with a horizontal top tube I have to give meself a dopeslap "...of yes, they make normal frames too!"

Front mech appears Freres Huret Club and shift lever from this maker as well. Suspect original rear mech something like Pilot.

Agree pedals appear Atom/Maillard. At first thought of model 700 then recalled they now have a model 450...

Shall look forward to viewing once the abomination hath been excised.

Member T-Mar posted earlier today that Shogun hath built frames of a similar pattern:

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Name: in the U.S. one would expect a name like this to appear on a sports stadium.

Look forward to following along.

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I was wondering about that. At first glance the bike looked like a '79 that I'd seen online. The pilot would be a bit too young for that, wouldn't it?

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:

CLB brakes were standard on some Méral models. I like them. SKS fenders were OEM as well. Fork crown indicates hi-ten tubing:



The ITM stem is definitely not original, but I'm happy with it anyway, as it'll pay for the bike.



Seat lug and another Altra decal ("designed by Altra cycle specialist"):



The head lugs look the part, and the cable routing through the top tube is a nice touch:

The shifter clamp has been moved up at some point in time. Could "1879" be a Huret date code? 1979 would fit in nicely ....



Crankset is a Stronglight TS Bis. Hope mrs non-fixie will find the 50/40 rings small enough for L'Eroica ...



25.8 Laprade seatpost and a Selle Royal Strada saddle:



1980 SunTour hubs, laced to Mavic Module "E" rims:





Found no brand name on the pedals, but they look very nice, say "Made in France" and "09 79":

Finally, the serial number. Haven't looked into this yet, but it might be a clue as to when this frame was built. Parts seem to indicate 1979 or 1980:

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au sujet de Freres Huret -

"1879" = dix-huitieme semaine de MCMLXXIX

"21 lbs" -who'd a-thunk it?!?!

they have scales which read in pounds in Polderia?!

juvela - thinking of giving all of his weights in stone...

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Au sujet de derailleur arriere -

Derailleur avant est Club II

Compagnon arriere est Eco

catalogue MCMLXXVIII

Huret Accessoires Cycles Cyclomoteurs Motos - 1978 page 7

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Au sujet des pedales -



look to be the model 600 from the period when the spindle ends are crimped (no unthreading the locknut)

Restoring a Pair of Rusty and Worn Atom 600 Pedals, with Bad Bearings

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Thought as much. Found "1079" on the front derailleur. The scale I used was a very cheap luggage scale, so maybe not all that reliable. But as long as it gives me light bikes I'm not complaining.

Thanks. I'm sure I have an Eco or two, but finding one without a hanger might prove to be a challenge. Speaking of which, I may have a Challenger that would would be a nice upgrade.

I cleaned the pedals this afternoon, and now they not only spin smoothly but look almost new, too. I am quite happy with them.

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Thanks for the responses non-fixie!

Challenger had a nominal launch in 1974 although it was first announced at an exposition of some sort in December of 1973.

Those 14ga straight gauge galvanized spokes give the wheels an "industrial" look.

Having good fun following along.

Reckon the only thing which really matters is the verdict of Mrs. Non-Fixie.

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Fantastic find.

Those CLB sidepulls are my fav

My wife’s Altra:

Yes, those are the Altra models I'm familiar with. Thanks for posting it. Looks quite decent, BTW.

It's been a while, and time for an update.

I had disassembled the bike last month, and removed the remnants of the Altra decals until it looked like this:



Mrs non-fixie and I spent a week or so looking at it and reaching the conclusion that while the grayish beige is an original Méral color, it is also the least inspiring color we've ever seen on a bike.

Even after a couple of drinks it didn't look any better.

What didn't help either is that all the other Mérals seem to have such pretty colors.

So we bit the bullet and decided to repaint. I subsequently paid a visit to an auto paint store, armed with pictures of Mérals on my phone, and had them mix me up a can of a light metallic aquamarine.

Ordered some decals from World Cycle Decals, which came in this week.

So this is where I'm at now:



I hope to be able to build it up before the next weekend.

My mom used to make clothing and stuff out of Altra sewing kits in the 70s.

Fantastic project! Will the original parts be used or some better ones employed? I like the colour choice before and after. What the lady says...

Pretty cool thread.

Thanks, guys. I like it too, as Méral is an interesting brand. Aiming at hand-made quality at a factory-made price is something that deserves some credit, I think.

I just put the frameset together and the color came out a little darker and less metallic than I would have liked, but it looks much better than the original, so it'll do. Close enough for government work, is the appropriate expression, I think.

WRT the original parts: I really like the CLB brakes and Weinmann levers, so they'll probably stay. The Stronglight TS cranks are lovely but will need to be replaced by something that offers a lower gear, so mrs non-fixie at least has a fighting chance to get up the unpaved Tuscan hills at L'Eroica. A Stronglight 99 double with a 30T inner chainring might be a better choice.
I am still in two minds about the transmission. It would like it to be French. She already has a Huret-equipped bike, so I'm leaning towards Simplex. I have a set of rétrofriction shifters somewhere that she might like ...

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[illustration of the Meral forged ends set encountered in the course of this day's web wander, post at veloretrocourse forum, from Le Cycle of October 1979]

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btw -

think they show themselves to best advantage when done up in "hearing aid beige"

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