>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jan Heine" <heine93@earthlink.net>
>To: "Russ Fitzgerald" <velocio@earthlink.net>;
><classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 6:50 PM
>Subject: Re: [CR]ultimate French bike?
>
>
>> I suspect it was the same as with the Peugeots - the racers didn't
>> ride what was written on their bikes. They went to the custom
>> builders.
>
>How do we know this? It's oft-mentioned here that Merckx's "PX-10" was a
>Masi or something painted in Peugeot livery. Convince me.
>
I don't know anything about individual Peugeot bikes, but several builders in France have told me that pros used to get their bikes made by various custom builders, rather than ride the products they were paid to ride. According to Ernest Csuka (Cycles Alex Singer), this practice lasted at least until the mid-1960s. (Csuka claims that these pros did not go to Singer, but to specialists who made nothing but racing frames. Many didn't even have their own decals, as all their frames were delivered unpainted. They were painted by the sponsoring factories for that "authentic look.")
When I interviewed Lyli Herse (daughter of Rene), she mentioned a number of pros from the 1950s who got their bikes made by Herse. I have been unable to corroborate this independently, but several racers have written about Herse being the first address - not for touring, but for racing bikes. In any case, the relabeling of frames seems to have been common practice. The interview with Lyli Herse, BTW, will appear in Vintage Bicycle Quarterly later this year.
A lot of pros are rather finicky regarding their position, geometry, etc. With most factories set up to do production bikes by the dozen, it may make sense to have one-offs made elsewhere rather than mess up the production shop. I know Peugeot did have a custom shop, so this does not apply there. In a similar vein, Mr. Huffman, the owner of Huffy, once was asked why he rode a Rene Herse Demontable, and his answer was that to have his prototype shop make him a copy would cost much more than buying the original. (If I remember correctly, the quote is from On The Wheel.)
When my team was sponsored (through the shop who sponsored us) by Schwinn and we got the awful Schwinn Peloton bikes, I was considering repainting my Marinoni in Schwinn colors. In the end, I just raced the Marinoni as is, hoping nobody would notice.
--
Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
c/o Il Vecchio Bicycles
140 Lakeside Ave, Ste. C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com