Re: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction & tandem

From: Howard La Grange <howard@pacificturbine.com> Subject: Re: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction & tandem To: "Dr. Paddle" <drpaddle@yahoo.com>, "Classic" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, "Peter Jourdain" <pjourdain@yahoo.com> Date: Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 2:03 AM

Over the years many have commented on Dr. Graves.  I was active in the San Diego chapter of the youth hostels from 1959 to 1968 and rode many times with him.  I would estimate his height between 5'6" and 5'8".  Definitively not 6'.  I rode his chromed Rene Herse tandem and tike many times.  Hard to understand the reference to a 25" tandem.  At the time I was a teenager and never really appreciated the effort he put in prompting cycling until later in my life. 

I will always remember on a trip to Yosemite, we had cooked a roast for dinner.   When he was dividing it up among the group I told him how impressed I was on his craving.  He simply replied he had a lot of practice. Dr. Graves was always the gentlemen.  Along with many other young people, he changed my life and gave me an activity that I continue to enjoy.

Howard LaGrange Oceanside, CA
> From: "Dr. Paddle" <drpaddle@yahoo.com>
> Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 21:33:35 -0800 (PST)
> To: Classic <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, Peter Jourdain
> <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction & tandem
>
> If I recall correctly, Dr Graves was no six-footer. I recall, with some margin
> for memory fade, that he wasn't as tall as me (5'10"). With a bunch of
> disclaimers because of the many years, I'll bet he was closer to 5'8". A
> tandem with a 25" front would be too big for him. His singles fit me well,
> maybe a bit smaller than the 23.5" I usually rode. He gave the impression of
> being a bit diminuitive: not a physically powerful guy by any means. Of
> course, I always saw him riding in knickers, and it's hard to convey power in
> knickers.
>  
> Doctor was the founder of American Youth Hostels in San Diego. He was the most
> wonderful mentor to the neighborhood kids who took up cycling. I lived just
> about a mile away from him in La Jolla Shores when he guided me into cycling.
>  
> Cheers!
>  
> Kevin
>
> --- On Tue, 2/1/11, Peter Jourdain <pjourdain@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Peter Jourdain <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction & tandem
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Cc: "Dr. Paddle" <drpaddle@yahoo.com>, "Matt Gorski" <milanocc@gmail.com>
> Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 6:08 PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi, Kevin---
>
>
>
>
> Thanks for the reminiscences of Dr. Clifford Graves. Wish so much I could have
> met him.
>
>
>
>
>
> Dr. Graves' Rene Herse tandem (orange in color, I believe) sold on ebay a
> couple of years back. Somewhere I think I have the auction photos. If I find
> them I'll post 'em.  It was a pretty large size, a 24 or 25-inch captain's
> cockpit. Is that the machine you recall?
>
>
>
>
> I remember there being a debate on CR about Dr. Gaves' height. Some folks,
> looking at a picture of him, thought he was quite short. But looking at his
> tandem and the size of the tubes (especially the head tube) I believe he was
> actually a 6-footer. The ebay seller had not listed the dimensions of the
> machine.
>
>
>
>
> I remember bidding on it and Matt Gorski rooting for me and asking me
> afterwards if I'd won it, which I did not. I think it might have gone for as
> much as five grand. I'll have to see if I can dig up the auction info from my
> archives.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheerio,
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Peter Jourdain
>
>
> Whitewater, Wisconsin USA
>
>
>
>
> http://www.bicyclingbackwards.com
>
>
> "For here is entertainment in excelsis, the sight, the sound and the scent of
> things....Why cycling for joy is not the most popular passtime on earth is
> still a mystery to me." ---Frank J. Urry, "SALUTE TO CYCLING"
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- On Tue, 2/1/11, Dr. Paddle <drpaddle@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Dr. Paddle <drpaddle@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 8:28 PM
>
>
> I visited Dr Graves' garage many times as a teen. I recall he had at that time
> (1968 to about '71) a couple chrome Herse touring bikes (one that broke apart
> for shipping) and a chrome Herse racer. He also had a tandem that may have
> been an Herse, and a tricycle from another manufacturer. At the time I hung
> out there, he was a bachelor so there wasn't a wife's bike. (He married in the
> mid-70s, I think, to Katrina Hippen?) I had the pleasure of riding the racer
> in a ten-mile timetrial a couple of times, and the tricycle once. Doctor was a
> wonderful guy.
> My memory may be incomplete or corrupted, of course. Consider the era...
>  
> Kevin Montgomery
> San Diego, California USA
>
> --- On Tue, 2/1/11, Matt Gorski <milanocc@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> From: Matt Gorski <milanocc@gmail.com>
> Subject: [CR] Timewarp Rene Herse Auction
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Cc: sterling@tns.net
> Date: Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 3:23 PM
>
>
> http://ebay.com/<blah>
> 2Fshop.ebay.com%3A80%2F%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm570%26_nkw%3D110639322951%2
> 6_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1
>
> Sterling,
> This is a very nice original bicycle... Very nice!~ If I didn't have a lady
> Herse project
> coming together I would be all over it. Do you know how many Herse's Dr
> Graves
> ordered through the years??
>
> Matt Gorski
> Long Beach,
> CA   USA
>
>
> [edit]