Category Archives: Mixte

Mercier Meca Dural Restoration Progress

Posted on by

2016-12-11-015

Restoring vintage bicycles, especially those from the “golden era” which lasted from the 30’s through the 50’s, sounds vaguely romantic and thrilling.  Which it can be.  But the truth is that it can also be a very solemn and tedious process, full of stops and starts.

2015-12-31-004

This late forties or early fifties Mercier Mecal Dural is one of those projects that can test your resolve.  The bike, whose frame is made from aluminum “duralumin” tubing, was not 100% original, yet the frame itself was in beautiful condition.  Over the course of its life, someone had tried to mount 700c wheels from the 1970’s on this late 40’s/early 50’s bike designed for 650b rims, and had spray-painted over the rust and corrosion on the bike’s original steel fork.  Some parts were missing, such as the original chain guard as well as the bike’s bolt-on attachments for the shifter and chain guard.  And, the Meca Dural head badge was gone.

2016-12-11-031

Undeterred, I set out to research the history of this method of frame building, as well as to find as many other examples of these frames as possible.  Fortunately, I was successful on both counts.  Several others before me have successfully restored these bicycles, and there is a decent amount of information available on the web and in print which gives a history and background for this interesting frame construction.  However, I still haven’t been able to locate any information on the serial number scheme used by Mercier.  This frame’s SN is 16822.

1953 Mavic rim 650b

2016-12-11-017 2016-12-11-028

My first task was to find a 650b wheelset from the same era.  I harvested the wheelset from another project, which dates to 1953 and features Mavic aluminum rims laced to Fratelli Brivio hubs.  One of the initial challenges involved rebuilding and restoring the wheelset itself.  While the front hub was easily brought back to its free-spinning glory, the rear hub proved difficult.  I was not able to remove the unbranded 4 speed freewheel from the hub, lacking the particular removal tool.  I modified a Suntour two prong remover, applied copious and various kinds of lubricants to the threads, used both my vise and my giant-sized long-armed wrench, to no avail.  I didn’t want to take this freewheel apart – it is working fine and will probably last another 60 years.  So, that meant cleaning and rebuilding the hub with the freewheel attached.  All went well until I discovered that the original axle was slightly bent. When I was ready for the hub’s final adjustment, I found that the axle could not turn in the hub, due to the zero distance between the hub shell and the cone.  This particular hub has no dust cover, so I couldn’t strong-arm the opening by widening the dustcaps themselves.  That meant trying to find another perfectly straight 9.5mm axle of a similar length and with similar threads.  Amazingly I had ONE such axle in my parts bin – it was only slightly shorter than the original axle.  Whew!  On to the next problem.

2016-12-11-006

CLB 700 brakes with 650b rims

2015-12-31-006

CLB 700 brakes with 700c rims

Once I had the wheels rebuilt it became clear that the CLB 700 sidepull calipers were probably not original to the bike.  Their 70cm reach is not quite long enough to engage the 650b rims.  Darn it!  The extra reach needed is only about 2mm.  When there is enough material on the brake calipers to allow for it, you can take a round file and sand the opening lower at the bottom of the caliper arm to allow for a slight improvement in brake reach.  But, these calipers do not have enough material on the lower brake arms to make me comfortable with this approach.  Instead, I will now locate long reach side pulls from this era.  One more setback.

2016-12-11-001

Tight clearance – chain ring and chain stays

2015-12-31-003

Stronglight 49D crankset with Louis Verot chainring

Then it came time to rebuild the bottom bracket and install the beautiful, lightweight Stronglight 49D crankset, with its 46T Louis Verot chainring.  Everything went well until I observed the clearance of the chainring to the frame.  I had previously noted what I thought was a crimping mark on the sleeves which serve as the chainstay fender bridge.  When I looked closer, I realized that the “crimping mark” was actually a gouge caused by the chainring contacting the frame at the chainstays, probably under vigorous pedaling.  Investigating further, I found that the chainring itself had a wobble, which is not unusual for this type of crankset with a tiny bolt circle diameter.  A larger diameter can resist stresses from the rider, but the downside is that a larger diameter BCD cannot accept tiny chainrings needed for climbing.

