# Stop, Swap & Save : Westminster, MD February 10th



## 38Bike (Jan 2, 2019)

*The East Coast's Largest Indoor Bicycle Swap and Consumer Bike Expo*

*http://www.stopswapandsave.com/*


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## John G04 (Jan 2, 2019)

Is it more classic bikes than new ones?


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## bobcycles (Jan 3, 2019)

Always been curious about this show...can anyone Chime in as to whether this is a decent 
swap for vintage stuff?


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## Freqman1 (Jan 3, 2019)

From the flyer this looks like new stuff to me. V/r Shawn


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## Sven (Jan 16, 2019)

Weather permitting, I might head up there. It's only 97 miles from my house. The images I was able to  pull up do show a lot of new bicycles with a vintage here and there.


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## 38Bike (Feb 6, 2019)

This Sunday, bigger than ever...


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## Lamont (Feb 10, 2019)

My scores Westminster !  

hope to post a few pics soon , exhausted from the trip.

Note that : my involvement with bikes started late in life and with a Classic Balloon tire Colson looptail..... a few years ago ... thats how I met the cabe ...

maybe there are others that have "gotten the bug",  but for me :  finding that there is no such thing as mastery of the subject of vintage bikes ... the more you learn:  the more you recognize how much you you dont know ..... I enjoy

so,  im not an expert ...

and I learned alot and today on my third trip to Winchester MD swap ... and i Scored !

example :  I  spend coutless hours using my rust soak moves learned here on the cabe  to rehab bikes ( which I hope to  place with millennial carbon haters that believe transportation means uber, a bike , or you come to them)  

 scored a wooden box full of 100's of bright chrome  nos hardware bits like cable clamps , brakes mount bolts with weinenmann and mafac , etc emblems      ... the bits that always take me  long time to soak and polish , and often are too far gone/dont come out as new ....  sometimes its hard to justify 3  or 5 hours of hardware derusting  of nuts and bollts ... so life supply of some bright shiney  hardwares are a happy score for me !


Whats the Westmister show like ? 

it is NOT by any means predominately vintage balloon tire bikes...     there are a fair amount of very  cool , and rare / not evrydaybold prewar bikes there ...    and I picked bot some  prewar/ skip tooths at westminster dirt cheap in the past 2 shows,  but its mainly vintage 70's to now road bikes/and later model mountain hybrid and commuter bikes  .... a generalist meet with tons of everything.  some schwinn specialists .   IMO mainly a buyers market for complete bikes .....  NOT  a good venue for best price for complete bikes IMO , unless its extraordinary.

Today I finally met folks from a shop I had always wanted make a day trip to get to  ... and they sold me some vintage parts that i have needed for a long time and don't exist locally , except now i know where to go ...Parkville Maryland... bayenesville !    they had some Very Sweet restored three speeds, too. with chrome I cant yet achieve.

Got a very sweet OG paint paint rack for my 1953 Raleigh and  some truss bars for any early post war bike with excellent chrome .... They had fenders in orginal brown kraft paper wraper wraping paper that are just the color i need (NOS)   ...  the same folks from Parksville  had a crate of NOS solid rubber trike and kids ride on tires ... piles of sturmy  to havest and vintage NOS rubber    .....Nice folks , and I asked them to consider visiting the cabe / sharing the wealth ... I hope they do , but if your evr that way , check ouy  baynesville bike shop !


For anyone whose interest in 1970's 1980's road bikes  and  vintage three speeds, as my interest has turned to focus on of late ,   
 its definitely worth the trip !    but you have to be disciplined and walk past the other stuff to get to it see what you came for , before they close up ..
its a half day show essentially .



tips :   this show is for early risers : wraps up / kicked ot by 3 pm ... recommend a nite before arrival 
         - told by longer time attendees , what was in the past , a true " swap met ,they say it has  has become a bit dominated by big shops dumping their leftover recent inventory ..  Yes , true theres alot of that .... but , if you walk past those booths briskly ... you still cant get to want you want to see  in the few hours the show runs .. it enormous, but you have to be very focused and walk briskly stopping only where your interest is , if you want to cover it in the few hours available.

         _ alot of coops and hobbyist dealers are dying to give great deals when pack up time comes  to pack up



My hope is to book a 60 dollar red roof inn next year, and  find a few bike guys to have a beer with the night before, and be there at gate time, with an empyty trailer and a fistful of cash at packup time.

westminster, md b is a cool little time warp town ... and if you find yourself there ... theres a frozen in time bike shop on main street that isnt open sundays ... but has some killer vintage stuff and a few Colson trikes and balloon bikes hanging around for the sat crowd.. in the bunyon building on main st , nice folks , and retried from serving their country.


As a swamp dweller       ( yeah , I actually live in DC.      Westminster md,  is about 65 miles out )     there is an incredible dearth of interested buyers or collectors of balloon tire / vintage three speeds in our local hood...so if are from  from midwest or san diego ,etc  consider that is my  perspective  .. and meanwhile  im growing into my 1970's /1980's interest, which has some following in and among the swamp dwellers, and at Westmeinster


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## New Mexico Brant (Feb 15, 2019)

Lamont said:


> hope to post a few pics soon , exhausted from the trip.



 Please post some pictures!


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## Lamont (Mar 8, 2019)

I would encourage those who interested in pics to See the pics of prior shows on the stop swap and save website , for perspective on the scale and whats typical ....  Its at least 2 football fields indoors....   and 30% are bike shop closeout and garb  that I walk briskly past.

To see the pics of what the show looks like , thats where to go.


my pics are only of a few items that caught my eye


and of a few of the things I brought home

a few highlights of things I Brought home

- NOS Hardware trove !!!   life supply of brake bolts I wont be rust-soaking and polishing around the missing chrome!

- a rusty crusty 80's Lotus to match one I,m redoing for a friend ( end of show .. picked up for about the cost of the tires it needs )

- Late fifties half tube bookrack from a Raleigh in green with very nice paint

- A celeste color /columbus bianchi road bike.... always have wanted one!  ( anyone know the paint code for a vial of touchup paint?)

- a dozen vintage brake levers from a guy who basically had a complete vintage shop parts and small parts lot packed into his booth , hard to find stuff ; and including lots of very small specific bits well organized in little drawers /OEM boxes etc  priced fair if you need it / not quite such a  at bargain if you arn't sure you need /it fits


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