What brand bike do you think it is?

Zeus.

Doesn't mean it's a Zeus frame/fork, could be anyone, because Zeus sold that crown to lots of framebuilders, even amateur/hobbyists.

It's a high-quality investment-cast crown, unlikely to find on a cheap bike.

Mark B

Here are two more pics.




It obviously has modified drive train.

The dropouts don't appear to be Zeus (perhaps Vitus?). What's the bottom bracket thread?

Rounded stay ends before the drops. Is it a Razesa? They often worked closely with Zeus?

These are the seller's pics. He does not know what brand it is. Although he doesn't state why, he thinks that it may be French.

Yes, Vitus DOs. and the logo on the Zeus fork crown is one of the "later'" versions, (or is it "earlier?) which might help date the crown (for somebody with the energy to look things up. I thought the same crown with "Zeus 2000" cast into the rim was earlier than this version with logos on top.

The crown is the newer version:

Seller has sent me a couple other pics.


He says he can find no serial number. He thinks it says O N on the seat stay caps.

-----

chainset appears it may be Sugino Mighty while bottom bracket assembly is something else

the flats on the fixed cup are suggestive of metric or CH threading

the knurling pattern on the lockring is a match for what Peyrard (NERVAR) & T.A. employed to indicate Italian thread, although it certainly may have been used by others

note how modest is the engagement between the spindle and the NDS arm; perhaps a poor match...


-----

With the internal spigot crown and holes through the blades at the top, the fork speaks Zeus to me.
when a frame is so unfortunately refinished, powdercoated? Things get lost.
and forks can move between frames

Something tells me that this is an interesting frame, but something else tells me to stop looking into it.

-----

perchance it merits a visitation from Maestro Maurice

MauriceMoss


-----

Bike has a kludge of components and what looks like a custom (amateur) built frame - fork rake, fork and stay pointed ends, BB cable guide and so on do not appear to be production model features.. It's not like any Zeus that I've seen...

An old saying: Paint can hide a multitude of sins.... That's the WORST powder coat job I've ever seen!!! It can be hiding a lot of construction flaws???

That said, never tell someone that they have an UGLY dog....

verktyg

The "strap" cable guides was something I have mainly seen on Olmos and Pinarellos, neither of which I think this bike is, but...could point toward Italy and not Spain.
If I could get him to I would ask/cajole/demand the owner scrape some paint off the staycaps and see what's under that thick muck!

Powder coat is an absolute showstopper for me. Especially bad ones.

Too bad about the gloppy finish; hopefully it wasn't repainted due to damage/repair. If the finish is this bad, I'd hate to see the repair.

I think this is a relatively unmolested undrewed early 80s Mercier. They had some models that were built with Zeus bits (crowns and dropouts) around this time. They aren't very common (at least online) so I assume they weren't built for a long time.

The most common of these looked like the mystery frame here -- built with Super Vitus 971 tubing, Vitus dropouts and stock Zeus crowns (new style). They also originally sported the Shimano 600 drivetrain.
Most commonly the model name that's associated with these is "Lugano" although, more often than not, there is no mention of a model name when these show up in online listings or forums. I'm not a Mercier expert, so I don't know if Lugano was ever sold in the US - I assume this was a European market model. One BF member described the Lugano as "entry-level in their competition line at the time."

The serial numbers would have been on the head tube decal, so it's not surprising the owner can't locate one (not that it would be visible under all that powder).


Here are some comparisons -

Seat stay caps with the Mercier (M + crown) panto:





Fork crown/head lugs:





Dropouts, stay end treatment and the cable guide:





Underside of the bottom bracket shell:

-----



yet another one knocked clean out the ballpark!

a big thank you Maurice


-----

WOW, just WOW! The knowledge on this forum never ceases to amaze me.

I love it when a mystery is solved!

Brilliant! Another clear winner by Mr. Moss!