Scrambled: Bicycle Swap Meet & Agony of The Seat

A Journey to the Atomic Cycles Bicycle Swap Meet in Van Nuys

My Pride and Joy. I should call her Mistress, cuz she hurts my ass like hell!

I’ve been waiting months for this. Yesterday, I took the bobber bike on a test run to see if she’d make the trip to the Atomic Cycles Bicycle Swap Meet. The bike did well, but doesn’t like to coast much. It’s still an issue even after re-packing the back wheel bearings. This caused one hell of a work out, and I was creaking when I rode out at 7:30 this morning.

Thank heavens I only had to be slightly cognitive. Despite a motrin tablet, I had to stifle a scream when sitting down. The massive seat is great on short runs, but no so great for long hauls with constant pedaling. Still sore from yesterday’s 14 mile run, I was able to hold together for the 6 mile trip.

This is for all my school buddies and friends from Livermore

One of the first things I saw was a Schwinn Scrambler that looked very close to the one I had in Junior High School. My friends used to laugh at me for taking jumps on one of these, but I still think it’s pretty cool. Obviously, it made an impact on me.

We don need no stinking badges!

Next to him was a table with antique toys. While the event is bike-centric, vendors will bring other goodies as well. The “rifle” you see here is a well-made repeating cap gun made in Spain. Another guy showed up with a huge box of patches.

And my buddies from school would have gone apeshit over these!

Today was a buyer’s market. While there was good foot traffic, it wasn’t as intense as in April. I called Maija to see if she was coming to vend. She overslept, and was going to miss the event. I brought a fistful of ones for her from my night gig to make change, so her loss was my gain.

There was BMX gear…

And more BMX gear…

American made too!

Did I mention Atomic Cycles draws a pretty heavy BMX crowd? They have coaster bike runs and BMX rides. Don’t get me wrong, if it rolls, they love it. There were some fixies and fixie parts there. Along with bunches of vintage bikes, like…

This Hornet…

TIKI!!!!!

This Tiki style beach cruiser. Ok, it might not be vintage, but it’s still really cool!

I love the aftermarket tail light!

More Schwinns…

And more Schwinns! I mean seriously, why go to a warehouse store for a cheap copy when you can get a real collectible for a good price? Paul at Atomic Cycles will even do a tune up for you for 25 bucks!

There were a lot of great deals overall. Certainly there were road bikes. One guy brought three electric bikes. Another vendor brought a fleet of mountain bikes.

These came from a police auction. Most were forty dollars.

Paul also has some interesting bikes of his own, including:

Such a bargain! I almost bought it.

This trike, which was only 100 dollars. It’s also worth it to attend just to see who shows up one what. One guy showed up on an Indonesian pedicab (damn I should have got a picture). He should have been charging for rides.

Want to ride, but don’t know how to carry it home? Use a bike trailer.

At least two guys showed up with bike trailers. An excellent idea to show off and shop at the same time.

In the end, here’s what I came home with.

Got quite a bit for the money. Would have been really expensive at a sporting good store or a highbrow bike shop.

The big score was the Cat’s Eye bike light set for five dollars. Bike lighting can get expensive. The shifters and pedals came were from Paul’s overflowing surplus of parts and cost ten bucks. I would have paid that for one set of pedals at some places. The vintage Schwinn grips and faceplate were cheap. I’m going to repaint the faceplate with a high-heeled boot and mount that on the front of the bobber bike.

Short form, whether you want a full sized bike, or to custom build your own, you can find a lot of great stuff for a great price at the bicycle swap meet. Don’t forget this is home of the Atomic Cycles bike shop. The owner, Paul will repair and customize virtually everything, and has bikes, old & new, you’ve got to check out, at a good price .