Good afternoon (morning, or even night, for some),
I listed this wheelset on eBay a few weeks back, but made no mention of
it at the time here on the list. I should probably have done so. It's a
wheelset for tandem, size 650B, said to be (and plausibly) from a 1950s
(or even '40s?) Rene Herse. The rear rim is a quite old looking Mavic Cr
iterium with the diamond decal (transfer, not sticker), the front is (on
ly slightly newer-looking) Super Champion. Hubs are Maxi-Car. O.L.D. is
about 116 / 118mm, anyway a tad more than 115mm, could be spaced wider w
ith ease--total axle width is about 170mm. It has solid axles as you'd e
xpect, likewise, metric threading ("french") for the freewheel--probably
intended for four-speed, originally.
Photos are available at:
http://www.flickr.com/
I'm going out for a few hours (riding); e-mails / offers will be dealt w ith in the order they arrive, except preference given for '50s tandem ow ners! Would enjoy seeing pictures of your bikes. Of course I have seen p hotos of Jan Heine's Herse tandem--on which he did P-B-P--and isn't that one built for 700C? Jan, I still must subscribe to your very fine magaz ine--and I missed the last issue. Discount for a subscription if you hap pen to need these wheels!
Somebody please mention these as well to the fellow in California who wa s mentioned as having picked up that '60s-renovated '50s Herse that was briefly on eBay last month. That one was essentially a frameset with der ailleurs.... Best Regards, Tom Ward New York, NY 10012 USA --Where my tandem is 650B, but is a Gitane "Europa" from the 70s. Maxi-C ars would be nice on it, but they'd need to be of a later generation....