Collectors journey back in time looking for classic bicycles
Pretty much everyone has a bicycle story.
There are memories of learning to ride. Youngsters graduated from having to use training wheels. And, sometimes, they fall off, scraping a knee or losing a tooth, and then get right back on and keeping going.
On that bicycle, children often traveled to places their parents never knew they went.
“Every one of these bicycles had a rider who can tell you something about the adventures they took on it,” said Howard F. Gordon of Lower Burrell, a collector of vintage bicycles, as he stood among a garage full of them. “A bike is a kid’s first feeling of freedom. I definitely remember my first bike. It was a used one because there were six of us kids so my parents couldn’t afford new ones.”
For what it’s worth
Some rare and limited edition models sell for hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Finding that one-of-a-kind bike or the one that brings you back to your childhood is the draw of bicycle enthusiasts to the annual Antique & Classic Bicycle Swap Meet from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, Jan. 23, at Shindigs, an event space in Butler. People buy, sell or trade bicycles, parts and accessories while sharing tales of riding and their search for the next unique bicycle.
“Collectors like to do the bike swap in the winter when they can’t really ride because of the weather, so they need something to do,” said Jeff Rapp, owner of Rapp’s Bicycle Center in Butler for more than 50 years, who started the swap more than three decades ago.
The pandemic prevented the 2021 swap from happening. Rapp thought about not having it this year, but Gordon said he would help promote it.
“I love seeing everyone, especially kids riding bikes and not spending so much time on computers and playing video games,” Rapp said. “And with so many bike trails in this area, that has been a good way to attract more bike riders.”
There are so many interesting aspects to riding a bike, Gordon said. It’s the perfect way to spend time with someone.
“Riding bicycles is good for companionship,” Gordon said. “My wife and I go on bike riding dates. We stop for ice cream. We enjoy the nice weather. It’s great exercise.”
It’s also addicting in a good way, said Gordon, who hosts an antique bicycle ride in the summer every year. He knows with close to 100 bikes that he has too many, but there are some he just can’t sell.
They have a special meaning to him.
On the lookout
He finds bicycles at garage and estate sales as well as events like this one. He’ll buy a bike and completely disassemble it and clean every part and put it back together.
Gordon has a 1951 Monark that he calls “the Cadillac of bikes.” He has pre-war bikes and a 1953 Schwinn Phantom, which has a chrome fender and leather saddle. Gordon has a tandem bike from 1939, where the rider in the back does the steering.
Gordon said a resource is the Classic & Antique Bicycle Exchange, an online forum for collectors. Rapp is a member of The Wheelmen, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the restoration and riding of early cycles manufactured in 1932 and earlier.
Wooden bikes of the early 1900s are Rapp’s favorite because they were used for transportation.
He decided to start the swap when he moved his business to its current location. He had so many bicycles, he decided the event was a good way to sell some of them.
Gordon said collectors are always looking. He recalled going to a yard sale and spotted a vintage bike hanging in the garage. He asked the homeowner about the bike and bought it.
“There are so many bicycles in garages and attics that are worth money,” said Gordon, whose previous job as a restorer of antique furniture extended into restoring bicycles.
He said he plans to take the bike he likes the least to the swap.
Gordon said girls bikes are usually in the best shape because they took care of them. Boys often rode the bicycles into the ground.
Currently, “muscle bikes,” those made in the 1960s designed to look like motorcycles, are trending.
Bicycle Heaven
Craig Morrow, owner of Bicycle Heaven Museum and Bike Shop in Pittsburgh’s North Side, was restoring an MTD SS5 Chopper muscle bike Monday to possibly take to the swap. The Ben Avon Heights resident has more than 6,000 bicycles, including 19 Boden Spacelander models, the first all-fiberglass bike. There were only 52 made.
Some are worth thousands.
To him, bikes are art. He has them displayed throughout two levels. Some hang from the ceiling. Others are attached to the wall. He has a bike tree where the branches grew up around bicycles, and a room filled with bicycle cranks and a florescent bike.
He has BMX bikes, Swiss Army and paratrooper bikes, a Harley Davison bicycle, and the bicycle The Monkees’ rode. The oldest bike he owns is an 1863 wooden Boneshaker.
The former Golden Glove boxer said, “Bicycle Heaven is where bikes go when they die.”
It’s also where bikes get new life, said Kurt Hagler of Shaler, who bought his son a bike from Morrow decades ago. Hagler helps Morrow restore bicycles.
“I really enjoy doing this,” Hagler said. “Some of these bikes are very rare, and it’s satisfying to see them fully restored.”
Bicycle Heaven was started in 1996 in Bellevue with one discarded bike that Morrow found in the junk. He started doing repairs and selling used bikes and collecting vintage antique and collectible bikes.
According to its website, it claims to be the world’s largest bicycle museum and shop.
You can get your bike fixed, tuned up or trade it in for a newer, or older bicycle.
The museum has Pee-wee Herman’s bike from the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” His bikes have been ridden in movies such as “A Beautiful Mind,” “Super 8,” “Fathers & Daughters” and “Fences.”
Morrow has found bikes on curbs when people put out their trash, and he used to hang flyers on telephone poles looking for bikes. If a garage door is open and he sees a bike, he’ll knock on the door and ask about it.
“Everyone has a story about riding a bike, from falling off and chipping a tooth to exploring new places,” Morrow said. “Your bike fits your personality. Bikes are about adventure.”
“Everyone can pretty much get on a bike and go,” said Gordon. “As kids, we rode bikes everywhere.”
Even places they weren’t supposed to.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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