Greetings Bike Detectives, There was some interest in a somewhat mysterious "Rene Herse: that I bought from France on Ebay several weeks ago. The bike has now arrived and I have by and large disassembled it and it is a bit mysterious. I have a 67 or 68 RH in very good original condition and it is quite different from the new one. The new bike has decent lug work, but the lugs and the work are very different from my genuine RH. The lugs are no where near as fine and clearly have not had the hand finishing that original RH has. The dropouts are not custom RH, but some unidentified dropouts similar to those made by Agrati or something of that sort. It does have a genuine RH stem and crank although the inner chainring is the earlier rounded corner version. The front rack seems to be genuine RH although it bolts to the side of the fork crown as opposed to the brake pivots. The frame is clearly made from nice lightweight tubing, but it has no frame tubing sticker. I found a tiny stamping that reads "speed" on the top of both chain stays close to where the chainstay attaches to the bottom bracket shell. It looks like the stamping came from the tubing manufacturer. There are other very interesting details like the electrical contact in the fork for the headlight as well as a JOS taillight boss on the seat tube. The brakes are MAFAC Racers with bronze pivot bushings and fully enclosed cable hangers. The wheels are mismatched although I would opine that the front wheel is original. It has an early Normandy hub with an alloy clincher rim without ferrules. I would think that it is a Mavic.
Now, the plot thickens: The cap on the stem bolt has the name "C. Aubague" and an address in a Paris suburb. According to Mike Kone, all of the bikes that left the Herse shop had the owner's name stamped on this cap. Also, written across the top tube in the same paint as the hand striping is "C. Aubague". So it appears that the frame and the genuine RH stem were connected to each other at one time or another. I did a bit more research and a gentleman named Claude Aubague was the President in the 90's of the Audax Bicycle Club which puts on the Paris-Brest-Paris and other similar races. I read somewhere else that Mr. Aubague was the longest serving and oldest member of the club so I have to assume that he was racing in the late 50's and early 60's. The new "RH" is set up like a PBP bike with fenders, lighting, small rack, drop bars etc. So my best bit of detective work leads me to believe that this bike was originally built by another builder but was then modified by Herse to fit within PBP specifications for Mr. Aubague. The bike appears to have been ridden fairly hard in it's life although there is nor structural damage to the frame itself. I don't know if Mr. Aubague is still alive or whether any of you Francophiles know him. If there is enough interest, I could figure out how to post some pictures. Best, Tom Hansen, Los Angeles, California, USA. Best, Tom
Thomas Hansen Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren & Richman, L.L.P. 450 N. Roxbury Dr. 8th Floor Beverly Hills, CA 90210 Phone: (310) 248-3105 Fax: (310) 275-2329 Email: th@hjth.com
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