2016-12-11-014

2016-01-07-014

One of the things I learned in my research about these duralumin frames is that the bottom bracket shell is set up to provide for chain line adjustment.  The shell is a simple aluminum cylinder, held in place with bolts.  In order to address the issue of the crankset contacting the chainstay sleeve under vigorous pedaling, I first measured the torque setting on the bottom bracket bolts, referencing the highest setting at 100 inch pounds as being the most accurate.  After removing the bolts, I twisted the BB shell using the locking on the non drive side of the bottom bracket.  I adjusted the BB shell over about 2mm to provide for additional necessary clearance for the crankset, by taking a mallet and gently tapping the BB.  I would not have known about this option had I not seen numerous examples of other duralumin framesets showing the BB shell in various positions.  Unfortunately one problem with these frames is that the aluminum chain stay sleeves can fail.  I wanted to give this frame a good shot a lasting through the decades, so by adjusting the BB shell, further damage to the chainstay sleeves will be avoided.

2016-12-11-035

Huret derailleur

2016-12-11-033

Beautiful Dural Azur stem with arrow design

2016-12-11-018

Hammered rear light

2016-12-11-026

Lefol hammered fenders

The next steps involve installing the Huret derailluer and shifter, polishing and cleaning the beautiful components, and setting up the brakeset and cables, and installing the tires, as well as cleaning and lubricating the leather saddle.  Stay tuned for more torture, and related thrills!

Stronglight Competition Headset

Posted on by

2016-08-17 001

While problem solving a fork issue on the 1940’s/50’s Mercier Meca Dural that I have been restoring, I thought about changing its headset so that I could mount a different fork with a slightly shorter steerer tube.

That effort was, sadly, unsuccessful.  But in the process, I had to compare various French headsets that I had on hand to determine which one might solve the problem of needing a slightly shorter stack height.

2016-08-17 006

1950’s Stronglight Competition Headset

One of the headsets in my bin was a 1950’s Stronglight Competition headset.  The rest of the French headsets I had one hand were 1970’s French headsets – probably all of which were made by Stronglight, but which are unbranded.  When I began comparing this older headset to the (relatively) newer ones, I was amazed at the difference in quality.

2016-08-17 004

1950’s Stronglight Competition headset cups and cones

The cups and races are beautifully machined, and are of much higher quality than the their 1970’s counterparts, shown below.

2016-08-17 011

French headset – 1970’s

The photos don’t quite do justice to the quality differential.  But, if you hold these cups and races in your hands and look at them with bare eyes, the difference is clear.  According to this helpful post from Classic Lightweights, the 1950’s Competition headset is made from hardened chrome nickel steel, and feature V shaped races which provide for more bearing contact (thanks to Jim at Bertin Classic Bicycles for clarifying this important distinction).  The newer 1970’s versions are made from lower grade steel, and have U shaped bearing races.

2016-08-17 005

The nice branding on all of the pieces really motivated me to try to make this headset work on my restoration project.

2016-07-30 011

Peugeot fork – 1970’s – looks great on the Mercier Meca Dural frame

2016-07-30 012

Original Mercier steel fork on the right, Peugeot fork on the left

The original fork was seriously compromised with rusting and pitting on the fork blades.  I had sanded off the pitting and have been searching for the right solution which would result in either an original newly chromed fork, or an original newly painted fork.  I was not able to find any painter or chrome-plater in the Portland region that I wanted to trust with this vintage fork.  So, I looked around at the forks I had on hand.  One of them was a 1970’s fork from a silver Peugeot.  The steerer tube was shorter than the original fork by about 5 mm.  Drinking some Kool-Aid, I decided that maybe I could make this work, after all, the fork looked perfect with the Meca Dural aluminum frame, as you can see from the above photo.

2016-07-30 016 2016-07-30 017

After doing a bit of research, I determined that I could eliminate the lock washer and instead apply some Locktite to the steerer threads.  That would save about 2 or 3 mm.  But, to make this work I needed to Dremel off the pin on the top of the 1970’s headset that I originally envisioned as my solution to the problem.  Okay, that was easy.

Unfortunately, when I dry mounted the fork into the headtube, I forgot about the space that the 5/32 inch bearings would need.  So, I ended up with only 2 or 3 threads showing on the steerer tube above the upper cup, after installing the bearings.  That’s not enough.  You really need at least 5 or 6 threads showing in order to feel confident that the steerer tube will stay in adjustment, especially if you are going to remove the lock washer.

