Citoyen du Monde

In my personal opinion, the best three vintage cycling events that I have attended in North America since 2008 were all in North Carolina, including the last event organized by Dale in 2011. The last one was super laid back with great company, great speakers and great bikes. I believe that the swap meet will be OK but don't expect anything like the days of yore (pre-2008) when Greensboro saw many unbelievable collectibles change hands for large sums of money.

If I can swing the timing that isn't overly suitable for me, I will be there.

iab

Mostly a lot of old men with old bikes. Everybody appreciates all of the people and bikes there, the variety is exceptional, both people and bikes.

Rides in the morning, or you can sit around and shoot the **** with others. Always bikes, vintage and a custom builders display, to look at. A couple of "lectures", more like an guy telling stories. Stuff to buy if you are so inclined.

There will be someone there with a "better" bike than yours. Someone will be "faster" on a ride. Someone will know more than you about old bikes. But in my view that is a great opportunity and one of the main reasons to go.

My only complaint, and it is entirely due to my lack of preparation, is low access to great food. Chipotle sucks. The burger joint is average at best. I need to find better food.

Also, due to bad weather back home, my flight was cancelled in 2011. That sucked.

embankmentlb

The weekend sounds very very cool! I hope I can make it.

norskagent

And if you stay at the same hotel as the others attending, the show goes on into the night! Classic bikes lining the halls and parked in the lobby, sort of like an informal bike show.

1989Pre 

Thanks for the heads-up on this meet! I am building my first C&V, and was hoping to get to the Cal. L'eroica in April, but even if coming down from Maine to the Classic Rendezvous meet on Amtrak means $300.00, that's still less than half the price to fly out to San Luis Obispo.
Also, I prefer not to ride the 123 miles of the L'eroica in one day in April, because it would probably be the first ride of the season (on a bike I've yet-to-test).
One other reason for me to aim for this event rather than the L'erioca is that it is 3 days (vs 1)! I am very happy to hear about this, and the Grubb will definitely be ready by June. RH says there is a bike car on one train per day. That means I don't have to put it in a box! Yay!

jet sanchEz

Is there a fee to set up a swap table?

RobbieTunes

I'd have to second that. BAMF in High Point two years in a row were very good.

RobbieTunes

I would imagine so. Something has to pay for the space. A Dale Brown event, with whatever fee, is about as good as you're going to get, for organization. I kind of hope to copy him at the Dairyland Dare.

embankmentlb

Amtrak is an option from my home as well. Do they except built bikes on the train? Is the event near the station?

iab

According to google maps, 2.9 miles.

iab

Not much info, but it is a start ...

Classic Rendezvous Weekend June 10-12, 2016

Vonruden

Vanpool?? Either and I may be interested.

crank_addict

Robbie- That sounds terrific! Keep me in the loop as it develops. At the very least, maybe I can help pitch in. Could only imagine the effort it takes. The Bartali event hosted by iab was a knockout! And I mean that in the best possible way. 1st class- location, atmosphere and people.

Dales CR party will have its own flair too. Very cool with clinic's, those hip old timers sharing history and knowledge. Great time to soak it up.

Citoyen du Monde

Are you intimating that we are old timers?

Road Fan

Citoyen, probably more of an observation ! But I haven't been to a CR event yet, even after about 12 years of lurking and chatting, though.

rhm

Yes. I haven't actually done this, but according to my research the few stations with baggage handling facilities will sell you a bike box for $20 or so, and the box is big enough for a whole bike. You have to turn the handlebar sideways and maybe remove a pedal, but fenders, racks, etc are fine. And there's room for more stuff in the box, just don't make it too heavy. Then you have to work with their schedule; on most routes there's only one train each day that has a baggage car.
Thanks for the tip! I'll look into this. .. but I'm concerned about taking the bike on the plane.

yes, it might be good to rent a van at some central location (Trenton works for me) so there's room for multiple bikes and multiple drivers. It's still a really long drive, though.

iab

We're not?

RobbieTunes

Well, if we can collectively get our act together, someone may be able to accommodate this for you. Only so many trains will be arriving, right?

By the way, there is a great photographer that will likely be on hand; Ken Toda. He used to take photos of furniture when High Point (nearby) was THE furniture capital. He's taken exemplary pics for iab and myself and I'm sure, many others. If you have a bike that you want photographed, he's great. I'll probably have him do at least one.

Example:

RobbieTunes

I prefer "all-timers." If you say it fast, you get away with it and people don't pick up on the absolute inaccuracy.

RobbieTunes

You should try one, you know, because football in your area is soooooo boring.

gomango

Looking at the pics from past events, I would guess a median age of attendees would fall somewhere in the 45-55 demo.

I would easily qualify as an old timer if that were true.

Not that I care one whit........

I don't think the age issue is a matter to ponder for more than several seconds.

Road Fan

Well, in June there won't be any football, in the first place! Second, I grew up with the Cubs, Bears, and NU Wildcats (yep, North Side of Chicago!), so my natural male drive for sport dependency and local dominance was atrophied at an early age. I'm hoping the other natural male drives will remain enhanced (LOL!!) as a lifetime compensation! Certainly the beer drive remains active !

CR is, if anyone doesn't know, the Bike List with Rules, especially about the vintage nature of what can be discussed. I don't know if the rules for the Google group will carry over to the event, but I'd suggest to everyone to read the CR site and the official event site when it exists to find our.

For example, on the CR list, I don't think I could have talked about my early '80s SL butted Mondonico with early 2k's Campy 10s triple Ergopower, no matter how lovely that setup was. However, we have a thread with 1000's of postings on similar projects and refinements.

I just don't know if that policy will carry over to the Event. I'd hate to see anybody disappointed.

Road Fan

Being somewhat acquainted with some of the Detroit core, I think your study suffers from an inadequate sampling - or mine does!!!

Spaghetti Legs 

RT, you may crash the C+V server with pics like that!

gomango

It doesn't really matter one way or the other.