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| Personal Pursuits |
Business Cycles
By Brendan Quirk
03/01/2005
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Collectors must also purchase a bike that is as close as possible to its mint original condition. As Brooks says of Japanese Herse fanatics, “There is no price they won’t pay for a perfect French bike, which may send my children to college.” Michael Kone echoed this sentiment in an article in the Vintage Bicycle Racing Newsletter: “Because the original proprietary bits are nearly impossible to find, missing parts can severely impact value. Theoretically, really mint examples in small sizes with all the right bits may have values much greater than $4,000 . . . .”
Among the details required to manufacture an exceptional steel frame, bicycle aficionados pay attention to two above all others: the ornateness of a frame’s lug work, and the quality of the brazing that mates the steel tubing to the lugs. Think of a lug as a socket into which the builder inserts various tubes of the frame in order to make the bike whole. What distinguishes a lug from a socket is that a socket is a bland interface with no cosmetic virtue, while each lug—a bike sports five or six separate lugs—is a minisculpture. Gorgeously detailed tendrils of steel snake from the body of the lug and encircle the ends of a bike’s various tubes. A frame builder uses brazing heat and molten metal to marry each tube to the lug itself. The more intricate the lug, the more difficult the brazing process.
RIDING AMBITIONS
Some collectors treat their bicycles as objets d’art. But Confente owner David Novoselsky of Chicago suggests that there are fundamental differences between bicycles and traditional aesthetic collectibles. He also sports a fine coin collection, of which he admits, “The thrill of the chase gave me more pleasure than the collection itself. But riding my bikes is the best part of collecting them.” Brooks is of the same school of thought. “Some, like me,” he says, “won’t keep any bike that isn’t his size and isn’t meant to be ridden. It is true that I rarely take out the four-speed Cyclo rear derailleur 650B Rene Herse, but it does ride perfectly, and it’s my size.”
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