Different strokes for different folks... About the Rene Herse Tom Hansen just bought, the key to me was the following: "I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out if I made a good deal on a particular bike, motorcycle, vintage car, whatever. I just enjoy owning, fiddling with and riding(driving) these old things."
Some of ya'll enjoy "monetizing" the hobby, and the ability to use judgment to profitably enjoy owning a lot of bikes, in succession. Fine by me, but I'm more like Tom, I guess: if you hold for long enough, pleasure continues even if the return on investment is low or negative. We have several bikes we've had for more than 30 years, and still love dearly. Someday, I hope our son will find good homes for them after we're gone. Till then, I just enjoy having, riding, and sharing the bikes.
harvey sachs mcLean VA where it is gonna rain all day, and I'm supposed to take some vintage bikes to the Potomac Pedalers Touring Club annnual picnic today. what's a guy to do?
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Tom Hansen wrote:
Hey Guys, I am the nudnik who bought the Herse on Ebay and I will share
with you what I find out when it arrives. I have a beautiful 67 RH with
all of the appropriate goodies so I did take a good look at the rather
unusual lug work. It also looked to me from the not so great pictures
that there was only a left side shift lever. Whether this means that
this bike was originally a 5 speed or may have had a rod activated front
derailleur who knows. It also appears to have a mismatched set of
wheels, but I have piles of parts to remedy that. My thought was to do
exactly as Dale suggested and rechrome the racks and gently clean and
polish the rest and turn it into a five speed city bike. I'm sure
everybody will want a good look at it then. I gave up a long time ago
trying to figure out if I made a good deal on a particular bike,
motorcycle, vintage car, whatever. I just enjoy owning, fiddling with
and riding(driving) these old things. By the way, there was a French
phrase on the Herse ad that wasn't translated into English on the site.
I think it's vaguely obscene.