merziac

Easy for you to say with a Wizard and a Sachs on deck, geez!

RiddleOfSteel

Hard to do when you have a large stable full of luminaries. But we'll take it!

droppedandlost 

Taking that phrase, thank you very much.

kunsunoke 

Gonna find out more about the state of the market today. TTown Velofest 2022 starts in about three hours.

BFisher 

Would like to have gone, but had other commitments. How was the turnout?

Drillium Dude 

Bump for those that attended Trexlertown Velofest 2022: are we in a recession or experiencing a resurgence?

DD

Trainbike

I'll be at trexletown! I'm in my late 20's and always into c&v bikes. Me and a lot of other people my age came into bikes when the fixie boom was happening. So we grew an appreciation of steel. Many of my friends and I worked as messengers or did delivery on bikes, vintage bikes were all we could afford and they could take a beating better then any aluminum or carbon fiber bikes. Vintage bikes were accessable to us and fit our needs. As I get older myself and a lot of friends are getting more into rando, as well as off road riding. The interest in vintage bikes is well alive amoungst my community of ppl in their late 20s and early 30s. Vintage being 70's-90's for us. (For mtbs 2000) I have a pinarello trevesa I absolutely abused as a courier that I can't wait to fix up and build with a period correct group(and apologize profusely to). All my bikes are 70's or 80's and built up with components a little newer, Shimano 600, 105 or campy, simply because it's affordable and reliable. do I collect, no. But that's because most ppl my age can't afford to, but if I could absolutley. I think a lot of the ethos of the fixie boom that grabbed my attention carries on to vintage bikes, respecting simplicity, doing more with less ect. I honestly think that vintage bikes from the 70s and 80s are simply the best most graceful machines!

BFisher 

^^Um...it was on the 24th.

Haven't heard a word about it. Spring was a washout, though I did score a few great items.

The Golden Boy 

So I was born in 1969, graduated high school in 1987.

The guitars and guitar amps I like are the ones that were cool in the 60s and 70s, that I have little to no recollection of at the time... Most 1980s guitar gear is silly to me. I'd love to have more modern bass gear though- or at least lighter cabinets.

The stereo gear I find attractive is mostly 1970s stuff- again, very little contemporary recollection of.

The cars that interest me are 1930s and 1960s cars.

The bikes that interest me are high end mid/late 80s tourers as well as the fancy-pants constructeur bikes- and bikes built to that style.

I think *my* vintage taste isn't so much *my* nostalgia- but stylistic and performance points based on some sort of legacy ideal. I didn't care about cars, guitars, or stereo gear really until high school- and I didn't care about bikes until around 10 years ago. In regards to bikes- old touring bikes can still be used for what they were designed for- You can still tour on an old 720 or Voyageur- but you'll never really race an old race bike except on some "Eroica" type deal. 1980s high end tourers have a delicate balance between gracefulness and "business," but landing on the side of gracefulness. Prestigious tube sets, plethoras of braze ons and top of the line components make for a beautiful and graceful bike- but as the years went on, Tourers got thicker, stronger tubing, they started using less prestigious components- choosing to make a bike that leaned towards heavier and stronger and more brutish.

I got into the bike restomod thing as a sort of desire to be sort of modern, and make it easier on myself. (I could never imagine changing a manual transmission car over to automatic)

So how does that line up for the future... Again, while I my have recollections of old stuff, a lot of the "vintage" things I'm into aren't driven particularly by *my* nostalgia. I know that when I was getting into guitar collecting, there was the 'unobtanium' stuff, stuff like 1954 Strats, 59 Les Pauls, 63 Telecasters or Jazz basses... then there was the other stuff- the player grade 50s and 60s guitars... then after that stuff got pricey the 70s stuff was a dime a dozen... and as the years went on even the stuff that broke-ass 22 year old me turned my nose up at is now STUPID expensive and desirable. I think kids these days *may* have a concept that the unobtanium stuff that was unobtainable for me is now kind of mythical museum fodder- but the 70s stuff that I resented as garbage is now what kids ASPIRE to having.

How does that line up for bicycles... Does it mean that stuff like Masis and Colnagos and Trek 170s are in that "mythical" realm- and gas pipe boom BSOs are going to be all the rave? Bikes are a little different- people are still totally willing to sell an old bike for $50 because it's been hanging in the garage for 40 years... (and grandma and grandpa and mom and dad are either gone or don't care about the investment years ago). Deals on vintage guitar gear are fewer- people have an idea those are worth something.

I think there's always going to be some sort of "vintage chic" thing that's always going to be around, but I do think all this stuff is playing to a much smaller young audience...

davester

Woah! This post, of all the zillions of posts I've read at bike forums, speaks to me than all of the others. You have exactly captured the reasons why I buy and fix up vintage bikes, old sports cars, stereo equipment, guitars, tools, slide rules, and all that other stuff that is considered garbage to the "up to date" people. I don't love that stuff because it is old, but because it has an inherent beauty and reflection of the craftsmanship that went into creating it. Am I nuts?...I don't think so (but I could be wrong about that).

Drillium Dude 

So pivotal to davester was that post, he had to quote/post it twice

You aren't alone, Dave - the Golden Boy's post sums up my personal collecting aesthetic/reasoning, too. He's just way better at expressing it than I could ever be!

DD

kunsunoke 

Turnout for Fall Velofest 2022 was much improved vs. Spring 2022. There were quite a few more dealers this go-around, but most were flippers, hobbyists and vintage enthusiasts. As a result, the mix of for-sale items was vintage-biased. Parts offerings tended to be Japanese. There were some really nice bikes available at decent prices.

