Greetings, All--
I had tried twice to submit this post immediately after Tom Hayes inquiry YESTERDAY, but Yahoo! Mail is now doing weird, imponderable gatekeeping on OUTGOING mail. Seems more anti-customer than anti-spam to me, but on to the show
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 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 hadnt 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. (Im 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 (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 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 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 the Frejus, with the owners permission. Unfortunately, the flash is built right into the body of the camera and I couldnt 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/
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 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 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. Actually, I'm probably the Pete of about 10th ranking on the CR List (never knew so many Petes before!)
Peter Jourdain
>From soon-to-get-socked-with-snow Whitewater,
Wisconsin
> 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
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