Mike Kone made a number of good points in response to Norris's post about the seemingly irrational appeal of Rene Herse bikes. Mike wrote:
A) Most Herse frames are actually extrememly well made. The 50's bikes are the best, but most others are very well done. B) There is something fun about Herse because there were so many varieties. One can try to collect "the catalog" (kind of a misnomer because few true catalog bikes exist - most are a hybrid of features from various models) C) While Herse was known as a touring style builder, a number of race frames came from Herse as well. As I understand it, Alcyon used bikes built by Herse at some point. Oh, then there is Lily Herse, the best female racer in France in her day. Herse built his daughters bikes, so there was certainly some race bike experience. D) Affordability - an Herse such as the one on Ebay is going to fetch far less money that a fully equipped touring machine. Someone can gain entry into the Herse world for far less money than a fully equipped machine would cost. E) Because Herse made so many varieties, someone collecting them all would eventually need this one.
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Note that most of the bidders for that Rene Herse frame now on ebay are from Japan. No surprise there.
There is one other thing about this that bears consideration.
There is this *thing* in Japan about *all* things French. Don't ask me what it's about, although it's probably not all that mysterious. Japanese cognoscenti are not interested only in french bikes. They're interested in french flutes, french pastry, french fashion, people involved in any kind of culture from France... you name it. France and anything from France is subject to a kind of intense veneration in Japan that doesn't just border on irrational, it sprints right over said border.
I'd be interested to hear from others who know more about this. Where and how did this French Thing in Japan get started?
Dennis Young, where are you? You'd know.
Charles "wanted that matched pair of Herses recently on ebay in the worst way...but too rich for my blood" Andrews SoCal