ok, they may have beaten our record

Well our record is 71 bicycles in and around the van coming back from a swap meet. The photograph below was taken of photo at the David Metz Museum in New Jersey. The photo of the bus with bicycles was given to David by Mike Fallon, at the Copake Auction. David Metz, a collector of oddities, felt he must have the photo. I think we should frame a picture of our minivan full of bicycles for his museum wall. It would seem fitting.

well, better late than never- David Metz museum

Well hard to tell, but that is me and Curtis in the background.

Well i forgot to add, Curtis, the head of the Via Bicycle clan, was mentioned in a newspaper article about the David Metz Museum.

It can be read here- One the Asbury Park Press online.

High point-

"It's nice to see my bike dork friends,"

Not to trump Curtis's moment in the media, I was in the New York Times.
This article was about a swap meet we went to to sell some of our beater bikes. These bikes were all rideable, but were cosmetically challenged and some were more beater than bike, so we brought to sell cheap, to make space in the shop. Sometimes when we buy bikes, we are forced to buy a whole collection, rather than just cherrypicking the pile for 5 awesome bikes, we get 5 awesome bikes, 10 ok bikes, and 10 not so good bikes. We donate some to causes, and to some people down on their luck, and are stuck with some that we can't sell at the shop.

Sure Curtis is quoted in the Asbury Park Press, and I am only paraphrased, but mine is in the New York Times. so I win. . .

AA Zimmerman= The Zimmy!

Arthur A Zimmerman was the first superstar of bicycle racing.
Born in Camden, New Jersey, he later, after retirement, had bicycles built with his name in Freehold, NJ. Examples of the bicycle are extremely rare.
Below are photos showing the Zimmy in all it's beauty.
Good luck seeing another one.
Andrew Ritchie recently wrote a descriptive biography on Zimmy, available through -
the Veteran Cycle Club. The book is full of images of Zimmerman and his accolades.

International Cycling History Conference

I recently attended the International Cycling History Conference hosted by Gary Sanderson and the David Metz Bicycle Museum.
The talks were interesting and even trumping that was the Metz Museum, that leans toward early bicycles, but also shows David Metz sense of humor. Included amongst Star, Punnent Companion, and Eliot-Hickory bicycles is a display of clown bicycles. He also has various exhibits of wacky things, like mouse traps, bottle openers, and early roller skates.
here are some photos of the weekend.

click on to enlarge the photos=