Henry III

Now that I've been here for almost a year and getting a little more acquainted with the locals. I was introduced to the local bike collector through a friend who also happens to be a BF'er. I always heard of this collection but never gotten a chance to see it until just recently. He's an older gentleman who recently retired from his business but still stuff around his shop. Though mainly just buys bikes...and more bikes.

So he called me up to ask me what my schedule was like and I was able to go down and also told him I was in search of a 32 hole Record rear hub. So he said he's got pile of wheels and he probably had one and could have it if I found it. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera as I wasn't sure how he would be if I walk up and just start taking photos of his collection without prior notice. I was at his shop about a month or two before with my friend who introduced us. We walked around and he showed me his metal shop and told me I could use it whenever I wanted and he had two TIG machines I could also use for free.

So within that time frame he built a fully enclosed room...drywall, windows, carpeted, painted, built dual level display racks. It was nice to say the least. I think I had brace myself when I walked inside and pick my jaw off the floor. I've seen bike shops with less bikes for sale then what he had displayed. This was about a 1/3 to 1/2 of his collection in the room I've been told. The other stuff was in storage and not enough room in this new room.

Mind you it wasn't Schwinn Varsities or cruiser bikes as I knew a collector back in Wisconsin who was big into the ballooner stuff and has the basement and garage completely filled...I mean filled that you couldn't even get to bikes less then three feet away.

Anyways. Each rack held about 20-24 bikes and he had three of these and plus stuff on the floor. So maybe about 80 bikes in that one room I'm guessing. Old track bikes...60's Bianchis, Raleigh, Paramount, Ron Coopers... Then one with fresh out of the box vintage bikes. Some older Italian stuff but not that much. A racing and touring trike, a bike Lemond won a race on earlier in his career. He was big into Ron Cooper at the moment so he had about a half dozen. Then took me to his office directly below the bike room and had parts down there. A lot of NR stuff still in the boxes, a pallet full of wheelsets. There were some old 80's disc TT rear wheels, couple sets of Record wheels. Though nothing seemed important to him as they were just stacked onto of each other and told me if I found a hub I needed just to take the whole wheel. He never asked me for anything but to just bring the tire back that was mounted on it.

My friend said he's a total hoarder and never sells or gives anything away and was astonished that he just gave the wheel to me. So after about the two hour in the room as he told me a story of every bike in the room. That was simply the most crazy collection of bicycles I've ever seen. He not a competitive rider or really ride that much period. He just likes the beauty in old road bike. He had some custom tandems like a Jack Taylor, 80's steel Moots, Ritchey, etc.

I'm thinking calling him back up and seeing if I can take some photos. I felt kind of privileged as I spoke with some of the shop owners in town and they've heard of the collection but never seen it and he's kind of that mythical person that you hear of but never meet. We luckily hit it off really good that he offered me his shop to use freely whenever I wanted after he found out I took a framebuilding course.

Sorry I know this is a total tease of a thread but just wanted to know if others had collectors they knew?

oddjob2

I have seen Auchencrow's fine collection, and not just pictures!

miamijim

I peaked out around 22 or so....I know there're guys on this forum with collections. An old customer of ours back in NY must have 100+ high end road bikes.

gaucho777 

Sounds like a great friend to have! I can understand when people lament that bikes are meant to be ridden not hung on walls or stashed in attics. On the other hand, these collections have to be liquidated at some point. Better hoarded than scrapped. At least it ensures the slow trickle of available vintage bikes in the future. (That said, to paraphrase Hemmingway: This seems like a fine philosophy. In five years, it will seem just as silly as all the other fine philosophies I’ve had.)

miamijim

The guy I know is a life long bachelor with no heirs. He said he was going to leave everything to the local racing club....a lot of his bikes are really nice, others are beat to death. he rides 12-15k miles a year and rides for hours on the trainer indoors. Some of his bike are literaly rusted/worn out.

roadrunner2012

This guy is a friend of mine. He tells me there will be an incredible sale sometime late this year.

gomango

Must be a blast to walk through and take a look.

