As others have pointed out, Herse bikes were used in competition - Louison Bobet at least at some point raced on an Herse, and twice the women's worlds were won on an Herse. Also at least one 24hr track world record was set on an Herse. Oh, and lets not forget that Herse bikes were tested in competition regularly by Lyli Herse during her numerous wins at the French national championshiops. Not too bad for a company known for its touring machines.
Jean Desbois was the builder of the Pink Herse in question. Desbois was a builder for Herse during the 1940's - at a time when Herse frames were especially wonderful. He returned in the early 70's, and took over after Herse's passing. There were often a number of folks working in the Herse shop, and aside from Herse himself, Desbois was probably the master. If one is to examine Herse bikes closely, the bikes built by Desbois are if anything crisper and technically more exact that most others on average. He had a different sense of asthetics then Herse, but that's a different story.
So the buyer of the Pink Herse will actually wind up with a bike personally built by perhaps the finest builder employed by Herse during virtually all of the company's long history. Not bad I say.
Mike Kone in Boulder CO
Rene Herse Bicycles Inc.
> 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
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: The Maaslands
>
> 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/
> tem=280151879838
> >
>
> > 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