Oak Forest Swap

the tinker · Mar 30, 2015

Was just talking to old timer Ed Boros who put on the bike swap in Oak Forest Ill. for the past 27
years. Ed is not able to do the swap anymore. He now lives in Michigan , but the swap is to be held at the I 80 flea market in Tinley Park Ill. about 2 weeks after Ann arbor. It is listed on the I 80 Flea Market web site but no date is listed as of yet. lets hope it gets posted soon..........
This swap could be pretty good. If its held during the Flea market, sellers may have a wider range of customers ; might be able to unload other stuff besides bikes. Maybe that old Disco clothing you have been hanging on to.....
Speaking of Ann Arbor Ed said ,[God willing] he has two tables reserved by washrooms at Ann Arbor. He plans to bring nearly 1000 old NAMEPLATES. If you need a headbadge, stop by Eds table when you are on your way to the john. Ed also plans to be at Memory Lane on Thursday.
Ed is going to be 88 years old, used to be a Schwinn dealer back in the day.
He has always been a head badge collector, and has plenty of good bike stories.

Oldbikes · Apr 8, 2015

Sad to hear no Oak Forest meet, an end of an era.
But, I look forward to I-80. There was a swap held at the Rosemont flea mkt a few years back and was kinda neat being able to do the swap and flea simultaneously!

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vincev · Apr 8, 2015

I did Shows with Bicycle Ed in the early 80's.Quite a character.lol.He has one of the best headbadge collection I ever saw. Its a shame the bike show will be at the swap meet.I wont try to go to the flea market.It is so crowded and large I havent gone there in years.Parking used to be ridiculous. You could be very far from the flea market to try parking.

the tinker · Apr 8, 2015

vincev said:
I did Shows with Bicycle Ed in the early 80's.Quite a character.lol.He has one of the best headbadge collection I ever saw.
I talked to Mr. Ed. this evening, he has been in the hospital for 3 days with a respiratory infection. He sounded pretty tired. Ed is a character. Like so many of the older guys they would never use a computer and we would not see them here on the CABE.
Ed has so many stories. Vince mentioned Eds headbadge collection. Ed told me about a time when he was at the Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers Associations annual show on Chicagos south side. Ed had removed the closet poles from his homes spare bedrooms to attach his prized head badge collection to display at the show. He told me he had never seen anyone display them like that before. Ed said every thing was going really well. Charlie Pearsons [of the bicycle seat co.] had hired Eds daughter Debbie to serve refreshments and he said Eddie Schwinn was drinking a black russian when he suddenly dropped his drink while looking at Eds headbadges.
He said Eddie Schwinn looks at me and says," why didnt I think of that, I flattened every one of our headbadges out on my carpet to display them!!
Right after that Schwinn Co. sent a letter out to all their dealers requesting old Schwinn badges. Schwinn offered 50 cents for everyone one sent, and did get every badge back they had produced from day one. Ed added," Yeah, them dealers couldnt send em in fast enough, they wanted to get brownie points with Schwinn!"
When the Schwinn museum was closed ,Ed said he was promised all the flattened out badges by Jim Hurd, but he never got them. Someone has those flattened badges today. Now you know how they got that way............keep old Ed in your prayers.

Oldbikes · Apr 9, 2015

Ironically, I first met Ed 15 years ago when I moved to Chicago, from Maine, at I-80 where I was selling. First thing he asked me was "Do you have any badges?!" Hopefully he can make Ann Arbor!

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vincev · Apr 9, 2015

Hope Ed gets to feeling better.Remember sleeping in the van waiting to set up for shows.I saw him at the OF show but he didnt remember me.lol He complained about crossword puzzles not telling ya when there are 2 word answers.lol

WES PINCHOT · May 5, 2015

I talked to mr. Ed, last week. He made it to Ann Arbor show and enjoyed it.
He acquired 75 new badges there.

Now, the big question is who is handling the I-80 swap meet
and what are the particulars. Time for setup, parking hours, etc.
It would be a good idea to get this info out to all.
Wes Pinchot

vincev · May 5, 2015

Good to hear Ed is doing good.

the tinker · May 5, 2015

I 80 Flea Markets web site only says,"two shows to be announced this summer". Mr. Ed told me last week he thought it would be at the end of May. He said he gave"them" his mailing list of names he regularly mailed out prior to the swap at Oak Forest, and they would be mailing a flyer out as he did in the past. Lets hope that the I 80 swap will not fall on the same date of the 3 other established shows in Illinois this summer. I only mention this as it happened here once years before.
I managed to attend both swaps that day.Though they were far apart the new swap was a complete flop.
There were only two vendors at the new swap, and they wondered where everyone was. Bad planning by someone. The Established meet won the crowd .

vincev · May 5, 2015

Hope I-80 works out.

Oak Forest Swap

the tinker

Cruisin' on my Bluebird

Oldbikes

I live for the CABE

vincev

I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!

the tinker

Cruisin' on my Bluebird

Oldbikes

I live for the CABE

vincev

I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!

WES PINCHOT

Cruisin' on my Bluebird

vincev

I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!

the tinker

Cruisin' on my Bluebird

vincev

I'm the Wiz, and nobody beats me!

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