So, it’s back to the drawing board with the fork.  I either need to find an appropriate replacement fork, or the right company to chrome-plate or paint the original fork so that the bike can be restored to its original glory.  But, the 1950’s Stronglight Competition headset gives further evidence to the quality of vintage cycling components as compared to their modern day counterparts.

The More You Pay, The More It’s Worth

Posted on by
2016-06-24 028

Saint Tropez mixte

I was humming Don McLean’s tune as I was working on this 1980’s mixte with questionable provenance, a bike which I had recently accepted back into the fold after years of  hanging at a friend’s business location as a display bike.

I have come to embrace this Don McLean lyric, at least with regard to consumers and their bicycles.  Notice, I did not say riders.  Too many Americans buy things which they do not actually use, and that means that buying a bicycle does not make you a cyclist.

The irony, nuance, and humor of McLean’s lyric resonates with me.  There are so many ways to experience the value vs. outlay idea.

2016-06-24 029 2016-06-24 016

I had planned on simply donating this mixte to my favorite bicycle charity:  the Community Cycling Center.  But, when the bike arrived unexpectedly at my office, several interested parties emerged, especially after learning that I planned to donate the bike immediately.  This made me think about what it means to “give”, as well as what risks and rewards are involved in giving a bicycle away.  I was feeling especially philosophical as I pondered these questions.  The antidote to that was to get the bike into my shop and give it an overhaul.

2016-06-24 032

The first problem was that the headset’s grease had congealed into something resembling hard wax that got left in the can too long, and the steerer would barely turn.  Possibly the bike was hanging near a heat vent during the last 5 years?  I couldn’t imagine sending this bike out without having at least applied some fresh grease to the headset, but after 5 years of not being ridden, anything was possible.  The headset condition made me do a complete evaluation of the whole bike, which I had apparently converted to a single speed, lo those many years ago.

2016-06-24 031

Stronglight crankset with 42 T ring.

2016-06-24 011

Shimano single speed 18 T freewheel. Nice forged dropouts.

There was a time when I tried out single speed riding.  I found it didn’t suit me, although not having to worry about shifting was kind of nice in its own quirky way. Recently I had a single speed adventure on my 1929 Griffon, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  So, I may re-think my aversion, but for now I focused on my task which was to make sure the bike was safe to ride and properly set up.  The gearing on this bike, with its 42 tooth front ring and 18 tooth cog yields a 63 inch gear (or 4.7 gain ratio), given its 27 inch wheels.  As an all-round gear, maybe that’s okay for a reasonably fit rider using the bike on surface streets.

2016-06-24 012

This is a Saint Tropez mixte built with Ishiwata 4130 Chro-Mo tubing.  It is not a low end frame, but what I remember about the bike is that it had a number of low end (or unknown) components, as originally configured.  Like so many mixtes, this bike is NOT designed for a small rider.  The effective top tube length on this bike is 56 cm, even though the seat tube measures 50 cm.  I will reiterate again that mixtes are for people who want to step through the frame rather than swing a leg over the bike.  Mixtes are ideal for cyclists who prefer riding in street clothes or business attire.  Mixtes ARE NOT automatically ideal for smaller riders.

2016-06-24 033

SunTour mountain bike levers.

2016-06-24 022

Araya 27″ alloy rims laced to Suzue hubs.

2016-06-24 018

Polygon brake calipers.

2016-06-24 013

Chain stay/fender zip tie attachment.

I set this bike up with upright bars and mountain bike levers.  There was no bridge at the chainstays, so I zip tied the fender bracket to the seat tube.  The bike has single eyelets front and rear, and braze-ons to accommodate both center pull and side pull brakes.  The gray Dia Compe replacement pads work well with these Araya alloy rims – there is no break squeal and they are very effective at stopping the bike without being grabby.  Probably they would work well with steel rims as well.

2016-06-24 017 2016-06-24 035

But what the heck is this bike?  It appears that Saint Tropez was a Japanese marque which seemed to exist in the 80’s and possibly early 90’s (and maybe the late 70’s).  The SN on the bottom bracket indicates that this might be a 1985 model, which corresponds with the bike’s appearance and components.  The engraved seat stay attachment is a surprising feature, given the simple lugs.  The gold sparkle and black paint scheme is really attractive, though.

So, as a “gift”, what is this bike worth?  Will it be valued by its new rider, or will it have no value, because nothing was paid for it?  I do hope that its new owner enjoys riding it.  I hope it is worth more than what was paid.

2016-06-24 034