Has anyone noticed the Rene Herse frame on ebay for sale by the highly regarded March family in France? URL posted below. I recently purchased a somewhat similar one and am hoping that someone bids on this one - so that I'm not tempted to grab this one for what might be a crazy low price - especially difficult since I'm kinda out of extra cash right now. But the chrome headtube against black paint - ouch its painfully nice.
This one has no Herse bits (except the brake cable rollers) - and most interestingly is built from 753 and chrome plated. Violates the rule I always heard about not chroming 753. Then again, this frame was built by no typical framebuilder. It was built after Rene Herse himself had passed away. The frame was therefore built by Jean DuBois - who was initially a builder for Herse in the 40's when some of the finest Herse frames were built! He then married Lylie Herse after Rene Herse died, and continued the tradition. Look in the Herse catalog from 1980 and you'll see a fillet brazed 753 frame as well! For years I've been saying the post Rene Herse, DeBois bikes, are significant in their own right - not the stylistic tour-de-force of the earlier bikes, but extremely crisp and extremely well executed with great workmanship. Almost like a Japanese modern interpretation of a Rene Herse yet instead built by a person who learned the trade directly from Herse himself. In general, fr om a workmanship perspective, I think the DeBois bikes are superior to those built under Rene Herse's supervision in the early to mid 70's.
I know a well known West Coaster on this list recently bought a DeBois built tandem that is supposed to be nothing short of spectacular.
So yeah, you don't get the Herse touring bits on this one - but one could spend a lot more on a bike/frame and get much much less.
Mike "extremely biased" Kone in Boulder CO