Monson, Mass Swap Meet - This Thread RULES!!

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Nice to meet and catch up with some fellow ratrodders, this show was a blast! Definitely going again next year. :D
 
GREAT to meet all you guys!!! Very sad I didn't see Jet Screamer. Not sure how I missed that. :| I didn't buy much. just a couple of spare parts and a wheel set I have no use for .... yet. We went for a short ride in Monson, but found no open watering holes. :roll: So we mounted the bikes up and went to Willimantic!
On the way to the bar Bigpantsbob was following me with Joey and Ian was with me. the corner of my eye caught a Western Flyer. I thought Bob was going to ram me I stopped so fast. :lol: So we're all checking it out and the two very old girls bikes in the back yard when I wander in the store to ask how much. Guy says "$20". I go out and tell the guys that someone is getting a bike. Ian got it for $15!! 8)On to Willimantic!!
A brew pub in an old Post Office. so so good!! We then went for a ride down to Scott Cycle. Scott was the guy with the 2 speed Iver Johnson we were all oogling. Nice guy!! He showed us all around his shop's basement. It was hard not to fill our pockets. Lots of nice trinkets down there in the section where "no employees are allowed". Then we rode over to the Frog Bridge. I did not get a photo, hopefully someone else did. Back to the cars and home. Really good day!!!

some really bad photos.
KOTA checking out my Airstream bike
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Yeshoney's "fresh find" and him packing up.
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JoeyMac before our ride
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Bigpantsbob and his most recent build. I love it. he can bunny hop it up curbs too!!
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Group shots
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Nice to meet some of the guys today and put a face to the alias. I would have enjoyed the ride and barcrawl to follow the show but maybe next year. Scored some nice parts and did some good old fashioned bartering which is always great for everyone. Rohan and i stopped at a diner on the way out and had greasy egg and sausage sandwiches, didn't spot any treasures though.
Cheers
 
Wow, what a great day! The RRB crew showed up in numbers! I came with "Stickit" since he only lives two doors down. The Rat Rodders had our own little show in a lot across the street and that is where all the fun took place. We had a breif ride after, but we were not able to find an open bar, and we had to go home. The trip to the closest bar was too much out of our way. What kind of Flyer did Ian score?

It was awesome to meet so many of you guys today. What a generous and fun bunch. Special thanks to Yeshoney for opening his parts vault to help me out with some parts for my Rollfast build. Also, to Ian for picking the bike up in NJ and delivering it to the show for me...that is just incredible. And of course, KOTA had a "free" pile too that provided me with some fenders. EJ hooked me up with an awesome seatpost he made that will surely get used on something.

Joe's Shelby build is awesome, as expected. You can also see his new Elgin in the photos already posted. I had my eye on that bike too, but I had already spent too much. I will post photos of my stuff in the "Fresh Finds" section in a day or two.

Stay tuned for pictures of my $10 1967 Schwinn Fastback!!!

Dan
 
Just want to add my thanks to all who showed up~GREAT TIME. Lots of cool parts traded hands and the deals were truly outside in the "lot" as it is now known! Thanks to Walker and KOTA for the great trades and Dan for funding my new Elgin, LOL. Ej got some great deals from me. Hope to see the Rollfast 20"er build. Ian's Louver bike is way better in person and so is Skip's Airtstream ride - great metal fab on it. Joey Mac the Roadmaster rides like a '66 Lincoln Continental!! To all the others I did not mention we were a force to be reckoned with. RRB Nation Lives!

I can say though the weather was C.O.L.D.!! Especially since I stood outside all day!

Joe
 
I had a great time, was great to finally meet all you fellow Ratrodders, scored 3 springers and some small trinkets, Kicking myself for not buying that Elgin that Yeshoney ended up with, you guys have some great bikes, can't wait to get mine finished and join in on the rides. My son Zeth has not stopped talking about the show, and otld me he wants to build one by himself, WITHOUT my help, problem is, he will probably finish before me. I am including a couple Riding shots of you guys leaving. Rick
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Great meeting you guys i had a blast. Little chilly but it was great alot of nice bikes. My favorite bike was Ian's wth the aluminum tank and number 64 on it. Great time.
 
