Cycles Mercier Image Gallery

Mercier of Saint-Étienne advertised itself as the bicycle of champions, and the pictures at Ebykr bear the claim out: team photographs from the Pélissier and Magne years, Raymond Poulidor in the Mercier-Hutchinson jersey and catalog and advertising pages from the 1930s to the 1980s.

Alongside them are views of the factory, a 1938 catalog cover boasting 100 frames an hour, the duralumin bicycles and two surviving machines photographed in close detail: a red three-speed of the 1930s and a cream porteur of the 1950s.

Saint-Étienne and the factory. The founder’s portrait, the factory hall and its walls, a drawing of the later works, the catalog cover that put a figure on production and a catalog page with a tree of French makers’ badges.

Black and white portrait of a bald man with a mustache in a high collar and dark jacket

Black and white photograph of a long factory hall with workers filing and assembling frames at benches under a glazed roof

Gray photograph of a low factory building with the painted words Établissements Mercier, Cadres et Séries along its wall

Pen and ink perspective drawing of a large factory complex with saw-tooth roofs and a sign reading Établissements Mercier

Magenta catalog cover reading MERCIER, 100 CADRES À L'HEURE, C'EST LA PRODUCTION, with a drawing of a bicycle and a locomotive

Catalog page showing a tree of ornate head badges from several French makers rising from a trunk, above the word MERCIER

Riders and teams. Francis Pélissier and Antonin Magne as directors of the team, Raymond Poulidor and his rivals, a Marcel Kint victory advertisement of 1951 and the magazine pages that describe Poulidor’s own Mercier.

Black and white portrait of an older man in a suit and tie under the large letters LA PERLE, with a caption naming Francis Pélissier, directeur sportif

Black and white portrait of a man in a double-breasted jacket above a caption naming Antonin Magne, directeur sportif des Cycles Mercier-Hutchinson

Color photograph of a smiling rider in a purple and yellow Mercier jersey holding a bottle, seated by a car with spare wheels behind him

Black and white photograph of a rider in a Mercier jersey beside a car boot full of spare wheels, with three men in work coats and berets looking on

Catalogs and advertisements. Pink racing bicycles of the 1970s and 1980s, a blotter and a banner of the earlier years, the cyclomoteur advertisements of 1957, a 1950 notice listing the marques sold in Tunisia and a photograph from a workshop series of 1974.

Catalog page showing a cyclist in pink crouched over a pink bicycle, with the word MERCIER and the line De la promenade à la compétition

Poster-style catalog page showing a racing cyclist's torso and thighs in a Mercier jersey gripping drop handlebars in bold flat colors

Color catalog spread of a pink racing bicycle with a headline beginning Notre machine de course 83 and a table of specifications

Cream catalog cover with a red-framed drawing of a bicycle and the name MERCIER St-Étienne above the line La gamme la plus complète de jolies bicyclettes

Wide green banner advertisement with a gold winged M, a bicycle and the words Le Triomphe reste ! Encore une nouvelle victoire

Duralumin. A French trade notice, the Duravia frame advertisement and five photographs of a surviving silver Mercier-Duralumin bicycle.

Yellow and white page headed Assemblage breveté du cadre Duravia, with a cutaway drawing of a joint and a drawing of a bicycle labeled Duravia

Silver Mercier-Duralumin bicycle with blue handlebar tape and light mudguards seen from the side against a black wall

A red three-speed of the 1930s. Eight photographs of a surviving Mercier road bicycle with a three-speed rear hub, shown whole and in detail.

Red bicycle with drop handlebars and gold-edged tires standing on concrete steps

View along a red bicycle from the saddle to the drop handlebars, with brake levers and cables

A cream porteur of the 1950s. The delivery bicycle from the Tech Specs sheet, with its lettered chaincase, front rack and lamp, shown in 14 of the 43 photographs on that page.

Side view of a cream bicycle with a front rack, a rear rack and a dark leather saddle against a wooden wall

Close view of a cream chaincase printed with the word MERCIER, with a green stripe on the seat tube above it — From the Saint-Étienne factory to the pink racing bicycles of the 1980s: team photographs, catalogs and advertisements, the duralumin experiments and close photographs of a 1930s three-speed and a 1950s porteur.

Close view of the head tube with a red and white Mercier badge above a front rack and a cream mudguard — From the Saint-Étienne factory to the pink racing bicycles of the 1980s: team photographs, catalogs and advertisements, the duralumin experiments and close photographs of a 1930s three-speed and a 1950s porteur.

Read the full history in Cycles Mercier History: The Ultimate Guide from Méca Dural to Poulidor, which follows the firm from the Pélissier brothers through 50 Tours de France and 25 sub-brands to the 1980s.