H Rensch pre-war Tandem?

[Meejoir]

I work for a charity who refurbish donated bikes. We get all sorts, but we picked this beauty up this morning, I wondered if anyone knew anything about it?

It’s branded H Rensch, who I believe stopped using that name during WW2 because it sounded a bit too German - became Paris Cycles after that apparently.

It’s built from Reynolds 531 tubing and has an interesting bend in the rear seat tube.

Any further info about H Rensch would be much appreciated.

 

[Woz]

With my limited knowledge, I would say later than pre-war. Lovely bike.

Any chance you could do a few photos of the brakes please? They look intriguing.

 

[Meejoir]

Re:

It’s a real beauty - I’ll take some more pictures tomorrow. I’ve never seen brakes like them either. I should post a video as they have an interesting movement.

The lady who donated it said her and her husband bought it second hand in 1968 when they got married and used it regularly. Apparently her husband used to love going fast down steep hills and she demanded he fitted a brake to the stoker bars as she was terrified!

 

[Woz]

Re: Re:

It’s a real beauty - I’ll take some more pictures tomorrow. I’ve never seen brakes like them either. I should post a video as they have an interesting movement.

The lady who donated it said her and her husband bought it second hand in 1968 when they got married and used it regularly. Apparently her husband used to love going fast down steep hills and she demanded he fitted a brake to the stoker bars as she was terrified!

Thanks!

 

[bagpuss]

Re:

Brakes look like Resilions .

http://www.classiclightweights.co.uk/co ... story.html

There might also be a rear hub drag brake . Common on period tandems . This was normally applied by the stoker .

 

[The History Man]

What are the plans for it?

 

[Meejoir]

Re:

Most of the bikes we get are a bit more modern do we do them up and sell them at our workshop. Bikes like this we usually leave intact for a specialist buyer to refurb themselves. So yes, we’ll be selling it.

 

[OldTel]

Re:

Hi, a lovely rare example, it looks to have the later tour de france lugs, so age wise it would be in the 1949/50/51 range, the serial number on the bottom bracket would give the answer. With that in such good original condition, be patience with the sale. Thanks Terry

 

[Jonny69]

Pretty sure it isn't pre-war. It doesn't have a head clip headset, the headtube and set tube angles look too steep and I would expect the fork to look more like a Russ bend. I think those Resilion cantilevers might pre-date the bike. They were renowned as being excellent stoppers, however, so there's a good chance they were better brakes on a tandem than the calipers of the time.