Velo Rendezvous 2004

Lately, I've been reading Scott's series on custom framebuilders.  It's very interesting, and served to remind me that I have met some of these guys and seen some of their work. So I thought I'd give a little description of last year's Velo Rendezvous, with some pictures.

Chuck Schmidt puts on this event every fall in Pasadena. He and his wife do a great job. This past year, the event was put in doubt when Chuck was creamed by a SUV while riding. Broken collarbone, ribs and a nasty gash on the neck, put him in the hospital. But he rallied and put out the effort, and the show went on. The setting for the event is beautiful. It is located in the park that adjoins the Rose Bowl. The weather was absolutely perfect, and seeing all those fantastic bikes in the southern California sun and shade was a great pleasure. Here's a picture of Chuck giving my son his name badge. The pictures here only show the event on Sunday, where folks come out to display their collections, other events occur on the Friday and Saturday preceding the big show. More information on the  Velo Rendezvous can be seen here  at Chuck's site.

The hardest part about this is figuring out where to start. There were so many bikes to see. I took over 200 pictures, eventually culling them down to about 130. The theme was framebuilders of California in the 1970's. So I'll start with one of those. Brian Baylis was present, as was much of his work. Here's a picture of Brian (on the left) with Sal Buongiorno and the back of a gentleman who I do not know. The rest are the best of the pictures I have of Brian's work that was being displayed that day.
                                                         
Bruce Gordon next. He was there and I spoke to him briefly. It was an amusing experience. I think I complimented him on his work and tried to make small talk. He said something sarcastic, kind of dismissing me. It cracked me up. And when I started laughing and made a sarcastic comment in return, he seemed to lighten up. Anyway, his work was very pretty and I enjoyed looking at it. Let's see how many pictures I can squeeze in. The first one is Bruce, Chuck Schmidt and  Richard Bulis. Bruce is in the center.
                                                         
Rob Roberson was there, although I didn't see him or know who he was until the awards ceremony. Therefore, I have no pictures of him. Some interesting examples of his work.

For Rivendell lovers, there were these.
Ever see a Flying Gate? First time for me.

Did someone say Confente?

You know, as I'm doing this, I realize that I can't do it justice. I have so many great pictures and I don't know how many I can upload to this blog. I have pictures of Peter Johnson bikes, Sal B. and his wonderful collection of old track iron, including a Pogliaghi track tandem from the 60's. Plus there are tons of Masis, Cinellis, Colnagos, Olmos, Bianchis and the other usual stuff. Not to mention a Thanet, a Moorson, an Art Stump, and another Confente. I don't think I can show them all. Maybe if this post gets enough interest, I'll do a part two.

I did want to show my friend Charles Andrews with his beautiful Gloria from the 50's(?).

And finally, one shot of my four entries, all together, the Cuevas, the Holdsworth, and the road and track Frejuses (Freji?).

All in all, quite a shindig. Barbecue was served at the lunch hour. Lots of fun. My 15 year old son seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. He was full of questions about framebuilding. I was glad to see his interest because, quite frankly, he was the only one his age there. It was 99% gray hairs like myself. What will happen to all these wonderful machines when we are gone?

Comments

[Scott]

Greg-

Fantastic post! I've seen these pics before... Yellow Jersey maybe... can't recall now. But GAWD they are just so damn beautiful I can't ever see them enough! Great to see the pics here with your great write-up of the event!!
So many thoughts... where to begin?
BB, what a legend and what amazing work. Bruce-great to read that he was just as consistant in person as on the Net! I wish you could recall what he said to you... I'd love to know.

It's funny, looking through all these fantastic pics-the Riv's look almost the least interesting. Yeah, it could be that I'm most familiar with them but it also just might be that they have a (dare I say it?!?!) "replica" feel to them instead of the other photos depict... "The Real Thing".

Great Work!! Please do a Pt. II

-Me (Large Fella)

[Greg Pitman]

Scott, thanks. These pictures have never been posted. Another attendee of the Velo posted the pictures he took on the Yellow Jersey site. I thought they were as good or better than mine, so I never posted them anywhere. Also, Chuck has pictures posted at his site, so I figured there was no need for more.

The thing is that everyone has a little different perspective, so you get a slightly different look from each photographer. It was my first visit to a vintage bike show, so I was like a kid in a candy store. I spent the entire morning taking pictures.

The real reason I posted this was your interview series. I thought it might give a slightly different take on these few frame builders. Kind of like catching glimpses of the beasts in their natural habitats. :)

And yes, when taken in context with the amazing bikes they emulate the Rivendells take on a different look. But still very pretty. My favorites though were the unusual and very old bikes like the Flying Gate, Moorson, Thanet and others.

I wish the hell I could remember my conversation with Bruce also. It was very brief, and I was laughing at the end, but I can't remember the actual dialogue.

I'll try and do a part 2 this week with a bunch more pictures. Hopefully it will make a nice counterpoint to your series on custom builders.

[George]

Sweet.

I'm pretty much a bike junkie.

I like ALL the pics. Sure wish I could afford one of each:-)

Thanks for taking the time to post them.

[Scott]

Greg-

Yep, stand corrected... I saw Chuck's pics before not yours.

More, more, more!! That's my vote for a Part 2!

BTW, have another installment of my FBQ up over at my blog as of a couple minutes ago.

Check her out when you get some time.

-Me (Large Fella)

[Jim]

"What will happen to all these wonderful machines when we are gone?"

Well, there's me, and your son, for two who will ride them. I have a feeling we're not the only ones.

[fixedgear]

Great picures, again. We may have to take the Rivendell secret decoder ring away from the guy with the poor wrap job that left the brake lever clamp exposed. -2 for that.

[Greg]

LOL.

It looks like it might be leather. Plus he had to go over the bar end cables. Maybe he didn't have enough.

I added your site to my links.