The Coates Vintage Show, Shop Ride & Bike Swap...

This was one of those weekends when there was literally an event for every type of rider taking place within a handful of minute of one another. For the mountain bikers, there was the Mt. SAC Fat Tire Classic, the CXers had VelocityCross, and for the roadies there was this. I guess this was in part another in the Cycling Connection series of shop rides, at least the ride portion of the festivities; the vintage show, bike swap, dj, and food truck was, I believe, organized by Corey and Coates. Whatever the case may be, there was a great turnout for the rides (long and short options), some really nice show bikes, and killer deals at the swap. I only wish I didn't have to pick and choose between the three disciplines/events.

if a more iconic bike shop sign exists, i would like to know where

If there is an event taking place, and most certainly a local ride, that contains the word vintage in the title, you can pretty much predict that I will be there on either the Basso, or the older Bottecchia. This line of thought clearly put me in the minority though; other than the bikes on display there were very few steel frames in the bunch. Amongst the few was a fine commuter being ridden by local (Pasadena) frame builder, Greg Townsend. I opted to do just the short ride so I could get myself back to the swap before the crowd. Mr. Townsend was also on that short route and I noticed he and his bike straight away. I briefly introduced myself to him at last years custom show in San Diego, and was reintroduced today, by Dale of the Velo. If you are not familiar with Townsend Bicycles clicking on the name will take you to his website; they are high quality, highly regarded, all custom hand built; perfect for commuting, and perhaps some touring.

Corey, master of ceremonies in amongst the shoppers

Local collector and all-things-vintage guru, Steven Felschundneff, had several bikes from his personal collection, his show bikes as he told me, on display in the Coates showroom. There were a number of others in there as well, but it was the couple of Cinelli's belonging to Steven that I particularly noticed. Back outside the showroom, Steven also had a spot in the swap where he was selling some of his components and memorabilia. The one thing I ended up buying was a jersey from the old Malvor-Bottecchia-Vaporella team of, I believe, 1985-1986. Thought it would go well with the Bottecchia, even though they are slightly different eras.

a portion of the Felschundneff collection

Anyway, it was a great day to hang out with the cycling crowd; besides Cycling Connection, many of the local organizations, recreational clubs and racing teams were represented, including, Pomona Valley Bicycle Coalition, the Psycho-lists, BoBie's, Inland Empire Women's Cycling, Claremont Senior Bicycle Group, the Coates shop team, Back Abbey, Kretzschmar Steel Racing, etc. It was fantastic to see so many come out, not just for the fun, but in support of the effort put out by Corey and the Coates crew to organize the event. Coates Cyclery, one of the grand old shops of the region. Now it is time to stop kicking myself for not waiting in line for those red velvet pancakes; mmmmmm.