Hmmm....Is "Gear Exchange" more appropriate than "Swap Meet" (or "Cycle Jumble", for that matter)?
Whatever. The Bicycling magazine sponsored event held in DC this past Saturday turned out to be better than I expected. Given recent events and the current subdued climate, the turnout by both sellers and buyers was admirable . I think everyone needed the diversion, and the event turned into a fun, social gathering. There was a nice mix of old stuff and new, dealers, reps and individuals. I chose not to get a vendor spot and instead helped a friend who was disposing what was left of his Warrenton shop, which he closed down last month. I helped him load in and set up, and pretty much abandoned him to prowl the floor the rest of the day. It was fun not being tied to a booth for a change.
There was lots of clothing, helmets, shoes and the like from the usual big vendors, but plenty of other stuff to keep it interesting. Larry Black had his usual sales-table/retro-display/information-stand/hospitality-booth/gathering-spot set up. And as usual, I think Larry bought more than he sold. Roy Drinkwater set up his disaster relief table adjacent to the Larry B Lounge, probably to get the greatest exposure. It seemed to work. Crazy Dave from NJ was there with his usual piles of interesting but hard to get a look at stuff. Dave tried his best to aggravate and alienate as many people as he could. Anyone who knows Dave knows what I mean. He's finally starting to recognize me and I actually made some inroads into communicating with him on some workable level (buying him a bagel and coffee in the morning seemed to help). I even bought a few things from him, which can be pretty difficult.
There were quite a few CR list members wandering around but I couldn't manage to get everyone together at one time and place for a photo. I won't try and list everyone (because I'll probably forget some) but it was nice seeing a lot of familiar faces. Most of us kept re-grouping to get the latest hot-tip on an item or to view the latest "find". And there were some finds to be had. My best pick of the day was a pair of early Suntour Superbe track pedals, NOS in the original box, for the grand sum of $17.50. Also found some Campy Chorus monoplaner brakesets in the rare graphite finish. Two sets, one new and complete and one new and not so complete. Oh, and a 26.2 Super Record seatpost with a Cinelli winged-C logo, which is already on it's way to Brian B.
Marty Walsh kept buying things and then turning around and selling them to someone else. For the same price! He finally admitted that the hunt was more fun than the "owning". He snagged a great little Campy equipped Frejus for just $45, and then graciously let Jill have it (it was her size)...for $45!
There were some other interesting bikes around too. I saw a Hollands lugged aero frame, a real Fred Kelly Alpine (too small for me, unfortunately), a couple Gitanes, and a few other interesting things. I took about 20 pics and will be passing them along to Dale in the next day of so.
All in all, it turned out to be a pretty nice event. I hope Bicycling thinks it was successful. I'd like to see it continue. If it comes back next year, it will probably be even bigger.
Ciao.
Your intrepid reporter -
Wayne Bingham