Hey guys- Rob here. Justin and I had an awesome day because of all the enthusiasm through this board! Probably wouldn't even have gotten out of bed at 6am on a cold Connecticut morning if it hadn't been for you guys. .... glad we did!

What a day! Swap meet, the informal deals in the parking lot, Dan stealing that Fastback out from under my nose at the curb (just kiddin man though I am a little jealous!), then the ride-in-search-of-a-bar, the "short" drive to Willimantic Brewing (http://www.willibrew.com btw!) and for you guys who went home early, the "backstage pass" at Scotts Cycle and a whole 'nother ride over the Frog Bridge. AND yes, we went BACK up to Stafford Springs, and bought the ladies Schwinn!

Whew, I'd be worn out but I am at work overnight and I got a 12 hour shift to finish! I will be consuming mass quantities of coffee, that's for sure.

The Rat Rodders had such a strong showing, made it a fun day and turned a few (hundred) heads along the way in Monson and Willimantic. Can't wait to do it again! I know we'll see some of the guys at our New London Rides this year (http://www.bareiss.net/bikeride2009.html) or Bloomfield or the other swap meets. Really looking forward to more rides coming up this year, including ones with the New England Musclebike Museum folks!

Take it easy all and I'll have my pics up soon.
--Rob




JoeyMac said:
It was awesome to meet all of you and check out so many great bikes!
The couple of rides were fun too!
Here are a couple of group photos...
I have a lot more from the meet and from the rides, but I am tired, so I just posted these for now.
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(Full Size here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeymac/33 ... 5/sizes/o/)
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(Full Size here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeymac/33 ... 3/sizes/o/)

More pictures later. After I have gotten some sleep. Good times :)
 
one more "nice meeting you all" reply...

I had a great time, and if Skip said once, he said it six times on the way home; "what a great group of guys"; he's right, this RRB forum has some quality people on it. Thanks to all who drove sick mileage to be there like NoCarsOnMars - I think he said he had a six hour drive home. And he even went further to Willimantic to ride with us. Hope you all enjoyed the mini tour of Willimantic. Not such a bad town. The frog bridge is a sight.

later on I'll post a picture of the mid-sixties Western Flyer (Murray frame) middleweight tank bike I picked up at the Antique shop in Stafford. I couldn't resist because it's just like one I restored in the early 80s.

I had a great time - cheers guys.
 
Had a great day. Nice to see familiar faces and meet new ones. Walking around the swap was really fun checking out all the bikes and components. The rides where a lot of fun and it was definitely worthwhile to take the drive to Willimantic for food and a ride. I am attaching a few pics to the post. More can be found on my flickr. There is a video of everyone going onto the footbridge too.
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30576251@N ... 799662478/

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good pics Bob. I'm glad people were documenting the day, I didn't take any pictures. Here's the Murray I picked on way to Willimantic for $15

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someone should put the screen names and actual names of everyone in the group shot. someone who can remember all the names that is.
 
Pics up now! A lot of the same things from different angles, it's a pretty cool gallery we've got going on here.

This is on the footbridge over the train tracks in Willimantic:
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This is in the parking lot the Rat Rodders took over across from the swap (no gazebos were harmed in the making of these pictures):
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Justin's Stretch Higgins sure does ride nice:
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This Elgin came home with us:
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What a crowd:
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All my pics can be seen here:
http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa12 ... guy/Rides/

Didn't get any pics at the bike shop, but no one would believe me if they hadn't been there. :shock:

talk to ya all soon,
--Rob
 
And speaking of beer and Willimantic (we were, weren't we?) how lucky were we after that drive?

This is from Willibrew's web site:
NOW OPEN FOR LUNCH ON SUNDAYS, TOO!!!

Sure glad you guys were! The food was fantastic and they have over 30 selections on tap. I don't know what more you could ask for, except maybe 77° and a light breeze...

I'm thinking I'll have to add an evening pub crawl in New London to the schedule... but in the meantime we'll try to join the ones Joe does.

That is definitely a motley crew over there:
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Yes that's one big frog:
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--Rob
 
Before yesterday day there was no reason for me to go to Conn. Thanks for letting me ride with you all. I got back home in Oswego, NY around 9pm. I made a little money and made some friends. I got the loop tail for 25 and found a free Huffy (parts bike) on the way home.
 

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