The theories seem to get more outlandish....
I could be wrong, but sometimes a pile of junk trapped in something is just a pile of junk...
Myself and a few friends have taken a number of Herse bikes apart - and indeed the paper in the tubes is very common. Seems to be some type of rust inhibitor scheme - that seems to have really worked. I've been amazed over the years at how well preserved Herse insides (the bikes that is) seem to be. The master knew what he was doing for sure.
What all these discs/sphere's are I really have no idea. The ideas of left over shot from blasting seem to make sense - but it seems to be some kind of debris of some sort. I can't believe that Herse would have put crud in a frame to add weight or "tune" the frame somehow - that just doesn't make logical sense.
The paper however restricts movement of whatever these things are, but I would believe that the paper and the stuff are unrealated with respect to the makers intent.
But this sure makes for interesting chat.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
>
\r?\n> On Apr 17, 2007, at 7:22 PM, Steve Kistler wrote:
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > Greetings Brothers and Sisters of CR,
\r?\n> > Thanks again to Dale Brown for graciously and safely storing my
\r?\n> > Herse for years
\r?\n> > VeloOrange has thankfully put the '52 RHerse on http://velo-
\r?\n> > orange.blogspot.com/onfirm . I can confirm the same bronze disks
\r?\n> > are packed in my '52 Herse's downtube. Great
\r?\n> > detective work by Ray Homsky on his Herse.!! Same crepepaper
\r?\n> > with tiny button sized, superthin bronze 'cymbells" Seems to be a
\r?\n> > ballast to 'tune' the frame. The fork is also very heavy in the
\r?\n> > crown with the cork and bronze insert for the dyno. The pitch of
\r?\n> > the fork is very low compared to any other fork I have, vintage or
\r?\n> > carbon. Are RHerse forks 'tuned' too?
\r?\n> > Any Herse experts out there know about this??
\r?\n> > Also check out the wooden 650b's with the Prior mega flanges,
\r?\n> > sweeet!!
\r?\n> > to be used on the Herse. Smmoooth too.
\r?\n> > with Godspeed,
\r?\n> > Steve Kistler in Oklahoma City, OK
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> 1952 Chrome Rene Herse link should be:
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Chuck Schmidt
\r?\n> South Pasadena, CA USA
\r?\n> http://www.velo-retro.com (reprints, t-shirts & timelines)