Late 40s / Early 50s René Herse tip find

[Woz]

Absolutely loving the post about unravelling the tape and of course mandatory corks.

Been there myself and I do rate it one of the most hideous jobs easily to underestimate.

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads...🛠️-the-merlot-aftermath-🍷.450638/post-3294492

 

[Jonny69]

Ha, I see your tape was painted down too! I have to admit, I did consider soaking mine in solvent. It probably would have made the job a bit easier but I couldn’t face the sticky mess or having to explain why the house stank of solvents. At least hoovering up the bits gave the vacuum cleaner a lovely woody smell of old shellac!

 

[dirttorpedo]

Absolutely loving the post about unravelling the tape and of course mandatory corks.

Been there myself and I do rate it one of the most hideous jobs easily to underestimate.

https://www.retrobike.co.uk/threads/early-50s-la-gazelle-eau-de-nil--the-merlot-aftermath-.450638/post-3294492

This makes me wonder if my experiment with shellac and cotton bar tape will become a major regret at some point.

 

[Jonny69]

I’ve had a pretty serious session with the wire wool today. The TLDR is I’m probably ready to do some reassembly. Test fit time.

Naked:



Dressed:



Aluminium foil really wasn’t cutting through the oxidation so I swapped to wire wool. I had a big carrier bag full of it this morning and now I’ve only got a handful or so, but all the alloy parts are back to smooth alloy and ready to use. Example, mudguards:



The stem and bars revealed something exciting. First I pulled the corks out:



Then I hit the bars and stem with wire wool. I wouldn’t normally do this to alloy but there was so much dried shellac on them I pretty much used it to rub that off. The wire wool revealed this on the stem:



That looks a lot like an owner and their address stamped on.

M. Munita
9, Route De La Reine,
Boulogne,
Seine.

Now, the bars. These are really interesting. They’re drops, but they curve up quite a lot before they curve forwards and down and I’m not familiar with that shape bar. I happened to be re-reading Woz’s Eau de Nil thread and he’d posted a pic of the Philippe bar and stem line up.



Don’t know who made my bars but the shape is called randonneur.

@Woz also said he’d cut his bars in half and found a steel sleeve in the centre bulge but couldn’t work out how they would have made them. Woz, my bars are made in three pieces. There are two very subtle welds at the sides of the top section. They clearly weren’t confident that they could pull the shape into the bars in one piece. Either the alloy cracked when they did it of the shape was too complicated, but either way they were extremely good at welding alloy.

I found a make/model stamped on the mudguards:





The hubs aren’t both the same but they are both Maxi Car. I’m pretty sure the rear one is original as it’s got the coloured anodised bearing covers that you see on René Herse bikes, but the front has steel ones.



My hands are bloody sore from all the rubbing

 

[Jonny69]

That address is here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/HjAVbAfFU18NC8xTA
Which might be this apartment block:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/xMrMqqrfq4BxCshU8

 

[slackboy]

And this is what it might have looked like when m. Munita bought his bike

 

[Woz]

Oh my. This is really the stuff. The essence. I still can't get over the fact this was found at your local tip in England.

Lefol mudguards are premium - as you would expect.

Philippe bars are premium - but I had difficulty in finding time lines, I'm pretty sure if you measure bang on 25mm at the clamp area they would potentially be a Philippe or at least a derivative of for RH. Grip area larger at 23.5mm if my memory is right.

That stem is wonderful. If just oooozeess custom build for the customer who walked into RH and ordered it.

Boulogne too .... Paris Region. Not far from the EdN address too and a popular spot for cyclists.

While I'm a self confessed bike snob, I think when you get something like this in your hands, there is an overwhelming feeling it really was built unique and custom and with care and would have costed a small fortune back in the day. It's odd today to think that what is in your hand is a one-off speciality item and absolutely worth rescuing to witness the high end level of what, 70s years back and essentially a massive foundation for the modern mass produced bike today.

 

[Woz]

Just noted the Maxi Car hub. A jewel. You can replace a drive side spoke without taking the freewheel off.

 

[Jonny69]

@slackboy that's amazing!

 

[dirttorpedo]

Oh my. This is really the stuff. The essence. I still can't get over the fact this was found at your local tip in England.

Lefol mudguards are premium - as you would expect.

Philippe bars are premium - but I had difficulty in finding time lines, I'm pretty sure if you measure bang on 25mm at the clamp area they would potentially be a Philippe or at least a derivative of for RH. Grip area larger at 23.5mm if my memory is right.

That stem is wonderful. If just oooozeess custom build for the customer who walked into RH and ordered it.

Boulogne too .... Paris Region. Not far from the EdN address too and a popular spot for cyclists.

While I'm a self confessed bike snob, I think when you get something like this in your hands, there is an overwhelming feeling it really was built unique and custom and with care and would have costed a small fortune back in the day. It's odd today to think that what is in your hand is a one-off speciality item and absolutely worth rescuing to witness the high end level of what, 70s years back and essentially a massive foundation for the modern mass produced bike today.

If that was a high end custom bike then it also shows how technology transferred to more affordable bikes over the following decades so that many could afford a quality high performing bicycle for cyclotouring, etc.