Thank you for sharing this with us Jan. It does feel like an era of great bicycles & people has slipped away from us a bit this year.
Angus On Sep 7, 5:39 pm, Jan Heine <hein...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Jean Desbois, builder of many of the finest Rene Herse frames and > components, died last week near Paris, France. He was cremated > yesterday, Sept. 6, 2010, in the presence of a small circle of family > and friends. > > Desbois was the chief framebuilder for Rene Herse during the 1940s and > 1950s, when the company made some of the finest randonneur bicycles > ever made. Rene Herse bicycles were ridden by the fastest riders in > Paris-Brest-Paris 1951, 1956, and 1966. Herse won the prestigious > "Challenge des Constructeurs" for the three best-placed riders in > every PBP from 1948 to 1966. > > Desbois apprenticed as an "ajusteur-tourneur" (machine shop fitter) in > Levallois-Perret, just outside the city limits of Paris. During World > War II, Paris was occupied by the German army, and the Germans were > deporting skilled machine personnel to work in German armament > factories. To avoid this, Jean sought different employment in November > 1941. He looked at the Rene Herse shop, where two fine bicycles were > on display in the shop window. Herse had started to make bicycles in > 1940 with a single employee. Lyli Herse remembered seeing Jean > Desbois, who still was a shy teenager: "He stood outside the shop, and > my mother asked me to find out what he wanted. So I went outside, > brought him in, and my father asked him whether he wanted a job." > > Jean quickly moved up the ladder at the Herse shop, first making small > parts like the cable hanger rollers for the Speedy brakes, then > cutting and finishing the brakes themselves as well as the chainrings, > before making stems and finally learning to braze the frames. By the > end of 1945, he was the best-paid of the seven workers at the Herse > shop. > > Desbois stayed with Herse until the early 1950s, when he felt he could > earn more money elsewhere. He first drove taxicabs, then worked in the > mechanical industry. Desbois returned to Herse in April 1975. After > Rene Herse's death in 1976, Desbois married Herse's daughter Lyli. > Together, they continued to run the shop until 1984. > > Jean Desbois was the last of a generation of artisans who worked in > post-war Paris during the Golden Age of Handbuilt Bicycles, where they > created some of the finest bicycles ever made. > > For a few photos of Desbois and of his work, see > > http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/whatisnew.html > > Jan Heine > Editor > Bicycle Quarterly > 2116 Western Ave. > Seattle WA 98121http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
