René Herse

René Louis Théodore Herse (born January 4, 1908 in Le Chesnay or Caen , † May 12, 1976 ) was a French bicycle manufacturer . He was as haute couture - known frame builder.

biography

First years of employment

René Herse came from a humble background and was orphaned at the age of six after his father was killed in the First World War . He grew up with his grandparents. Probably - so his daughter Lyli's assumption - he started working in the Caen steel mill at the age of ten . There he met his future wife Marcelle, whom he married in 1926 or 1927; they had a daughter, Lyli, who later became a successful cyclist . The couple were avid cyclists and often did bike rides on a tandem on the weekends, even when Marcelle Herse was pregnant. In 1932 they took part in a 200-kilometer certification from the Audax Club parisien (ACP), where they were members as with the Tandemistes Parisiens .

Shortly after the girl was born in 1927, the family moved to Paris, where Herse started working for the aircraft manufacturer Ateliers d'Aviation Louis Breguet . He worked there as a precision mechanic and was responsible for the custom-fit manufacture of individual parts for prototypes . In doing so, he acquired skills and experience that later came in handy when making bicycles. While he was still working for Breguet, he helped out at the weekend at the bicycle designer Narcisse Manevitch , where he also built a bike for his daughter until he decided in 1937 to turn his hobby into his profession.

In 1938, during the Technical Trials , a "product test" for bicycles over 700 kilometers, Herse rode a bicycle of his friend Narcisse, which was equipped with its own lightweight components made of aluminum (pedals, chainrings , stem and others) and attracted a great deal of attention came across in the professional world. It was the lightest touring bike on the market until then .

Own workshop in Paris

The following year, Herse opened his first own workshop, and in 1940 he expanded his business and moved into premises that had previously belonged to a Jewish owner who had fled the Germans. He also hired his first employee, and his wife joined a little later. Narcisse Manevitch, on the other hand, who was of Jewish origin, closed his business and left Paris for Vichy , and another well-known bicycle manufacturer, the Italian Nicola Barra , gave up his business.

At first René Herse did not build frames , but equipped those that customers brought him with his components, repainted them and provided them with his name; only from 1941 onwards there were frames built by Herse. A specialty was the custom-made construction of tandems. During the occupation by the German Wehrmacht, the components were sold on the black market. Herse, who wanted to avoid being used by the Germans for forced labor because of his special abilities , had a doctor cause eczema on his face. His daughter later said that the measure worked, but that it took a year before it went away.

Although there was war and shortage, numerous cyclists, especially members of touring clubs, bought bikes from Herse, who is known as the “father of the randonneur bikes”. Since gasoline was rationed, civilian cars disappeared from the streets of Paris, and a Herse wheel not only provided transportation but also acted as a new kind of status symbol . Business flourished and in 1943 Herse had five employees. On Sundays, the family went on bike tours with friends of the ACP, and Herse built a family triplet for this purpose. During the war, numerous victories could be achieved on Herse bikes, for example at the Criterium de Paris and the Poly de Chanteloup ; records were also set on Herse tandems.

The company's first catalog appeared in 1946, and Herse was represented at trade fairs and exhibitions in the years that followed. René Herse developed a new, more concise logo and a new silhouette of the wheels, which should not be changed for the next 30 years. From 1944 he also organized the Coupe Herse for every man every year . In 1947 he delivered 339 bicycles and the following year 320 bicycles, so that his workshop was now fully occupied with six employees. He continuously developed the design of his products, and from the 1950s onwards, the bikes he built were considered "the very best available".

Later years

At the end of the 1940s, the Renault 4CV and the Citroën 2CV ( duck ) were introduced, the first automobiles that were also affordable for medium- sized companies. As a result, the demand for Herse's bicycles fell sharply, so that in 1956 he was only able to employ one person, even though he now supplied bicycles to the United States and Great Britain and later to Japan . He also had prominent customers such as the Belgian cyclist Albéric Schotte , who won Paris – Tours on a Herse frame , as well as the French Louison Bobet and Guy Lapébie . The Herse frame that Bobet drove in 1959, winning Bordeaux – Paris , is now on display in the Musée Louison Bobet in Saint-Méen-le-Grand . In the early 1960s, Herse was commissioned to equip the French amateur team Fontenay-Sportif with bicycles that the team used for the 1963 International Peace Ride. The driver Jean-Pierre Genet won a stage.

In the meantime, Herses daughter Lyli had successfully pursued her cycling career, which she gave up in 1967 because her father developed health problems. In 1968 she founded her own women's cycling team, which included prominent riders like Geneviève Gambillon , and Lyli Herse coached the athletes personally, despite resistance from the French cycling association FFC . The driver Danièle Piton reported in later years: “On my Herse, I was at home. I later rode other bikes, but they did not compare. The Herse was really something else. "(" I felt at home on my Herse. Later I rode other bikes, but that was no comparison. The Herse was really something special. ")

René Herse fell into a coma on February 2, 1976 as a result of a stroke and died on May 12 of that year at the age of 68.

First his wife Marcelle took over the business, then his daughter Lyli. In 1979 the company moved to Asnières-sur-Seine , and Lyli Herse married the company's long-time frame builder, Jean Desbois. At that time 50 to 75 bikes were built annually; Buyers had to wait around eight months for their bike. In 1986 the shop was closed for reasons of age and health. In 48 years, a total of around 5000 to 6000 bikes were built by Herse.

In 2007 Lyli Herse sold the René Herse brand , remaining material and equipment to the American Jan Heine from Seattle , Washington . After the death of Lyli Herse, Compass Cycles was renamed René Herse Cycles. Complete bikes are not offered.

literature

• Jan Heine: René Herse. The bikes, the builder, the riders . Bicycle quarterly Press, Seattle 2012.

Web links

• René Herse - Gallery with photos of wheels. In: classicrendezvous.com. April 19, 2012, accessed March 13, 2016 . 
• Rene Herse on YouTube , April 7, 2009

Individual evidence

1. ^ Henri Bosc: René Herse - Renowned French Frame Builder . In: International Cycling History Conference (Ed.): Proceedings of the 4th International Cycling History Conference . Bicycle Books, Mill Valley 1994, ISBN 0-933201-66-4 , pp. 85 .
2. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 9
3. ↑ Heine, René Herse , pp. 13, 15.
4. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 9.
5. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 11
6. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 15f.
7. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 21.
8. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 35.
9. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 37.
10. ↑ René Herse. In: Cycle EXIF. October 5, 2010, accessed March 13, 2016 . 
11. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 38.
12. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 47.
13. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 147.
14. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 233.
15. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 343.
16. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 348.
17. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 336f.
18. ↑ Heine, René Herse , pp. 351f.
19. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 353.
20. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 390.
21. ↑ Heine, René Herse , p. 397.
22. ^ The René Herse Story. renehersebicycles.com  
23. ↑ From Compass Cycles to René Herse Cycles. renehersebicycles.com