Well buzzster's - next Saturday is the creme de la creme of bargain basement bike junky shopping experiences - Velonews' Veloswap. For me it completes October's reputation as Roctober - from Moab to Veloswap to great commuting weather, October always rocks.
http://www.veloswap.com/expo/whyattendden.html
for information.
The good side of veloswap- if you or your friends are looking for a good ride - you can find bikes 60% off of new prices - in a word great deals for great bikes.
A simple chronology of good buys in past veloswaps - $400 XT equiped Yeti, $350 Klein attitude single speed (must have had 200 miles on it), $200 IBIS SS circa 1989 with full 89 XT group (by the way I would pay $100 for the shifters alone)and a 1990 YETI Fork ($0 cost- dude gave it to me because I could use it) anyway, the list goes on, and if you are like me and have multiple bike projects going, a very cheap and cool way to complete them.
The bad side of veloswap - a full garage and an appetite to acquire more bikes and spare parts. Another bad side - getting an exhibitor table, not to sell your stuff, but to get into veloswap early and buy stuff uninhibited by the huge biker crowd - this year I have 7 folks splitting the table to do just that.
Tips for Veloswap -
- cash (and only cash you want to spend) - if you bring more you will spend it, get in with someone that has a table (you get 1-2 hours alone and can cherry pick the $400 Yetis or $25 8 speed cassettes-
- Rotation list for the table (one guards (sells) table stuff while others forage.
- Offer to sell your friends stuff (can repay the table quicker)
- Get your list prior to velo swap - My list this year includes:
3 seats (preferably Selle Turbomatics),
2 8 speed drivetrains
2 Avid mechanical disk brakes
Mavic 32o rims (3)
One Mavic cross rim
Rigid fork
Dirtjumper fork
27.2 seatposts
Anything else cool (or tools) I really need a headset press.
- Put your purchases behind your table (we always seem to buy cooler stuff than we are trying to unload) and have to continually say "not for sale" to all those that ask.
Well, that's it - see you Sunday (but don't ask about the pile of bike stuff behind our table.
Cheers
Gabe
Recent Comments
Radioactive Jam said (about 1 year ago)
Dude. You give her bike parts for her birthday? That's like, genius! ;-)
nifer said (about 1 year ago)
AS wife or said biker, I would like to add a few more additional comments... Th bad: 1 Veloswap is always within days of my birthday and as a result, I have gotten bike parts as a gift on more than one occasion. The above noted Ibis was bought for me, even though I already owned 2 steel mountain bikes that look good all pimped out in the garage, and rarely get any dirt time. 2 They so kindly let an ATM be placed on site, so unless there are clearly established cash guidelines, it can quickly go to hell in a handbasket. The Good: After walking into the expo center and being surrounded by at least 500 tables monitored by about 1500 people with oodles and oodles of random bikes and parts, I realized that maybe my husband isn't that strange at all.
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Spicee Brown said (about 1 year ago)