Bicycle Swap Meets

LOVE me some bicycle swap meets. I went to three in June, alone. One of them (pic above) in Leesburg, VA at the Cirque du Cyclisme, and the other two were here in Southern California. 


Yesterday I attended one in Riverside at the Cyclery USA bicycle shop. Nice little show with about a dozen vendors. It was 95 degrees by the time the show started in mid-afternoon, but quite a few people braved the heat and found some great deals. Cyclery USA had a few tables outside their shop with many grab-bag bins, shoes, lights, and components - all deeply discounted. The event was hosted by that shop and the Riverside Bicycle Club, which was founded in 1891! 

I was fortunate to find a guy who had some nice 1984 Campagnolo pieces that he'd taken off his Ciocc in 1985, only after a year of use. The gum rubber hoods are shot, but everything else, including that 130mm Cinelli 1R stem is in excellent shape. The jockey wheels on the Campagnolo Nuevo Record rear derailleur never even had enough use to get that familiar grease "plaque" between the teeth. :) Also scored five bicycling books to add to my collection. 


There's another show in La Mirada in the middle of July that I'll be sure to hit.


Have any other bicycle swap meet suggestions? Chime on in or, if you don't care to publicize to the world, send me an email: VintageRacingBicycles (at) gmail.com.


Thanks!

The Bicycles of the 1984 LA Olympics

I was fortunate enough to be part of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. No, not as an athlete, although that would have been an awesome start to this post, but as a security guard for the yachting venue in Long Beach. Even back then, at age 19, I realized this was a special time and a privileged opportunity. 


During that period, I was heavily into cycling, and, on July 29th 1984, accompanied by a bevy of my Long Beach Velo Club brethren, drove the 30 miles south to Mission Viejo, CA to watch the individual Olympic Road Race. As now, I was as much into the bicycles themselves as I was into riding them. The gleaming chrome forks, unblemished paint and, of course, more Campagnolo components than I could count, whizzed by at breath-taking speed so close I was cooled by the wind they created.


Murray bicycles won the right to sponsor the machines rode by the 7-Eleven team, but the frames were most-likely made by Serotta. Campy-Only, one of my favorite bicycle blogs, has just posted a short write-up on these bicycles and posted some photos as well. Check this out HERE. 


Any memories of this road race or other cycling event from the '84 Olympics? Chime on in below, or send some photos to vintageracingbicycles [at] gmail.com.