BikePortland.org photo correspondent Bob Crispin drove up to Iron Ranch (north of Vancouver, WA) over the weekend for the 10th annual Old Bicycle Swap Meet.
The event is held on a large ranch whose owner is a collector of all kinds of old cars, farm equipment, railroad stuff, and “who knows what all” says Bob.
“It is a grand event to look at old stuff, people watch, and maybe get drawn into buying some old ride to refurbish.”
Flip through the slideshow below to see what caught Bob’s eyes:
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I would have liked to know about this BEFORE it happened so I could have gone.
Wow, those are some great photos of old bikes and old bike parts!
That is super cool. I once had an old Fongers dutch style bike complete with sewn leather chain case. This reminds me of that project. I can\’t believe I got rid of that thing.
With kids, I can\’t imagine having the time. Although, maybe a new project could be that classic father & son exercise where an old car is restored but instead of an old Mustang or whatever, it\’d be a sweet classic bike.
Gosh, I am glad I didn\’t know about it before hand. I am sure I would have blown the project budget for the foreseeable future.
Dangnabbit,,I wish I would have known, grr..
Iron Ranch info was all over craigslist for weeks prior. This swap goes down early September every year, and you can check in at home.comcast.net/~bikeswap
I don\’t organize it or have anything to do with it except that I go yearly to sell and buy bike junk/treasure. For those who missed it this year, better luck next year, it\’s a fun event.
There\’s also a swap that happens in Kent (south of Seattle) every year someplace around Easter that\’s well worth the drive. Vintage bikes and whatnot.
And of course there\’s the Recyclery swaps, which aren\’t nearly as large, but are much easier to get to and awesome in their own right.
And there\’s some vague plans being laid for an all vintage bike swap in Portland for 2009, we\’ll see how that goes. If you\’ve got a pile of vintage bike stuff to sell, shoot me an email and we\’ll keep you in the loop.
Cheers, Geoff
I think advertising needs to go a little further than craigslist. I don\’t really look for bike-oriented events on there. I look for them on bike shop bulletin boards (out in R/L) and on websites like this one.
Geoff you wouldn\’t happen to a have a Bendix 76 coasterbrake, would you?