Interesting bike

[provoked]

Hi All,

Came across this and thought this section of the forum would appreciate this - steep price though!

Rene Herse Randonneur 1956

[il padrone]

I doubt he'll get many bids!

You must understand that this is a very rare bicycle. Rene Herse was a specialist bicycle constructeur - bike builders who built lightweight touring bikes in Paris that were the ultimate custom. They made their own cranks, derailleurs and headstems, all parts were specially designed to fit, the lights were wired through the frame. They were exceptionally innovative bikes for their time and are no longer made this way. So I'd expect a high price for one like this and $5-10,000 is not a surprise.

This seller is in Melbourne - I wonder whether this is the bike that was sold via Bicycle Recycle in Moorabin a couple of years ago for ~$350. If so he's making a killing. I only heard about that one after it had been sold, but a friend of mine says he saw another one for sale there later. He didn't buy it, sadly.

[im_no_pro]

I doubt he'll get many bids!

+1, I believe I saw this listed on fleabay recently at the same price (or close to) so assume it didnt sell. Buyer did have a few q's from Japan on the other listing, assuming thats the reason for the reference to shipping there.

[provoked]

Beautiful bike tho isn't it? Seems like a lot of work has been put into restoring it - every detail has been attended to.

[spirito]

Hi All,

Came across this and thought this section of the forum would appreciate this - steep price though!

Rene Herse Randonneur 1956

And the seller is a certified moron !!! (or should that be moreon )

I admit that this is a very special bike. Mostly intact, very collectible and if it were a little smaller I'd consider driving down to Melbourne with 4 big one$ and making an offer.

But in saying all that s/he wouldn't have a clue about attracting the sort of buyer interest needed to tickle a price that high. Crappy small pics, too lazy to have them facing the right way up and out of focus details mean this bike will remain listed for quite a whiles. That's a good thing ... someone local will smarten up and take it off the sellers hands for a lot less than the seller is hoping for.

I do think it's important that a bike of this caliber to stay downunder ... hopefully someone here will snap it up. I think the seller is overvaluing it's market rate. It's only worth half that (at best). It's too big for most of the Japanese players and Yanks are hurting right now + it's very expensive to ship a whole bike and I doubt the seller knows how to pack it properly.

This is the 4th time it has been listed. The price started coming down but this time it's gone back up a little bit since it was last listed ... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 0452281322

There was a time when Herse's attracted quite high prices like the seller of this one is asking but those price spikes created a flourish of sellers keen to cash in and the prices have been far more reasonable of late, and far less than this seller is expecting. I've seen Herse's better than this one, in more popular sizes presented by trusted sellers who have shipped them for much less sell for far less recently ... but ebay is a funny game and you never quite know.

[spirito]

Beautiful bike tho isn't it? Seems like a lot of work has been put into restoring it - every detail has been attended to.

I don't see that. Care to divulge?

[scratchman]

Beautiful bike tho isn't it? Seems like a lot of work has been put into restoring it - every detail has been attended to.

what, like the cable tie or is that period correct

[provoked]

Actually - its pretty close: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_tie#History

[provoked]

Beautiful bike tho isn't it? Seems like a lot of work has been put into restoring it - every detail has been attended to.

I don't see that. Care to divulge?

Not sure what your asking here?

[spirito]

Beautiful bike tho isn't it? Seems like a lot of work has been put into restoring it - every detail has been attended to.

I don't see that. Care to divulge?

Not sure what your asking here?

You mentioned a lot of work put into restoring it? It has been repainted and apart from that I don't see evidence of restoration.

[provoked]

Doesn't look so bad to me - might not be work 10 grand, but hey it looks good for a bike from the 50s.

Maybe I'm too easily satisfied.

[Verbs & Nouns]

Some awesome photos of the carpet in there.

[toff]

I've seen a few Rene Herse bikes on Fleabay, and the ones which attract the highest prices have not been repainted. Collectors (those with money to spend on bikes like these) don't want to see fresh paint. A bike like this is worth much more with the original paint, no matter how poorly it has gotten. If one must repaint, one should try to paint in the original style. That is, to use much thinner paint, and a clearcoat over the top. Anyone who sprays thick ugly goo all over a classic frame to the point where it burys the delicate filing on the lugwork will get a very little interest from hardcore collectors.

