Bike Swap at the Fairpark

Well, by now, you know two things: 1. Fabian, yet to peak, from a small group at 10K, crushed them, like he crushed rock, in heroic form, on Strade Bianche;  2. The Bike Swap is over.  Here's what you might have seen or missed. There were a number of $300ish late seventies/eighties road bikes.  This one was the most novel, an Urago mass production:

A welded by Kieth Bontrager for $800.00:

Farari Bianchi's for sale:

Betty Boop did not sell for $265:

This Yeti 303 was interesting, but hella heavy and not that great a deal at $3200:

Sly Folks, Sly Fox, fistfulls of cash:

This is a video of Iltis not buying it at the Bicycle Collective table; which is hilarious, because otherwise he can't stop giving. This man puts out gives a lot to Utah cycling:

Fahzure, always slow, went down to A Putt in electric bike slicktrack oval racing:

Because it had all of the right markings: vintage, mixte, cool paint, I thought this bike was going to be best of show:

But alas this bike, like the Betty Boop, was priced at about $300, lacked much of its original equipment and posted later model add-ons and components of a down-grade quality. On the other hand, here was a $750, nearly stock Kona Stinky with everything in dirty, but working order. Start a DH lifestyle for under $1000 (it'll need a little work) with a dependable, fun bike. Freeride! Best of Show:

So, while there were a few opportunities, the problem with this year's swap lies in the fact that the pickings were particularly thin on the used front and traffic was slow. The people did not come out, especially those looking to get a deal on a new bike. More than a couple of vendors probably didn't cover their booth cost. The Bicycle Collective, who registers bikes for free at the event, only stickered about 45 bikes.  Let's hope that weather, the North Temple reconstruction and $5.00/gal gas conspire for a busier swap, next year.