Regarding the uncovering of the "fake Herse" owners group, it started in a seemingly innocent way. A William Black e-mailed me looking to purchase any Rene Herse related literature we might have. We started having a wonderful dialog about French touring bikes, although I was a tad curious why someone would e-mail me pages of discourse yet not want to give a phone number so we could Chat.
William Black then sent an invitation for me to join an Herse owners group he was forming. Seemingly amazing dialog took place with supposed experts. I had the imaginary William Black send a similar invitation to Jan Heine - and that was the begining of the end for Mr Black!
Both myself and Jan Heine had suspicions as to the existance of some of the people on the group at about the same time - and to some extent we each spent some time trying to uncover the truth. Jan, though, gets the credit for really figuring it out. Jan was able to access French materials that demonstrated that some of the materials being presented were just plain wrong! Then he networked within France and found out that some of the people were make-believe people. Based on the assumption that anyone who says they have personally met a make-believe person must also be make-believe (or a liar), he was able to figure out who was real and who was not. It was a crazy thing. It was also very sad. We were given all sorts of info, and know as Jan says we need to purge our minds of what we read as we have no idea what was true and what was false.
In retrospect, the motive is rather clear. The most well known Rene Herse dealer in Japan had planned to visit Cabbage Town cyclery - the company headed by Brian Todd which was highly touted in every other message posted by the make-believe people.
Jan (and myself) would like to get a Rene Herse group started later this spring, and I'll announce it on this group. Non make-believe afficionados of French touring bikes will be encouraged to join when it happens. Mike Kone
At 10:03 AM 3/17/01 -0500, Douglas R. Brooks wrote:
> Russ,
> All of that information regarding Herse bikes originating
>from one "Dr. William Black" was part of a hoax. Precisely how
>much and what of it was correct or useful has not, as far as I know,
>been ferreted out. However, the whole matter, kept rather quiet if
>only for it being somewhat distasteful and unfortunate, really didn't
>_hurt_ anyone taken in by it---I mean not financially or in any
>way other than a deception, I believe.
>I kid you not.
>A certain person, casting himself in multiple roles, drew in
>a number of Herse owners to a List that he formed.
>This List putatively included many old school European
>owners---the whole matter organized by one "Dr. William Black".
>Well, there is no William Black, the hoax uncovered by our old
>mate Jan Heine. I was on this List, as was Jan, perhaps too
>Gilbert Anderson and surely Dale Brown. We were all sort of
>passive victims. There were others of goodwill also taken in.
>The individual guilty of this hoax is likely a certain
>bicycle shop owner
>whose problems apparently extend far beyond his interests
>in old French bikes.
>Were it not for Jan, we might still be suffering from
>the growing misconceptions that took in no less than Mike Kone
>and others knowledgeable in French tourers. Alas, everyone
>was getting a bit suspicious because of emergent inconsistencies
>but it was Jan who called the play. Suddenly all of these
>Belgian, French, and other "characters" plus "Dr. Black"
>disappeared.
>As far as I know everyone taken in allowed the matter to drop
>and the persons of integrity involved all shrugged shoulders and
>got on with life.
>Moral of the story: Stay out of Cabbagetown...that being the
>only level of accusation I should like to make since it has never
>been proven who was behind this affair. It is all now a rather
>interesting piece of vintage bike history: the Herse List Hoax.
>
>So it goes.
>cheers,
> Douglas Brooks (yes, the _real_ Dr. Douglas R. Brooks...:-) who
> lives in the real town of
> Canandaigua, NY (even though that may not sound like a place...but
> perhaps a clearing of your throat...)
>
>
>>
>> >
>> > Okay, gang - refresh my memory. I recall recently being at a site with a
>> > three or four pages online history, etc., of Rene Herse bikes,
complete with
>> > serial number scheme, etc. Anybody got the link? I can't find it now
... I
>> > coulda sworn it was at the Cycles de Oro page, but I don't see it now.
>> >
>> > Russ Fitzgerald
>> > Greenwood SC
>> > rfitzger@emeraldis.com