Thanks Rod for the great deal on the Simplex shifters (and the free pair you gave me as well). Enjoyed sharing a booth with you and your buddy Mark.
Rod is correct I thought this year's VS had some really nice iron to choose from. As Rod mentioned there were a few nice Mercians, a very pretty Mcspadden frameset, several Pinarellos (one in particular caught my eye, chrome, lovely gray paint work... about $400 but just too small)...
My pick of the show was a "Frenchy" Jack Taylor tandem - French blue, TA crankset, Mafac cantis, fillet brazed, hammertone fender (missing front fender)... really nice.
Saw Mike Kone by the Witcomb Rod mentioned. Saw Mike's booth later with his cornicopia of Campagnolo.
Bought a Galli (maybe ??) seatpost from Peter and James' booth.
Saw a lot of modern stuff as well - where do all those Colnago C40s come from ?
As for me I sold 3 bikes before the doors officially opened and came away at the end of the day about $20 poorer but several components and one new Giro helmet richer. I also got to meet and talk to many people - a lot of fun.
Denver's VeloSwap was a success for me. Already looking forward to next year's.
John Price
Denver CO
> Hi gang,
>
> There were lots of vintage bike sightings at this years Denver Veloswap my
> friends and I thought. A few that stuck in my head:
> 1. a beautiful Landshark frameset for $100. I should have bought this and
> eBayed it. It had Tange Prestige tubing, sweet thinned lugs, great
> workmanship, and was in nearly new condition. It was 59cm and too small or
> I'd have bought it in a heartbeat. The paint was even a nice SOLID
> lavender
> color. I'm kicking myself on this one.
> 2. Witcomb USA track bike for $500. Very nice, all Campy, and my size
> (24")
> even. The owner wouldn't come down or it would be mine now also, although
> it
> was worth every penny of $500.
> 3. 3 Mercians
> 4. Dan Mcspadden frameset
> 5.Ryffrank (sp?) bike for $1100
> 6. Bill Holland bike for $875
> 7. Lots of Pinarellos, Bottechias, Colnagos, Peugeots and the like.
> 8. Crescent
> 9. Holdsworths
> 10. Paramounts
> 11. 2 Urago's
> 12. Trek's
>
> Mike Kone had a very nice setup but I never did see him. As usual,
> Recycled
> Cycles from St. Louis was there buying up bikes.
>
> I found a cool old frame I'll turn into a winter bike. It's a Claude
> Butler
> frame supposedly but has no decals. It has been repainted yellow by Joe
> Bell
> with a speckle pattern, similar to a "Rainbow Trout". It was sold to the
> guy
> who sold it to me as a Claud Butler but I'll probably never know for sure.
> It definitely looks English and is a touring frame. I'll shoot some
> pictures
> if anyone would like to see it.
>
> It's an interesting (63c-c) frame. It has cantilever brakes, bosses on the
> front fork for a rack, internal top tube brake cable routing, long Campy
> dropouts and room for fat 700c tires. The lugs are long point and look to
> be
> the same as the ones on Tom Adam's MKM that is on the CR site. Any idea
> what
> kind of lugs those are? See:
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
> experts out there?
>
> I paid $40 for the frame which included a Stronglight b.b., Simplex
> Retrofriction shifters and XT canti brakes. I promptly sold the shifters
> to
> my buddy John since he needed some for his new Saluki.
>
> I also picked up a few other goodies like a set of new Shimano 7 speed
> bar-cons for $20, and other small items. When totaled up against the junk
> I
> sold, it turned out to be a very nice day, especially when you get to meet
> up with a bunch of friends you haven't seen for a while.
>
>
>
> cheers,
> Rod Kronenberg
> Fort Collins, CO