I'll give my biased two cents on the Madison Swap. Like the one in Chicago this past Fall, it was mostly purveyors of new goods. Thats where the market is. About a couple of dozen or so true vintage sellers, with about a half dozen genuinely great tables.
It was fantastic to see "Hetchins" Pete Naiman, John Barron (Velostuf.com), and Greg Parker and company (bicycleclassics.com), all of whom had tables. All the sellers had reduced prices for the show. (Im one who thinks their normal prices are quite reasonable, considering the hard-to-find NOS gems they offer). So that part was a real treat. I picked up a NOS 50s Cyclo Benelux rear D from John for my Bertrand frameset (still being refinished by Mercian), a sweet Regina chain for my 60 Ideor Asso Olimpic from Greg, and various fitments for British bikes from Hetchins Pete.
The one frameset of interest was a lovely 57cm Frejus (dont know which model) offered by another vintage seller with whom I wasnt familiar (Im madly looking for his card now!). The frameset was beautifully restored by CyclArt in a light blue polychromatic? And it was being offered at a incredibly reasonable price, I might add---just not my size. It was still for sale when I left. If its still for sale and the seller sees this post, will he please tip off the list?
I was trying out my new digital camera and took some shots of it. Unfortunately, the flash is built right into the body of the camera and I couldnt try the wise advice of using a diffuser without also covering up the lens! So some of the shots are a bit too reflective. Ill post a few to my Yahoo photos soon or to Wool Jersey if somebody will let me and tell me how. As soon as I got in the car -- Duh!-- I wished Id taken shots of the various CR folks Id met. That, truly, was the best part of the whole experience!
You could see all the vintage stuff thoroughly in an hours time. Not the shows fault--were a small, niche market, we retro grouches. Unlike Chicago, I didnt see any neato seminars on riding in the Tour de France or witness any cool virtual road races on computerized stationery trainers. Id say in size both swaps were about the same, but the Chicago show had more features. After an overkill of three hours I was done. I dont mean to be negative, its just that all Im interested in is the vintage stuff, and there wasnt so much of that outside of those mentioned above.
Was it worthwhile? ABSOLUTELY. Would I like more vintage sellers? YES! Will it happen? WHO KNOWS?
Oh, I should also mention that Pete Naiman has some great ideas regarding how to bring the swap even more to life, from a vintage perspective. I dont want to steal his thunder, so Ill leave it at that for now. Film at 11:00, Pete?
This is the other Pete, reporting.
Peter Jourdain Whitewater, Wisconsin
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