Out Come The Wolves
The road show is in full swing again. Last week I hit up a new event for me- the Copake Swap Meet. I've heard about the swap for a few years- Copake Auction has a pretty well regarded annual bike auction, and the day before they hold a swap meet out behind the auction gallery. I wonder where they got that idea?
Anyway, since the swap is held on a Friday I figured that I'd hit it up before going back to Rhode Island the next day to continue the results season at the Rick Newhouse Memorial. The swap is outdoors, so here's how the setup worked out:
Yeah, all of that stuff fits in the truck. It's actually not even packed tight on this trip- after a couple of decades doing auctions, swap meets and moving all over the country I've got the spatial relations thing down pretty well. And since I can, I usually bring everything. Growing up doing flea markets with my dad has taught me "You can't sell from an empty wagon"... how's that for New England wisdom for you.
It was a good trip- though it was definitely an "industry" show. Maybe because of the proximity of the auction, or because it was a Friday, it was very much the core vintage bike crowd and not many 'general public' folks. Which isn't bad except that it's tough for sales. By this point in the year, after Westminster, Richmond and Monson everybody knows what you have and if you don't have fresh stock you're dead in the water. Since I'm more of a vendor/dealer than a collector I've got a big advantage there. I want to turn my stuff over, not show it off. I was lowering prices as soon as anyone picked something up. With no swap meets for the rest of the summer (at least for me) I didn't want to put it back into the garage.
One part of the swap meet that never ceases to amaze me is the swarm around a new vendor. Somebody unknown shows up and instantly there's a crowd. People are tearing through the stuff looking for anything in their niche- be it touring, pre war, racing whatever. It's almost like you don't have to unload- the pack will do it for you. This dude barely got his car parked before the swarm hit him:
By the end of the day he was pretty tapped out. I have to admit that I was a bit jealous- but then again I had stuff that had dragged through the full show season- there's only so much Alivio I can push on people after a while. In the end, I did walk over to see what all the hubub was about- and of course I walked away with a couple of cranksets... at least they weren't Alivio...
Anyway, since the swap is held on a Friday I figured that I'd hit it up before going back to Rhode Island the next day to continue the results season at the Rick Newhouse Memorial. The swap is outdoors, so here's how the setup worked out:
Yeah, all of that stuff fits in the truck. It's actually not even packed tight on this trip- after a couple of decades doing auctions, swap meets and moving all over the country I've got the spatial relations thing down pretty well. And since I can, I usually bring everything. Growing up doing flea markets with my dad has taught me "You can't sell from an empty wagon"... how's that for New England wisdom for you.
It was a good trip- though it was definitely an "industry" show. Maybe because of the proximity of the auction, or because it was a Friday, it was very much the core vintage bike crowd and not many 'general public' folks. Which isn't bad except that it's tough for sales. By this point in the year, after Westminster, Richmond and Monson everybody knows what you have and if you don't have fresh stock you're dead in the water. Since I'm more of a vendor/dealer than a collector I've got a big advantage there. I want to turn my stuff over, not show it off. I was lowering prices as soon as anyone picked something up. With no swap meets for the rest of the summer (at least for me) I didn't want to put it back into the garage.
One part of the swap meet that never ceases to amaze me is the swarm around a new vendor. Somebody unknown shows up and instantly there's a crowd. People are tearing through the stuff looking for anything in their niche- be it touring, pre war, racing whatever. It's almost like you don't have to unload- the pack will do it for you. This dude barely got his car parked before the swarm hit him:
By the end of the day he was pretty tapped out. I have to admit that I was a bit jealous- but then again I had stuff that had dragged through the full show season- there's only so much Alivio I can push on people after a while. In the end, I did walk over to see what all the hubub was about- and of course I walked away with a couple of cranksets... at least they weren't Alivio...
posted by JD at
10:06 PM
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