This past weekend I received my Rene Herse book from Jan Heine. At first, when I ordered it I had a bit of "buyers remorse" at paying so much for a book. I love books and love to read but $100 for a book that's in Japanese and softbound to boot seemed a lot (even with Jan's translation sheets of a few chapters).
I have to say though, that even without being able to read much of it this is a great book. The photos alone are worth the price - you can pour over all sorts of details for hours on these bikes - extended headtubes, "Aheadset" type stems, various lugwork, derailleurs, saddles, racks, lighting... And then there are the Rebour drawings, black and white pictures from the trials... Even without the translations this book is worth it.
So... I believe Jan is sold out but I see Jitensha has them (no translation sheets though). And I see that Jitensha also has a set of Frank Patterson books that look very cool as well (although at over $200 they ARE out of my price range).
John Price
Denver CO