A few years ago I came oh-so-close to buying a 'Mercier' road bike from eBay that seemed just too good to be true. In fact, I think those bikes are too good to be true.
(It was much like this Motobecane)
It had Shimano 105's, decent wheels, and the frame looked OK, all for $1,000 I think it was... And the description for the bike I almost got stated the Mercier was an old European bicycle maker, and that Lance Armstrong once rode once of them in his early years. But after a little Googling, it was obvious that:
a) Mercier was no longer European, it was registered to a Florida resident
b) This eBay seller was also selling Dawes bikes, and whaddya know? Both sites are registered to the SAME town in Florida!
Want proof?
Domain info for cyclesmercier.com:
Domain Name.......... cyclesmercier.com
Creation Date........ 2001-09-01
Registration Date.... 2001-09-01
Expiry Date.......... 2008-09-01
Organisation Name.... J. Mukhalis
Organisation Address. 176 Summerfield
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Ponte Vedra
Organisation Address. 32082
Organisation Address. FL
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES
Domain info for dawescyclesusa.com:
Domain Name.......... dawescyclesusa.com
Creation Date........ 2004-04-30
Registration Date.... 2004-04-30
Expiry Date.......... 2014-04-30
Organisation Name.... spratt cycle support, inc
Organisation Address. 3203 old barn court
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. ponte vedra beach
Organisation Address. 32082
Organisation Address. FL
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES
That's odd, these two 'classic' road bike brands have their site's owners listed in the same town in Florida?! Funny.
On posts from this seller, you'll see descriptions like this:
Motobecane is one of the top names in the bike business - 80 years old, winner of the Tour d' France, winner of several world championships, inventor of the moped and of dual suspension bicycles.
But DrPete pretty much summed it up on BikeForums.net:
Motobecane, Dawes, Bottecchia, and Mercier are brand names that WERE once major european bike manufacturers. Bottecchia still is--in Italy. Moto USA, Dawes USA, Bott. USA, and Mercier USA are, in reality, brand names that were bought by Cycle Spectrum USA, AKA bikesdirect.com. They purchase frames in bulk from Taiwan, usually models that were designed for/by other major manufacturers (KHS, Fuji, etc.) and sell them with components and all. The frames are actually decent quality in the vast majority of cases, so it's not like they're shoddy. In fact, if you're on a budget and willing to do a little self-assembly and/or pay for a shop to do assembly and tune-up work, then it's a decent way to buy an enthusiast-level bike on a budget. Just don't be fooled into thinking that you're getting a "real" Dawes/Mercier/Moto/etc.
I think you can add Windsor to that list as well. I'm not saying no-one should buy and ride these bikes, hell, I'm happy if people are just riding! But beware of what you're buying, and don't believe an eBay seller just because they have 99.9% feedback.
Moral of the story: support your local bike shop!!
