Being a relative new-comer to the List I haven't yet got over my astonishment at the level of sheer reverence with some List members regard the products of those fine French craftsmen Rene Herse and Alex Singer.
I have seen quite a lot of the bikes and tandems built by these fellows, both at the Paris Bike Show over a period of years, at cycling festivals such as the Semaine Federale, and just here and there on the picturesque by-roads of France. There's no doubt that the majority of them are well constructed with well fettled bronze-welded beads, or lugs, that the chrome-plating is normally of an excellent standard, and that that they appear to be very durable and reliable machines. what I fail to understand though is just what makes them so collectable, apart from their often very idiosyncratic accessories such as butchered Huret front mechs brazed to the seat tube, or the bench-made handlebar-stems, front-mechs etc of earlier models. There was a lot of ingenuity in some of those 40/50s frames, I suppose. Could it be I wonder that the American "craft" cycle industry lacked such artisans and such distinctive products?
For a bit of sport during the last week I followed the fortunes of the lady's model Herse, being sold on eBay by a French guy. From the photos it looked a bit of a wreck, and sure enough the early bids were modest, so modest in fact that I nurtured dreams of picking up a genuine Herse, for my wife to ride on the tow path of the Canal Lateral a La Loire, for a couple of hundred bucks.. to use your terminology.
Wish on...Joining in the auction for the last hour I saw the forlorn French lady's price starting to emulate those of its glorious male counterparts of auctions gone-by. Half way to the $1000 bucks... mouthing a few well-chosen "Mon Dieu"s and "Sacre Bleu"s through the curling blue smoke of my drooping Gaulloise.. I threw in the proverbial towel and beat a hasty retreat to my bed. Next morning I needed more than a few strong black coffees with my croissants to digest the fact that someone had actually shelled out in excess of $1300.. or more than £800 of our Queen's cash for the wreck.. more in fact than that elgant and beautifully finished Hetchins Six-Day job had fetched the week before.
Not being much of an historian I have never really understood the "entente cordiale2 that is supposed to exist between the french and the English, but as little as I can understand that, far less can I come to grips with the prices paid for these Herses and Singers
Norris Lockley.. wondering whether the real magic of an "RH" is in the rake of its front fork..
ingers.