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| Swap Meet was Held at LBS |
Contrary to what I might like to believe on occasions, there are bicycle happenings around my location that are a surprise to me. As it turned out, I discovered yesterday there was to be a swap meet of old bikes this morning.
I don't often go to bike swap meets, but I do find it a joy to walk by old bikes and see the various ways people have preserved them and the different approaches the makers took to solve problems.
I took Frankenbike; the Falcon seemed in tune with the spirit of an old bike swap meet. The announcement may be found
here.
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| Lots of Schwinns for Sale, Along With a Variety of Other Bikes |
We walked through the parking lot and looked at all the bikes. While there were lots of interesting ones, all were either not what I was interesting in adding to the fleet, or were the wrong size.
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| Buckets of Interesting Parts |
Even the parts bins, while loaded up with cool stuff, didn't have anything I particularly need for any of my bikes.
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| Freewheel Crank! |
Not to say there weren't things I didn't think about. Above was a bike that used a freewheel crank. The advantage of a freewheel crank is that you can change gears while coasting with derailleurs. No, this idea never did sweep the world, but it was interesting to see one.
Frankenbike attracted some interested looks as well. One vendor asked if I might be wanting to consider a trade for the Falcon, but I opined that Frankenbike was a "keeper." He nodded knowingly, but the Team Raleigh WAS a very sweet bike, as was a Cannondale. Both were quite affordable, but both were a skosh large.
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| Sweet Raleigh was just a Bit Large |
Anyway, after a few trips around to make sure I wasn't missing out on "must have" items, Frankenbike and I departed the old bike swap meet without having purchased anything. I thought I'd gotten away.
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| Tanks for Tank Bikes. Lights are Behind |
And so it might have gone if I hadn't gone to our local non-chain coffee shop with my daughter. I'd gotten a little ahead and stopped to look at a garage sale. I saw a really cool Cannondale helmet, but it was too old (
1996 vintage). ON THE OTHER HAND, that laser printer for the princely sum of $5 was irresistable. As a bonus, I got to ride the Gary Fisher for the rest of the trip. Those bikes with baskets don't handle real well with laser printers aboard, but we got it home without incident. Yup, we nearly got away. Now, we have a "new to us" laser printer as a result of visiting a bike swap meet.
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| Snagged by a Garage Sale on the Way to Get Coffee! |
12 comments:
When I ride a bike without carrying capacity I have to make two trips. The second one is to go back with a basket, trailer or truck.
The only other way is to just put my head down and not to look at anything.
Wow! I need to visit someplace like that!
I would have bought one of them center tanks just to have one.
You almost made it away without buying anything. I hope the laser printer works. That's a heck of a deal.
I've never been to a swap meet, but I'm planning to go to our club's swap meet in November. I am concerned, however, that I would buy something I don't need. But then again, I need a project for this winter...
Neat!
I do pawn shoppe crawls from time to time and found a gem or two
I'm also a sucker for garage/yard/estate sales out in the county that I come across on rides
Ha, now that's a load.
A bike swap like that would be a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.
How does that bike handle such a large front load? I have never ridden with a large front load.
Peace :)
It handled just as poorly as you would imagine, especially at low speed.
When I saw that printer in a basket I thought "yikes, now that looks tricky". Way to stay upright.
Those front freewheels put a chainsaw ripping past your ankle as you coast. Great innovation!
That printer looks familiar, I had one very similar, if not exactly like that. It was a great printer! They don't make 'em like that anymore. Great find.
We ended up catching the end of that swap meet. It was interesting to see some old bike styles from my past.
That pic with the printer is priceless.
The same guy that had the Team Raleigh wheeled out a pristine Colnago Super w/full Campy Super Record. I got there as a couple of young guys who were too small for the bike (pro buyer/sellers) were talking the guy down to $400 and HE TOOK IT! Then, the same guy told someone who asked that his Schwinn Corvette balloon tire bike was NOT for sale because it was priceless. You can't make this stuff up!
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No Need for Non-Robot proof here!