My assessment of the Madison Swap agrees with much of what Peter Jourdain already wrote. There was a reasonable amount of vintage stuff there: a few tables--even those aside from John Barron and Greg Parker--with virtually all vintage stuff. Lots of pretty good deals. There was a Eisentraut frame and fork with Campy headset and bottom bracket that I for sure would have bought had it been my size. They wanted $450 and were looking for offers.
The number of attendees seemed way up to me based on the last couple of years when I attended, and that in spite of the early morning heavy snow. The number of individual vendors appeared up too, and there did not appear to me to be an increase in the wholesalers and dealers dominating the floor space.
A good trip, well worth it for me, especially since it only took forty-five minutes to get from the Chicago Skyway to O'Hare and O'Hare to the Skyway on the way home, neither of which required me to come to a complete stop. I interpreted that as "the end" is near or some cataclysmic event is imminent.
Always fun at swaps.
Tom Hayes
Chagrin Falls, Ohio USA