[CR] Re: Could this happen to one of your bikes?

(Example: Framebuilding:Technology)

From: <Stronglight49@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2008 00:23:14 EDT
Subject: [CR] Re: Could this happen to one of your bikes?
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


Did people ever mourn the loss of the old cruiser bikes which Gary Fisher, Tom Ritchie, Joe Breeze and others had hacked up and then bashed on mountain trails?

Would we pity a VW Beetle chopped down for use as a Dune Buggy?... No?... But what if it was an early 1960s Porsche sports car?

Are we just being snobs for mourning the loss of the top quality hand made bikes which we prefer?

I suppose a current Cinelli owner might even rejoice to see one more precious example made worthless... Now, among the ever-diminishing finite number remaining, their own bike is worth that much more.

I am not without heart and do have my own prejudices and thoughts on "saving" bikes which I consider valuable - whatever that term means.

The famous custom made Rene Herse Grand Touring bike ridden in the 1948 PBP race which was pictured in detail in Rebour's 1949 book "Le Practique..." had re-surfaced and was sold at auction a few years back. The bike had been highly modified over the years... lights and racks were removed and various fittings were cut off. It eventually survived as a bare frameset which had fallen into neglect and became seriously rusted. I wonder if the new purchaser had hoped to restore the frameset... or to refurbish and modernize it once more... or is it now further reduced and in current use as a 650B Fixie?

Consider what you might realistically do with that old frame. Would you begin a long search for some rare correct 1940s Herse components? Would you commission new replica tubular steel racks to be custom measured, constructed, plated and fitted to the frameset? Would you actually search for a correct (now long obsolete) rear derailleur and also attempt to reconstruct the correct missing chainstay braze-on derailleur hanger, or would you consider a somewhat later derailleur with a claw adapter for the dropout to be acceptable? Or, perhaps you would keep it as found and make it a single speed bike... or a Fixie? I have my own thoughts on what "should" be done with such a famous bike. Opinions of others may differ greatly. I did not even consider bidding, and the frameset sold for what I would think a rather low price.

BOB HANSON, ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO, USA

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