According to the documentation I'm aware of, Herse began making parts for Narcisse in the late 1930's for bikes used in the trials. The success of those parts put Herse on the map so to speak and production of his own bikes happened later.
If you follow the results of the trials, it is pretty clear I believe that Herse was not making bikes to any extent before the war. By late 30's, though, I suspect things were starting, but it is during the war that production really got going.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
> In Jan Heine's latest Bicycle Quarterly, formerly Vintage Bicycle Quarterly,
> there are several interesting articles, primarily about tire design and
> performance. But, as I have found before, I enjoy the articles about the French
> Technical Trials the most. In this edition, there are two articles that caught
> my eye. The first, a first person account by a woman rider, Germaine Darchieux,
> of a Reyhand in what I think must have been the 1937 French Technical Trials;
> and the second, a short article on making stems for Rene Herse. In the latter,
> at the very beginning, the author, Jean Desbois, who worked at Rene Herse, says
> that Rene Herse began building bike parts in 1936 and began offering complete
> bicycles in 1940. I don't have my ot her VBQ editions with me, but I thought
> Rene Herse was offering complete bicycles in the 1930s. I seem to recall that
> Rene Herse was well represented with bikes of his name in the Technical Trials
> of the mid-30s, with the implication that the bikes would have been available to
> the public. Does anyone know the story here? Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
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