Archive-URL: http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.asp?Filename=classicrendezvous.10309.0284.eml
Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 16:31:24 -0700
From: Jan Heine <heine93(AT)earthlink.net>
Subject: [CR]Paris-Brest-Paris on 1948 Rene Herse tandem

Hi all,

Back from PBP and France. Jaye Haworth and I did Paris-Brest-Paris on 
the old 1948 Rene Herse tandem, complete with Cyclo rear derailleur 
and rod-operated front derailleur. It was a great ride, and we came 
first  among the mixed tandems. Only one (all-male) tandem was 
faster. We did the 1225 km (765 miles) in 52:44 hours. Our longest 
stops were twice 30 minutes for warm meals. The last 200 km were 
hard, but that is normal, I am told.

It was great to ride the old machine - many older spectators 
remembered the days when PBP was hard-fought between the teams of 
Herse, Routens and others.

The old machine worked flawlessly, the comfort of the fat 650B x 35 
mm tires was instrumental in enabling us to press on through 3 nights 
and 2 days. Often, we had 20 to 30 single bikes in our wake, who had 
been dropped from the "fast" start group (they had left 1:45 hours 
before us). On the many twisty downhills, we could show them that 
nothing corners like an old Herse tandem - it usually took them 15 
minutes of hard effort to catch us - if they did at all. It didn't 
rain, but the fat hammered fenders would have come in handy if the 
forecast ("rain at times") had been accurate.

(We updated the bike with clipless pedals and a SON generator hub and 
light, plus LED rear lights. Jaye used a modern Avocet O2 saddle. 
Otherwise, it was all 1940s/50s parts, or equivalents.) This tandem 
negates almost everything we are told is important in a modern tandem 
(narrow handlebars, few gears, short rear top tube, no stoker 
suspension), yet I prefer it greatly over all I have ridden. But that 
is a topic for a future VBQ article...

Otherwise, except one all-chrome 1970s Singer and a Singer tandem of 
the same vintage, there weren't many on-topic bikes in PBP. Rumors 
had it that there were 2 or 3 other Herse bikes on the ride. The 
others mostly were disappointing modern racing bikes, poorly suited 
to the event. All in all, I saw maybe 20-30 bikes with fenders, 
hundreds without.

For more details and photos, check out the Vintage Bicycle Quarterly 
web site at
http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/index.html

PLEASE NOTE MY NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS. If you have e-mailed me and not 
received a response,  please try again. Upon returning from France, I 
had to delete thousands of junk mails, and some messages may have got 
lost.

Jan Heine
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
Seattle, WA
http://www.mindspring.com/~heine/bikesite/bikesite/index.html
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