That Medici is calling my name.

ftwelder

I have met some of the "regional" bike collectors but haven't seen their bikes.

I turn a brilliant shade of green whenever I see a nice bike. I might faint seeing a collection like that one above.

CrankyFranky

How about that pump - with matching stripes no less!

gomango

Nice, isn't it.

Love the color.

Henry III

Must of ran short of decent pedals on his bikes. Anyone notice the rat traps on the silver Masi in the first picture? lol. That's an awesome collection.

roadrunner2012

Might be too big for you Grady. Most of his stuff is around 60cm.

I will ask him if that's one he's going to part with, and the size. It may be worth flying out in the Fall when he has the sale. He has been talking to Dale Brown about how to advertise and stay within the guidelines.

We have discussed having boxes and packing material on hand to facilitate the out of town people who will need to ship. If this happens it will be a once in a lifetime opportunity. This will not happen until at least the Fall, possibly early 2014, still in the planning stages. It will be 'once and done' for him. FWIW, he has never sold any of his collection, in spite of selling some 'lesser' things. He is not selling everything, just a huge pile of his collection. He will be keeping his riders.

CR folk will know who it is.

gomango

If it goes as small as a 58cm tt, I'll sell something.

I'm starting to get down there as far as inventory goes though.

I would likely fly out by the way.

I've been looking for an excuse to visit and a fun bike event would seal the deal.

auchencrow

Yup. Probably some steel Wald pedals like the ones below, but still with the reflectors in them.
Kind'a ruins the whole collection for me.

Henry III

As soon as I saw the reflectors I just wrote off the whole collection and had images of the Confente with a pair of cottered cranks, steel 27" wheels and a set of turkey levers. lol. That's a pretty awesome collection to say the least.

roadrunner2012

Actually he has Campy SL's still in the box.
Sometimes a platform pedal works. If that's the only comment you can come up with, oh well.

Six jours

Here in SoCal we have some pretty "serious" collectors. I ride with one of them on a semi-regular basis. He's got more than a hundred bikes, most of which would be considered "grail" bikes: Confenti, Herse, early Masi and Cinelli, etc.

And honestly, it kind of depresses me. He's a nice all-around guy, but is understandably nervous about his bikes, and really doesn't want them touched, let alone taken off the wall and handled. And riding them is, of course, completely out of the question.

Moreover, he's become a bit jaded, pointing out imperfections and expressing dissatisfaction with most of his bikes. It's interesting for me to walk around and look at all those bikes in one space, but I'd be a lot happier if they belonged to unabashedly enthusiastic cyclists who loved them, shared them, and rode them.

roadrunner2012

I'm sure some of the SoCal folks are chomping to get a piece of the collection I posted a smidgen of. To have them go to people who will ride them is one reason he is contemplating selling some. In spite of the size of his collection, most are only in a size he could ride.

BBM can attest to that. He has seen the stash.

Michael Angelo 

That Black Davidson is calling my name........

roadrunner2012

That's all for now folks. until a date has been set (and there will be one) I'm done.

You asked for local collectors, and you got a small taste.

23skidoo

The bikes are gorgeous, but I'd love to see the rest of his rugs.

Italuminium

They really tie the room together. I'm wondering what the collection that Elev12k referenced to in another thread, 300 up-market mtb's! There's also a guy here that has an attic full of pinarello's, plus some other odds and ends, like masi's he shares all his builds on the web as soon as he's done with them for the rest of us to drool over.

RobbieTunes

The closest collector to me is a BF member, whose family has owned a bike shop for as long as I can remember. He likes the older Raleighs, but has a few other interesting bikes, including many of the "marker bikes" that were good placemarks in the timeline, so to speak. He pretty much keeps them as he found them, and each, of course, has a story, so it's always great to go see him.

RobbieTunes

Please, no pictures.

Italuminium

oops.