Dennis Young asked about the rarity of Herse track bikes.
Of course, I really don't know much about this, as I care mostly about cyclotouring, and thus my friends in France usually aren't track racers.
That said, Herse did build some track bikes (like the one Dennis saw in Japan). I suspect if you ordered one, he'd build one, but I also suspect few racers went to a cyclotouring specialist to have their track bikes built. That leaves bikes for sponsored riders. Clearly, Roger Baumann had a track bike when he set the 24-hour track world record on a Herse (interview with M. Baumann in VBQ vol. 1, No. 2, as well as photo of his "team" in VBQ 2, 1). Since he didn't ride the track otherwise, I suspect the bike was a loaner from Herse, and later was used by others (if they were as tall as "Le Grand Roger"). There even was a track tandem, as shown in the second volume of "The World of Daniel Rebour." I have the story somewhere in an interview that still needs transcribing from the tapes (for a future VBQ), but I don't recall it off-hand. On the other hand, Détée/Bulté (first in PBP 1956 on Rene Herse tandem) used a La Perle for their tandem 10 km record and attempt at the hour record (unsuccessful), even though the Herse ads had them listed (with their 10 km record) as a success of Herse. I guess it wasn't worth making a tandem for a few hours on the track! In fact, tandems rarely were made for a special event, the exception being, possibly, bikes for daughter Lyli Herse and the Poly de Chanteloup hillclimb race. Otherwise, people used what was around, for example, Detee/Bulte used Detee's tandem, which he bought second-hand. It was a tad small for Detee and a bit big for Bulte, but that doesn't seem to have slowed them down much.
So, to conclude, I think Dennis is correct in his assessment that
Herse track bikes are rare. What I wonder: Are they any good? I am
sure Herse could make a supremely comfortable track bike for a
24-hour record attempt, but if you wanted a Keirin bike, you might
have been better off looking elsewhere! After all, Herse specialized
in cyclotouring bikes and tandems. And those are excellent.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/