[CR] BELATED Madison Swap report and FREJUS PHOTO LINK

(Example: Racing:Jacques Boyer)

Comment: DomainKeys? See http://antispam.yahoo.com/domainkeys
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 11:43:12 -0800 (PST)
From: "Peter Jourdain" <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
Subject: [CR] BELATED Madison Swap report and FREJUS PHOTO LINK
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org


Greetings, All--

Better late than never? I had many times tried to submit this post, starting immediately after Tom Hayes’ inquiry YESTERDAY through today, but Yahoo! Mail is doing weird, imponderable gatekeeping on OUTGOING mail. It has been keeping me from writing to the list, even when I correctly decipher the Sphinx-like, anti-spam code with which it confronts me. Seems more anti-customer than anti-spam to me, but, whatever...

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. That’s 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 Baron (Velostuf.com), and Greg Parker and company (bicycleclassics.com), all of whom had tables. I also briefly bumped into a couple of CR members I hadn’t previously known, and whose names have slid off my slippery brain (my apologies). All the sellers I dealt with had reduced prices for the show. (I’m one who thinks their normal prices are quite reasonable, considering the hard-to-find NOS gems they offer. How do they FIND that stuff?). So seeing the CR boys was a real treat. I picked up a NOS ‘50s Cyclo Benelux rear D from John B for my Bertrand frameset (still being refinished by Mercian), a sweet Regina chain for my ’60 Ideor Asso Olimpic from Greg P, and various fitments for British bikes from Hetchins Pete.

The one frameset of interest that I saw was a lovely 57cm Frejus (don’t know which model) offered by another vintage seller with whom I wasn’t familiar (I’m madly looking for his card now!). The frameset was beautifully restored by CyclArt in a light blue pearl or flam? And it was being offered at an incredibly reasonable price, I might add---just not my size, which saved me from untold domestic troubles. It was still for sale when I left. If it’s 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 the Frejus, with the owner’s permission. Unfortunately, the flash is built right into the body of the camera and I couldn’t try the wise advice (offered by CR members) of using a diffuser without also covering up the lens. So the first, full shot is way too reflective and neon-ish. The next three are more true color.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/pjourdain/album?.dir=/8ca4&.src=ph

As soon as I got in the car -- Duh!-- I wished I’d taken shots of the various CR folks I’d met. That, truly, was the best part of the whole experience. Next time more extensive photo coverage, for sure.

You could see all the vintage stuff thoroughly in an hour’s time. Not the show’s fault--we’re a small, niche market, we retro grouches. Unlike Chicago, I didn’t see any neato seminars on riding in the Tour de France or witness any cool virtual road races on computerized stationery trainers. I’d say in size both swaps were about the same, but the Chicago show had more features. After three hours, I was done.

Was it worthwhile? For me, 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 wish him luck presenting those concepts.

Cheers,

Peter Jourdain
>From socked-with-snow Whitewater, Wisconsin


--- "Thomas L. Hayes" wrote:


> Having planned to attend the Madison Swap but missed
> it, I was looking forward with some deep-rooted envy
> to reports about the swap. Either I have missed
> them on the list, or there were no reports. Or
> perhaps most felt it was not worth reporting
> (perhaps my subconscious need to have that
> articulated).
>
> Thanks.
>
> Cheers.
>
> Tom Hayes
> Chagrin Falls, Ohio

__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today!
http://my.yahoo.com