The Other, Other Bike Show

No not THAT show. And not even THIS show. I'm talking about full 'nother step down the retail food-chain to the first (annual?) CONSUMER bike show in Minneapolis. $7 to get in and $2 off with a coupon from their site. Put together by the folks at Minnesota Cyclist I guess. I almost didn't even hear about it. Mainly catering to the rails to trails set, so that's why it slipped under my radar until the last second. I haven't been into a chain-bike-shop in months.

The highlights for me were talking to Miker at Salsa and the omnipresent Gene-O AND the 1st Annual Antique Bike Show. Great selection of old rides. Really nice stuff from Evan Hatcher. These old bikes were worth the price of admission alone. Wish I brought my camera now. 1800's all the way up to 1960 Stingrays. Dang. I need more old bikes. They don't make them any cooler than that. Wooden rims. Cork grips. Leather saddels.

Dissapointments: Overall not bad for a first attempt. I'm glad someone is trying it. Since they had a decent sized track to test ride bikes on, I was looking forward to riding and comparing a cross-check and a castro valley. Even though Surly and Bianchi were both there, those bikes weren't there to ride. I guess I can't expect them to have on hand every model in every size, eh? I heard Surly was only going bring what they could ride to the show. And it looked like it. One long-haul trucker fulled loaded w/ trailer another LHT and a pugsley.