This is a fascinating and well posed series of questions to which it is not easy to reply.
There are number of critical issues not raised by the poser of these qu estions. The pink Herse was not made by the hand of the master, the Masi was. The fame of Herse lies in the area of touring, not racing bikes. Masi's reputation is purely based on racing bikes-the Prestig e being among the more well known. Furthermore, for all I can see, the Prestige represents the quintessence of the Masi esthetique, whe reas the pink Herse is an exception to Herse's more typical work, e ven in racing bikes. Having said all that, the question of price is almost impossible to de termine because both marques have their adherents who are well able to p ay for what they want. It may well be that a Herse collector will pay a premium for an usual example whereas a Masi collector knowing that oth er similar Masis will come to market (perhaps not in this fine condition ) will not bid so high. Other market factors, such as the various pr evious sales of each marque will play a role in the minds of bidders whe n it comes time to bid.
I hope that both bikes do well-it's good for the hobby.
George
George Hollenberg MD
Westport, CT, USA
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2007 12:50 am Subject: [CR] pink René Herse vs. Masi Prestige To: CR
> Going back to the discussion of the pink René Herse
> http://www.reneherse.com/
>
> I thought it might be interesting to compare it to this Masi
> Prestige:
> http://ebay.com/
>
> The are both from the same vintage of early 80's. The Masi has
> more
> prestigious componentry, has a historically stronger racing
> palmarès
> as a brand, and the example up for sale is in nearly perfect
> shape. In
> fact it could be NOS. Now look at the workmanship and compare
> the
> internal cabling that was mentioned by another CR member with
> regards to
> the Herse. I suppose that you could state that the person
> responsible
> for the ultimate construction of both bikes have equal degrees
> of
> continuity with the brand namesake.
>
> Anybody want to comment on the relative merits? How is the final
> price
> going to end up?
>
> Steven Maasland
> Moorestown, NJ
> USA
>
> _______________________
________________________
>
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA