Lest I am perceived to be one of the Rene Herse "bashers" brought to the List's attention by Matthew Gorski recently, let me just caution that in m atters to do with RH's products I am both an admirer of his work and also a Doubting Thomas, and as such I simply recommend a certain circumspection w hen considering his frames and invite comparisons with those crafted by oth er lesser- known but no the less equally talented French builder s.
In order to further debate the merits of Herse's work I am pleased to be the first Lister to draw members' attention to the 1950s RH frame that Ale x has just put up for sale on Ebay.
Item 220149070163.
Earlier contris about the pink RH currently on Ebay referred to the fact that Herse used to build frames for Louison Bobet way back in the late 40s /early 50s period. Does anyone know if Herse also built frames for Jean Rob ic, the winner of the 1947 Tour de France and a very active and aggre sive Pro right through the the end of the 50s? I recently acquired a comple te bike that, it is claimed, belonged to Robic...from his late 40s period w ith Magnat Debon ; the frame, and particularly the short lugs and pointed t op-eyes are very similar to Alex's 1950s frame. Unfortunately my frame does not benefit from such an elegant fork crown...and the fork, with its long sweeping "hockey stick" rake does look very original.
Norris Lockley , Settle Uk
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