There were only a few big dealers that made the trip. Tandems East was there again, and I managed to pick up some consumables and tools from them at really decent prices.

The show still hasn't recovered from the pre-COVID days, but it's getting better. If only we could find a good replacement for eBay.

The NYC dealers did what they always do - set up shop, then price themselves out of contention. Southeastern PA is not Park Slope or Williamsburg, after all, and fixed-gear is now passe.

kunsunoke 

There is a light resurgence, I'd say. The prices were reasonable again. Italian stuff is a little more difficult to come by than it once was. Best deals were attained by digging through mystery, "$5 fun" bins and waiting until day's end when the dealers were getting tired and didn't feel like lugging stuff back to their cars.

JunkYardBike

From the perspective of a hobbyist seller, the turnout was terrible (very few buyers). Sure, it was a better turnout of vendors than the Spring. I purchased a space for the Spring but had no interest in setting up during a monsoon.

The talk amongst the veteran vendors is that the boom of 10-15 years ago is over. Electric bikes and the disappearance of the baby boom generation are going to push the C&V niche further into obscurity.

I’ve also heard grumbling for several years of the velodrome’s failure to promote the event…at all. And some locals mentioned there were several charity rides being held in the area on the same day.

On the other hand, one vendor reported that other swaps he’s recently sold at in the eastern US have been well attended by both buyers and sellers.

Personally, I’m unlikely to purchase a space at future events at the velodrome unless they make a greater effort to promote the event. I may attend next weekend’s T-Town firehouse swap to see if that’s any better (at least they’ve promoted it on specific websites and social media) and I may try Copake in October.

SirMike1983 

From a personal standpoint, my interest in the hobby is the same as ever. I've been involved in the hobby for 26 years or so. I do a complete tear-down and rebuild on a few bikes per year. I don't see myself ever totally getting out of it. What I will say is that over the years, I've come to focus on a few kinds of bikes and to better know what fits me as a rider and rebuilder. My interest has increased over the years for those particular kinds of bikes.

BertoBerg 

I was born in ‘82. The bikes that interest me the most are from the late ‘60s to the early ‘80s. I’ve had modern bikes but I always wander back to vintage steel with friction shifting. To me a modern bike feels like a tool while a vintage bike feels more like a partner. Just my two cents.

curbtender

The best way to advertise a swap is to encourage sellers to pass the word. Facebook, bike club sites, LBS, bike kitchens and craigslist. I've posted flyers at local coffee shops that attract cyclist. I see most swaps at bike events as an afterthought to raise a little extra money and they usually aren't advertised beyond that.

kunsunoke 

I can understand your frustration. There's a buyers market in effect right now, and also considerable inflationary pressure curbing purchasing power - so that means things are more difficult for the people running the tables.

In fairness to the LV Cycling Center, things haven't exactly been that great for them over the past two years. I don't think they have very much cash on hand for promotional activities. It didn't help that they moved the event into September, in conflict with the MS 150 and some other charity rides - as you suggested. Some advertisement on Allentown Craigslist might have helped - but then again, LVCC normally gets the word out at their own website.

Another factor was the sale of Bicycling magazine by the Rodale Publishing Group. That led to the demise of the Fall Classic ride, which was always coupled with VeloFest. The Fall Classic brought a lot of cyclists to the Lehigh Valley from other regions of the country, and they usually came in for both events. Turnout hasn't been as strong since then. A re-build in interest is probably going to take another few years.

Hope T-Town firehouse goes better for you, in any case.

dmarkun

I ride to Starbucks in the morning and lean my bike-of-the-day against the front window. It's not unusual for somebody to stop at my table and ask, "Is that your bike?" A conversation then ensues about how the person misses the bike they wish they never would have sold. In evangelical fashion I remind them about all the used steel bicycles still out there. But besides the aficionados, I think there's a general respect everywhere for older things beautiful and well made. Although this group finds steel bicycles particularly attractive, they're appreciated in the culture much like autos, musical instruments and tools - an enjoyable tangible element from a bygone era.

Today I was checking out at Home Depot and the older, African-American woman glanced at my shiny red RB-1 as she handed me the receipt. "Oh, a ten-speed," she said admiringly. "I haven't seen one of those in years. Nice!"

Our bikes will not be forgotten. We just need to be content not getting out of them the money we've invested : )

Hummer

It is a yo-yo. goes up. goes down. The troughs between the ups and downs get smaller.

tjfastback66

For this year I have been to two car shows/swap meets, both were down about 40% imho. Crazy to me and I was quite surprised at the lower turnout. I am in my 60th year and since the summer of '82, I have owned and restored a 1966 Ford Mustang 2+2 Fastback that still has a relatively strong market. My 30 year old son just spent 3K on a full suspension mountain bike and has fallen in love with the whole MTB experience with close friends. But yet he has recently restored a '72 Chevy pickup (restomod). Go Figure! I simply cannot fathom spending that much money on a bike, because back in the day the used Mustang was - Yes, 3K!
I cannot seem to stop myself as my collection of C&V bikes recently added a Swiss made '83 CILO to the stable while vacationing in SW Florida.
Really I am not interested in "flipping" anything - just the restoration process and the riding enjoyment of getting out on a classic bike or vehicle.
C&V bike trend? - yeah it will probably wane but who gives a crap - enjoy the ride!