I recieved my 50cm Mercier Kilo TT today and snapped a bunch of pictures while I was assembling it. There seems to be a lot of information and misinformation scattered about so hopefully the pictures help answer any questions other peoples may have. There's a lot of talk about how cheap the majority of the components are but generally I'm skeptical of peoples opinions so hopefully the pictures let you make your own assesment. Click on the picture for more pictures.

I'm not a bike expert by any means but I do have a manufacturing background. The hubs look fairly rough to me but I'm not afraid to ride them. The stem sure doesnt get any style points but I think its funtional. Crankset seems fine. Pedals are eh. The chain is marked KMC. I've never had a roadbike so I'm not sure about the tires but they seem to be atleast made out of a tire type material. Now the handlebars and the saddle..... it blows my mind that raw materials were harvested from the earth to manufacture these items. I'm planning to replace both.

Front brake is going on tomorrow if i can figure it out. If there is a part you'd like to see, let me know and I'll snap a picture.

cheese

Mine came in this past Friday, I got it in black. I've been riding it since I got it. I'm sure the components aren't the best. I'm 215 and it's holding up alright for now, 4 days and 27miles isn't really time to tell anything though. I'll see how it goes, put a break on today. Second day out, no brakes, and strapless/clipless pedals, going down a hill I was almost unable to slow down, but caught the pedals once and was okay. Learned out to slow down on the fly, may have been the best way. Went on a 10 mile ride today, didn't use the break, just have it for emergencies essentially. Anyway it's a entry level bike for sure. Geometry is tight, still getting use to the toe overlap. Wish I had done some more research, but glad to be riding. Already starting to plot my next bike. I may keep this even when I get another, it's so twitchie it'll always be fun to ride I think.

There is NO possible way anyone could ever convince me those arent a great deal. how much are they again? like 350? They are classy bikes. If they sold those framesets alone I think they would make a killing. I suspect it woudl cost somewhere around the IRO LC's and we bought 400+ of those.

Def. the best fork on ANY budget complete bike.

spicer sells the frameset, just unbranded or sometimes the khs frameset (same frame, but the fork is threadless)

That's the same crankset that comes on the Rush Hour.

not bad for the money...I'd seriously consider one.

Wow, that green looks nice, I haven't seen one of those yet (just the black). I might have to get one. You think they will be the same price in a couple of months from bikesdirect? (has it always been $350?)

Also, those handlebars on there aren't the stock ones right? Did you put your own cog on there as well?

Yeah Im pretty happy with the color. It'd be better with fewer decals. It's weird that some are very vintage and some are sorta modern.

The bike is 100% stock as pictured. Those are the stock bars and the stock cog. The bars come already wrapped. I believe its a cork wrap.

my frame is still going strong two years later

post more pics
ERM nm clicked the picture

I ordered one last week and can't wait to get it (mostly because I already sold my conversion and have been riding around on gears for a week, oh the humanity).

I think I'm driving my gf crazy asking everyday "Do you think it will come today?"

I like the green, not as bright as I expected, but the black will be fine for me.

nice pics, nice bike, nice car...

Did this come with brakes, as your photoset suggests?

No brakes on this bike, is drilled for front and back.

where is the stratos?
do you lock up for long periods or something?

I forgot I also uploaded pictures of the brakes. The brakes were not included.

I purchased them seperately from Bike Island, a sponsor of bikeforums, for 39 bucks. Came with two calipers, R200A levers and cables and lots of little clips and ferrules that I'm not sure what do with. I think they're just extras for bikes with the sections of bare cable?

Just saw that on their site... that is also a REALLY good deal!

I'd guess I'm not who you think I am, but yes, when I ride to work I lock up outside for long times and my road bike is built up with lots of expensive (for me) quick release bits that I am very uncomfortable leaving unattended outside.

Agreed 100%. Reynolds 520 is their out-sourced 4130 steel,
so if this frame is just the standard double-butted Maxway
frameset (which we have every reason to believe it is), then
it's basically the exact same frame as the rest of the budget
bike market out there. So compare it to the rest of the field,
and it just blows the competition away. Plus this bike gets
bonus point for the beautiful lugged fork.

If I weren't waiting on my fancy special IRO with Dedacciai
tubing, I would probably buy one of these bikes for myself.

i'm thinking about buying one anyways because of the geometry. not sure if i can really have another bike though, heh.

Does the new run of the mercier frames still have the rack mounts on the seat stays? I lust after these.

Yup and here's some photographic evidence so you don't have to take my word for it.

Thanks for this post and the effort that you put into taking the pics. I've had a few questions about the TT in the past (were the eyelets threaded, what is the tire clearance, what are the welds like) and your photos answered them, thanks again.

Do you think you could do us a favour and take a complete side-shot of the bike up against something white? Your garage door probably works nicely. I too think that this is a screaming deal and if I didn't already have a GTB, I would scoop this baby up; in fact, I think my gold deep-Vs would look damn nice on that green frame...hrm.....

oops, missed that pic, thanks.

yes
rack braze-ons and eyelets

I am starting to do that on more and more bikes; in case gas jumps to $5 or $6 and we get a bunch of commuter requests

my attitude is - what does it hurt -- and rack braze-ons and eyelets can be very useful