The frame is all but ruined for the serious collector. It is a question of how rare the parts are as to whether it will fetch a reasonable price.

[MichaelB]

Ok, so it's rare, meant to be really good quality, but is it really worth that much.

Toff's pickup seems to be a MUCH better value, and almost looks the same from a short sdistance ....

[il padrone]

Well you could try to get one from here





No idea about the co$t.

[kukamunga]

This seller is in Melbourne - I wonder whether this is the bike that was sold via Bicycle Recycle in Moorabin a couple of years ago for ~$350

The owner of that 'bargain of the century' Rene Herse came into CWC a few months ago (sans bike), and I regret not getting his details. He said it was the most comfortable bike he had ever owned, was fully aware of who and what a Rene Herse was when saw it, and he had no intention of getting rid of it. Unfortunately, I haven't seen the customer since.....

PS: Pete. Can you please resize your pics to forum screen size ?

[il padrone]

PS: Pete. Can you please resize your pics to forum screen size ?

I'd love to, but don't know how to?? The pictures are not mine - straight off the http://www.renehersebicycles.com website. I can remove them if they're a pain.

[spirito]

geez them pic's are big !!!

lots more here ... http://www.reneherse.com/

The question of whether they are worth it is a hard one to answer. Is a Bentley worth double the price of a Mercedes S Class?
Some people think so.

The same question could be asked by a non cyclist ... Is your bike really worth more $'s than my car? Very subjective.

[provoked]

PS: Pete. Can you please resize your pics to forum screen size ?

I'd love to, but don't know how to?? The pictures are not mine - straight off the http://www.renehersebicycles.com website. I can remove them if they're a pain.

If you don't have Photoshop or something similar installed, you can always open a instance of MSPaint, drag the file over, click Image up top, stretch/skew (or just CTRL-W). Play around with the percentages (keep both the same to preserve proportions) until the size is good (use Ctrl-E to check the dimensions, don't change from here as you'll ruin the image proportions). File -> Save As, choose your location and change type as JPG.

Then upload the image

[spirito]

straight off the http://www.renehersebicycles.com website

Perhaps it should be pointed out that the current owners/manufacturers of Rene Herse is/are Mike Kone of Boulder Bicycle and Mark Nobilette is the builder/constructeur. They bought the name, rights, trademark from Lyli Herse (Rene Herse's daughter). Originally Herse was a small shop in France that achieved cult status, especially with Japanese collectors.

[il padrone]

The real point about the bicycles of Rene Herse, Singer and other Paris constructeurs is that they were of exceptional quality, custom -built right down to the handlebars, brakes, gears as well as the frame, and they were really very innovative. At a time when the racing world was still using single speeds (or maybe a 3 speed Osgear) and steel components, Rene Herse was building bikes like this, that had lots of alloy, specially made components and wider range 8 speed gear set-ups. The world of cycle-touring was really leading the way on bicycle development.



This bike is not too much different to the bikes of the 1970s. It harks from 1947!!

[spirito]

The real point about the bicycles of Rene Herse, Singer and other Paris constructeurs is that they were of exceptional quality, custom -built right down to the handlebars, brakes, gears as well as the frame, and they were really very innovative. At a time when the racing world was still using single speeds (or maybe a 3 speed Osgear) and steel components, Rene Herse was building bikes like this, that had lots of alloy, specially made components and wider range 8 speed gear set-ups. The world of cycle-touring was really leading the way on bicycle development.



This bike is not too much different to the bikes of the 1970s. It harks from 1947!!

True ... Herse was an innovator and superb craftsman. Instead of building a frame and tacking parts onto it he built the bike as a complete system, integrated from the get go and that included custom made parts (stems, cranks, front derailleurs etc). More importantly, as you noted, these bikes were replete with multiple gears and aluminium parts at a time when top tier racers in the Giro and Tour were still using steel cranks and fixed gear or crude/heavy gear changers with limited success.

The wave of French constructeur's and the randonneuring scene from that era is quite something and duly deserves recognition. Especially here in Oz where all people seem to focus on is Italian bikes from the 80's.