Mercier...Too good to be true?
 

This is my second thread here, my first being a bunch of beginner questions (which you answered well!). I'm still in the process of getting my own bike in order but a friend of mine would like to join the midnight-4 A.M. rides I plan on doing. He is not made of money so I checked Ebay for some deals and came across and individual who basically sells Motobecane/Mercier/Cayno with components for what seems like a really good price. The Mercier is 307 bucks plus shipping (I'm sure you could find it on ebay and check it out for yourself).

Seems like a stellar deal but I thought I'd ask you guys about your opinions on this.

Thanks!

^_^

"A discussion of budget fixed-specific frames/complete bikes"
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=225713

Has been discussed oodles of times.
http://www.bikeforums.net/search.php
SEARCH: MERCIER

23 threads answer the question you just asked./

edited link. Spud FTW

urls with ?searchid=####### are worthless

Ok, here I'll make the decision for you... buy it. If you don't I kill this kitten. UNDERSTAND?

YES IT'S A GOOD DEAL BUT PLAN ON REPLACING EVERY SINGLE COMPONENT OF THE BIKE AS THEY WEAR OUT JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BIKE YOU PURCHASE.

hm
 

I searched for Mercier, I got massively long threads (which I read in their ENTIRETY) and the mentions of Mercier were vague at best. I also read the thread regarding inexpensive fixed gear bicycles (where Mercier is mentioned twice that I see), and Mercier was hardly elaborated on. I was hoping someone WHO OWNS ONE would respond.

Skingry, I stated I was a beginner and had to ask many questions and some users definately helped me. Did you ever consider that this may be my 2nd bike in my whole life? I'm 21, and in high-school I used a Diamondback MTB that I knew nothing about. I didn't know bicycle parts, besides the obvious, would need to be replaced. My MTB still runs fine and I haven't layed a finger on it to keep maintenence.

That "Newbie" tag under my name means something. out of 3 posts, the best I got was a rude answer to a question, in which the user insinuated that people are born with bicycle knowledge. He also finds it necessary to write in all caps, as if small text wouldn't be large enough to understand.

Where are the people who responded to my first thread? :(

try this thread.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...hlight=mercier

also pm fordfastrr. Ignore all the missing pics in that thread. He talks alot about his mercier, mostly in terms of track racing.

ill add my two cents.

I'm 20 so i'll just suppose you are more or less gonna ride a bike like i do.

I bought a budget bike to get into fixed. A bianchi pista. I dont really feel any entry bikes have better components than any other. The mercier is a fine deal as is pista khs whateva.

After riding everywhere all the time i wore through the initial wheelset fast. They just come out of true to qouickly and arnt really designed for street. Youll find yourself upgrading to iro's or something else sooner or later. I went phil wood

Then i hated the drops on mine. Very un-anatomical.

Then i wanted a less flexxy crankset.

The list goes on. Within a year you will replace everything if you ride every day.

For that 307 you are getting a good steel frameset and senough parts to last you a year or so.

I would say go for it. Its black( not an annoyin color) cheap and fun.

Its also a bike i wouldnt be afraid to lock up.

dude i have owned two and I liked them cheap components but hey your just starting

^_^
 

Thanks Jamtastic, that helped. My friend isn't an insomniac and won't be riding with me all the time, so the bike may last him a while.

On another note, I was just in a LBS in Chicago and they have the 2007 Pista's at 580 bucks. I fit the 51 great but the price increase from what I hear 2006's go for is a tad steep, especially since 06's will be on the used market sooner or later.

I knew that lots of people get Pista's as their first fixed-gear bike and at 500 dollars I realized how much a really good bike costs. That is why I was wary of a 300 dollar bicycle.

mercier v pista

same cranks same tubeset reynolds 520 - better pedals on the mercier at least they are some pearl izumi al peds rater than some kraton wal-mart trash - formula ball and cup hubs laced to ritchie wheels dura ace cog formula lockring - cheap road bars - zoom stem - rocket headset - did I name it all???

i own one, the frame is tight, change every other part

I use mine daily. 25 mile, RT commute on crappo VT farm roads.
All stock except gears and bullhorns. I love it. Grease it out of the box and
tighten the spokes occasionally and nothing will go wrong with it. Ill prolly buy
another one for a future project.

