ClassicFrancophilePals,
Last week I received a coffee table book about Rene Herse and his bicycles. Coming from Japan, it is a semi-hardcover/semi-soft, slightly oversized book filled with tons of beautiful color photos, Rebour drawings, photos of Herse, and text in...Japanese. I'm hoping a University pal of mine will help with certain sections of Japanese. (I wish it were in Sanskrit, Tibetan, or, say, Tamil or Hindi, but there isn't much resurgent interest in French bikes from native Sanskrit or Tibetan speakers...and south Asia has it's own Heroes (pun,pun..)). The good news is that this is really nice; the bad news is that it is $85 plus a few -more- for shipping. If anyone is interested in getting a copy, please drop me a line. I'm looking for 5 more to get another copy and that's the minimum. Matt? You out there, brother?
These are the sorts of bikes that make me melt, salivate, and initiate other positive Pavolian bodily functions, too beautiful for mere words, though I promise more description shortly of contents.
_Excellent_ news is that my new Mariposa 650B with custom carriers and more old French parts than one could reasonably want to use in this modern age is now ready in Toronto, a work of the redoubtable Mike Barry. More on this later when I finally have a weekend to travel north.
cold but sunny this morning, shellacing handlebars, riding the
old Herse to pick up the newspaper 'cause that's part of the fun,
Douglas Brooks
Canandaigua, NY