Puck and I headed to the Brazen Dropouts Bike Swap on Saturday, January 18th. Held at a 90,000 sq/ft hall at the Alliant Energy Center, it is one of the largest bike swaps in the midwest if not farther afield.
To document the trip I decided to rely on my Camp Snap screenless camera to take some photos of the treasures to be found. I got this idea in my head of going to Ham Radio swap meets with my dad and thought the Camp Snap might give the photos that old school vibe from the ’70’s and ’80’s when we went to a bunch of shows. I don’t remember if he, or I, ever took photos at those events but it was the idea of the feeling that I was aiming for.
Yes, there was some fatbike stuff at the swap. Maybe a dozen fatbikes, possibly a few more but not a ton. If they were new, folks were trying to get about 50 cents on the dollar for them. No snow again this year in South Central Wisco is making moving anything fat a challenge.
Other fatbike, or winter-specific stuff was boots and a surprising number of tires.
I also ran into Andy from Bike Studs who had Terrene tires at a great price as well as his Bike Studs if you already have compatible tires.
To digress a bit, even if you have studded tires from a tire brand, do yourself a favor and get some Grip Studs for your footwear! It sucks falling on your ass when you put your foot down after those grippy tires give you a bunch of confidence!
On with the story!
So, was the experiment successful? Kind of. I learned some stuff about the Camp Snap Camera and how it might be used. A sorta dark exposition hall isn’t its strength. I had the flash set to Auto but didn’t notice it firing often if at all. I wasn’t really paying attention to it though. Very obvious that if I made a concerted effort to be steady, or used a tripod, the results would have been better. The Camp Snap certainly works much better with more light. Like outside.
I kind of had an idea that I was going to shoot quick grab-and-go shots with a camera like an old Kodak 126 Instamatic. I don’t have one of those anymore to compare but I suspect the look would have been worse inside the exposition hall. It’s bee 50 years since I shot with an Instamatic and my memory is fuzzy back that far. My recollection was that the 126 wasn’t bad outside. Inside with a flash was pretty dismal with overexposed faces and dark backgrounds. Inside without a flash, fagetaboutit.
In the end learning a camera’s strength and weaknesses is a valuable experiment. Would I attempt the same use-case again. No, but I will get the Camp Snap outdoors and give it another go. Probably with fatbikes!
Here is where I got the Camp Snap – https://www.campsnapphoto.com/collections/camp-snap-screen-free-digital-cameras/products/screen-free-digital-camera-forest-green
On with more photos from the swap!
That is an old GT Outpost with splatter paint.
Alrighty! It was a fun trip with a stop at Liberty Station right by the venue for a bit-o-barbecue and still home early.
If you have the chance plan a trip next January to the Brazen Dropouts Bike Swap in Madison, WI! You won’t go away empty handed.
Looking for other events? Check out the fat-bike.com Event Calendar!
Cool. Does anyone know if there is a swap meet like that anywhere near Detroit?
These guys did one in September last year. http://robikeswap.com – Otherwise, I didn’t see much. There are so many towns around Detroit. I’d hope they would mention Detroit-area but some may be super local.