Briareos,

I own the bike you are asking about. It's a 300 dollar fixed gear. It's no 1200 dollar Pista Concept, nor is it a 60 X-Mart cruiser. With that said, I got exactly what I paid for. It's a good bike, but I understood that when I bought it that I would slowly have to replace just about everything on the bike as it wore out. The bike would allow me to ride and slowly build up a bike exactly how I wanted it one a good frame.

Things I have replaced in the time I have been riding it (seven months now) are the tires (really ****ty Kenda's, replaced at two months with some Michelins, much better in the rain), the cog (geared a bit too low for downtown/midtown/east Atlanta, changed out for an EAI 18 tooth at 3 months, still have the Dura-Ace 16 tooth with very little wear), the handlebars (drops, no matter how cool they look, are not the best for city riding, replaced those recently with the 19 dollar Nashbar bullhorns and some good Cinelli tape, this has made a world of difference in the feel of the bike).

Next on my list is the headset, I'm pretty sure that it is the same you would find on a Wal-Mart bike. I'm not saying that it has fallen apart into metal shards and is now useless, but I am tired of having to constantly adjust it. I'm going to get a cartridge bearing headset and be done with it (Shimano 5500). The stem is some welded POS. My friend who has a similar bike with the same type of stem managed to tear the thing in half, but I suspect my friend does 'roids or is a secret triathalete. If you are a gorilla and pull up on the bars when you climb, you may want to change it out.

The crank is good, but too short IMO. It's a 165mm on my 58c frame, I would have liked to see a 170mm on it, but what can I do, I got used to it and raised the seat some more. The bottom bracket is average (some cartridge FSA ISIS thing).

The wheelset is average, but it has cup/cone bearings and they will have to be adjusted, so buy a 15mm cone wrench (4 bucks) and get comfortable doing that yourself. The wheelset is 36H, so they are tougher than I expected, they have not needed to be trued since I got the bike. I am going to eventually, when funds permit, upgrade to a Phill Wood/Mavic Open Pro rear wheel and a Mavic Ksyrium Equipe front wheel. Both have cartridge bearing hubs that will require little to no maintenance.

The seat sucks, but my taint has adjusted.

Stick a brake on ithe bike, and a set of lights as well.

The frame is really excellent quality. Solid cro-mo steel with a brazed front fork. The geom is really tight and the bike really responsive at low/moderate speeds (~12-16mph). Go faster (25mph plus) and it gets 'twitchy'. For an urban bike, it's great. The only thing I don't like about the frame, and this is strictly cosmetic, is it has too many graphics. They look to be a combination of silk-screened graphics and hand painted ones. I'll get used to it or go crazy with some electrical tape and postal stickers one day.

A little about myself. I'm 26, I ride at least 15 miles a day. This is my fourth bike, my second fixed gear. I apologized for yelling (the all caps) but we (the forum) get questions about this bike at least once a month and we have to reply with the same answer each time.

Seth

*Ignore the following lines, I'm trying to make this rank higher in the searches*

Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT Mercier Kilo TT

The Motobecane is in the same line-up and I think this bike is sexy. It just needs a sloping crown fork and a threadless headset. It and the Mercier appear to be just about the same as my Madison and my experience with my her has been awesome. For the money, you can't go wrong. Don't worry about upgrading parts right away, just ride them until they wear out.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...motobecane.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...n/DSCF1080.jpg
See??? Almost the same bike. The geometry looks a bit different, though. Look at the space between the tire and DT.

Madison fork = the jam


:D

that bike is more than good enough for a friend that doesnt ride everyday. yes, the price does seem really good, but like others have said, the components are not the best quality. however, the components on other production track bikes that cost $200-300 more are equally crappy so I see it as a pretty great deal.

