Whew another one in the books. Ann Arbor (AA) tops off nearly an entire week of bike events that start with the Memory Lane Classics Show (MLC). I have to commend Paul and Annie Kleppert and the entire Ann Arbor team for their efforts. I know by the time Paul was handing out awards he was running on fumes. I know my dad and I had a great time and got to catch up with some old friends and make new ones.

Typically the show opens to everyone Sunday morning but this year vendors were allowed in Saturday starting at 1 pm. The threat of a few inches of snow never materialized and even though the start was a little chilly the sun came out and hit mid 60s for a beautiful day.

Memory Lane and Ann Arbor are two very different venues. While you will see many faces (and bikes) from MLC AA always offers something different. It seems to me the diversity of AA is greater than what typically shows up at MLC. For example you won’t see too many Pinarellos, Colnagos, or boutique built bikes at MLC while AA will have these plus more motorized stuff even though the mini-bike part was separated a couple of years ago.

There was a good representation of all types of bikes and there were a lot of great bikes as well as other interesting items to include ride on toys such as wagons, sleds, and scooters. Some really nice TOC stuff and the prices were right on a lot of it. There seemed to be a good selection of muscle bikes such as Sting-Rays, Buzz Bike, etc… but I don’t really track these too closely to say whether they were priced right or not. I saw a few high end road bikes that seemed to be priced right but failed to find new homes. I believe a couple early Paramounts did find a new home and there was a beautiful, fully restored ’45 Paramount in the show. The balloon tire stuff seemed a little thin and most was a carry-over from MLC. Something that always amuses me is that I will see a bike at MLC on Thursday morning and by the time of AA it has changed hands three or four times with the price moving incrementally higher each time!

There seemed to be a fairly healthy crowd and it looked like people were buying. I’d like to hear some vendor’s perspectives on this. Overall this year it seems to me bikes have been moving sort of slowly. Other than some pre-sales I didn’t see too many high end bikes move and it seemed the market for low to middle end bikes is stagnant. Parts on the other hand seem to do pretty well and it appears more people are concentrating on finishing projects rather than starting new ones. With about ten that need to be done myself I totally understand!

While the bike show seemed a little light again this year there were still a lot of quality bikes. Since 2007 the Classic Bike of the Year (CBOY) award has been split into “Best Restored” and “Best Preserved”. The winner in the restored category was Mike Di Vito with his beautifully restored 1937 Evinrude Streamflow Imperial. I received runner-up in this category with my 1939 Monark Model GT495. I won the best preserved category with my 1938 Wards Hawthorne Zep. The runner-up in best preserved was Brant Mackley with a truly outstanding ca. 1896 Denver Cycle Mfr. Co. tandem. Speaking of Brant he also let me get a sneak peak of an uber rare 1954 Cleveland Welding Co. Skylark prototype. This is an unusual cast aluminum bike that many are unaware of let alone ever seen in person. I challenge anyone attending next year to bring a bike to show. Heck you may win a plaque and if you enter CBOY possibly some cash as well. The winner in each category for CBOY gets $250 and the runner up gets $150. In the general show classes you get a plaque and bragging rights!

Next year Paul has announced this will be a two day show (Saturday and Sunday) which many have lobbied for. Trying to cram the show and swap into about six hours is tight and doesn’t really give you much time to see everything. I believe the extra day will really help both vendors and buyers. Usually my dad and I use Saturday to go sightseeing because many of the vendors at Memory Lane have packed up By the time I stop and pick up my dad in Indiana this makes it a 2100 mile round trip ride for me so an extra day will give us a chance to really take everything in without rushing. Below are a few pics. To see the rest please go here https://vintageamericanbicycles.com/index.php/events/  I look forward to seeing everyone next year so until then enjoy the ride!