[CR]Report from Brazen Dropouts swap meet

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Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2001 06:44:53 -0500
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
From: Tom Hayes <hayesbikes@mail.nls.net>
Subject: [CR]Report from Brazen Dropouts swap meet

At the request of the webmaster, I'm handing in my report from the Madison Swap.

Overall, most of it was mountain bike and newer road stuff. Very crowded in the morning, difficult to walk around I found.

Folks there that I knew from the list: John Barron, John (?) from Kenwood Cyclery in Minneapolis (which, for those who live in the area or are to visit, is a pretty neat shop, with interesting vintage frames and bikes). Others of interest I thought were Chris Kvale frame builder, Dennis Kilfoy frame builder who was showing off a recently built frame with Nervex lugs. John Barron had his usual collection of interesting and diverse stuff; John from Kenwood had probably the most interesting frames, but I now only remember a black Paramount. The most interesting bike that I saw, one that remained unsold when I left, was a near mint 1972 Falcon, robin-egg blue with chrome lugs, fenders, and complete NR. He was asking $1200 when I left.

The Madison Swap is billed as the second-largest in the country; I'm not sure that's true, though I'm pretty bad on judging crowds. I went to the Denver Swap about three or four years ago. The Madison Swap pales to the Denver one, and I think it was smaller than the Trexlertown one that I attended.

Perhaps John Barron (nudge, nudge) could give a more complete report and have a better feel for the interest in vintage stuff that was there than I. I have attended Dale's twice, Trexlertown once, Denver Swap once, and now Madison once. In rating them, for those who might have attended one or the other of those listed, I would rank them the following: nothing can compare to Denver Swap for sheer volume, including vintage stuff, but the search is tough; Cirque 2000 would be second (this means, and here's a plug: Cirque 2001 will surpass 2000); Trexlertown 2000, Cirque 1999, and Madison Swap 2001. The rating, obviously personal, is based upon the interest in vintage and classic stuff, and what I walked away carrying from each.

In spite of my mediocre rating of Madison, I managed to walk away with a set of Lyotard pedals, campy hi-flange hubs, missed some C-Record hubs, and a VAR headset or bottom bracket tool--looks kind of like a channel lock. And in addition, I do believe, all things bicycle are good; it's just that somethings bicycle are better than other things bicycle. And even though I left very cold Madison saying to myself that I probably wouldn't attend again, after a week, sort of like a visit from bad relatives, I have begun to think about all the things I missed, should have looked over more carefully, and probably by next February the anticipation of it will begin.

Cheers.

Tom

Tom Hayes
18585 Munn Road
Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44023
hayesbikes@nls.net
hayes@jcu.edu