I have one. within the first month I changed the seat, bars, stem, chainring, pedals, clips, and straps all for fit/gearing reasons.
I changed the tires after, uhh, maybe a month. they really are made of gummy bears. you'll shred them in a second.
I'm currently in the process of changing the cranks and bb (octalink!).
the wheelset goes probably next month.

obviously this leaves me with the stock seatpost and headset. I still feel good about it.

get one, cover the badging in electrical tape. that **** is uuuuuugly.

Couple things:

First, no offense to the dude above, but those two bikes aren't really anything alike, get the geometry specs and you'll see.

Second, the merciers are as much bike as you're ever going to get for three bills. I do beaters for people here in chicago all the time, and even with working bikes or garage sale frames we rarely get it done for that little. Perfect for your buddy, though as somebody pointed out he will need to learn to adjust bearings. No big deal, $15 in tools plus a night at west town bikes or a six pack to some local roustabout wrench and you will be set for life.

Third, you can get more bike for more money, but it sounds like you don't really need it. And I'll take crap for this, but the pista is $500 worth of bike and $150 worth of bianchi logos.

what he said

Most bikes of a given type, in a given price range, are of roughly similar quality. That means that the "brand" on the bike means far less than the quality of the bike shop selling the bike. A good bike shop carefully fits you to the bike (as "fit" is the key to enjoying a bike), stocks only brands that the shop is sure will stand behind its warranty, carefully assembles and tunes the bike before the sale, and then tunes and adjusts the bike a second time thirty days after the sale.

Not a single first rate bike shop in the USA stocks Mercier (the sorts of shops that stock Trek, Cannondale, Rivendell, etc.). So, if you want to buy a good bike from a good bike shop, scratch Mercier off your shopping list.

This is all very true. However, plenty of those shops stock lots of stuff that was made in the same factories in Taiwan, China, etc... as the ebay/bikesdirect bikes. Especially for a fixed/ss all-steel frame, I don't hesitate to tell someone with only $300 to spend to buy one of these rigs and have somebody who knows WTF they're doing check all the fasteners on the thing (I think I count 20), check the hub bearings/headset, check tension and true, and do a basic fit job. I do this all the time for friends when they buy used bikes. Provided the guy gets the right size frame (not rocket science and not the end of the world if he misses since most of these bikes are sized 2cm apart, well within the range of personal taste), he'll end up with a bike that's totally fine for his needs.

Oh boy........not again :cry:
Why cant you get it ??? What is sooooo hard to comprehend about the reality of the BD stuff and business model ?
KHS and Fuji are name brands. Get it ??
And, unfortunatley for me the TREK I purchased from a 'good' bike shop
did not come with the same 30 day money back offer BD and SM bikes
do or I would have used it.
Why not all the misplaced and ridiculous anger about, let's say, Bianchis ad campaign that
talks alot about its great Italian heritige but gets thier stuff from the same factories ?

Um...not offended but I kinda already know that.

I mean the are both steel, similar (if not identical components) and the finish looks comparable (sloppy welds).

I ride one. I love it. Most everything important has been said above. It has steeper geometry than the other bikes direct offerings. This means quicker acceleration but tons more toe overlap. I would DEFINITELY ride a brake on it (it doesn't come with one) at least until you are well used to riding fixed (of course) and very comfortable with the toe overlap. Or forever, if you're smarter than most of us.

The Motobecane is a bit more slack (with the geometry) than the Mercier.

Also: The Mercier Kilo TT is EXACTLY the same as the KHS bottom offering and the Moto is the EXACT same as the Fuji Track.

KHS's used to be a lot nicer, coming with Sugino 75's stock. Those days are dead.

yeah yeah yeah they also had a slopeing top tube so what I like the new frames and have had several of them -----woulda lasted if not for cars -----

I have owned two merciers and have had no problems with either sold one to a friend and he is still riding it bone stock

I should note that I am a mechanic so yeah they need a little tuning out of the box but hey 3bones for a decent bike with tight geometry go for it


also the kilo tt and the khs flite 100 only differ in the fact that the merciers are thread factory seconds it appears to me the flite frame I have ahas better finish and welds than the mercier the bb and ht were also faced before shipping as well as bb threads chased hardly the case with the mercier