Unusual Herse--photos, question
 

Not the funeral kind...

I wish I could say it was mine. I stumbled upon THIS nifty old chrome rando/tour bike, and I wondered why the QR's by the bottom bracket and under the seat? If I had to guess, maybe the frame comes apart for shipping? Anyone seen these or know what they are?

Also, I had never seen shifters mounted under the seat, either. I'm not sure what advantage if any that would have.

Thats a take apart bike. Bike seperates into two halfs. The shifters if mounted on the downtube would interfer with taking the bike apart, cable tension and other complications. So the levers are mounted on the rear half of the bike for ****ion not convenience. Definitely a custom job for a specific client/use.

It's a Rene Herse Demontable... here is a very detailed page on one. It shows the bike apart that sort of explains everything:

http://www.reneherse.com/RHdemontable1968.html

Thanks guys. I guessed right, but I never made the connection about the mounting of the shifters. And, I saw the Demontable name, but, not speaking much French, it sounded like the spot where Satan would eat his cornflakes.

I thought the need to break a bike down to save airline fees was a recent thing; although, it's also nice to be able to put the bike inside your car, I suppose. The only break-apart bikes I've seen were fairly new.