Alladins cave

I went to pick up some wheels i won on ebay from this dude in camden. anyway meet him where he works, the back of an antique store. just in the doorway and just see furniture and stuff. was about to go home, then asked if he still had a nice brooks saddle for sale, so he said come in and i'll go check. anyway, walk up through all this nice furniture into his 'office' area. OMFG, i almost keeled over in shock. This dude, had been collecting track frames for his whole life and other vintage road bikes. There were probably 50-60 pairs of track wheels suspended from the roof, mountains of tyres, about 20-30 (could've been more) beautiful track frames any that you'd sell you left nut for, plus he reckons 100 odd road frames with horizontal drop outs. not just shitters either, lovely mint holsworths, carlton etc etc.. Anyway, he firmly says nothing is for sale, as he is supposedly opening up a shop soon for track and fixed bikes. I still persisted in asking if any frames were for sale, but he wasn't budging. I look forward to him opening his shop. did manage to score a 18T and 19T cog for bike polo. he even had a monster 25T.

awesome.

any more details on when/where this shop will be opening?

Sounds pretty exciting... Love the feeling when you find a place like that... Done it few times with record stores in the US, still looking for the mom 'n' pop sports store with a basement full of boxed Air Jordan 1s... Mmm... :-)
Keep us posted...

cajeta, he's getting kicked out of his current place so it's going into storage. but he reckons very soon, don't know where or when, but i presume nth london

he may come to bike polo on sun as well ;)

We could clean this guy out Dale..... I'm surprised u haven't offered to buy all his stuff of him ;-)

Maybe we could all pick up the cheque between us on the lease for him....... then we could have our own LondonFGSS shop and cool lair in Nth London!!

you don't realise, how much this guy has though. you couldn't imagine it. he had frames, side by side, then stacked on top, 2 deep, along one of the walls.

how much for a tiny commercial lease, per week?

I'm not really sure..... I'm up for taking over his shop though!

Camden is two minutes away from me, I am getting my cat burglar stuff on tonight.

I might join you ;)

i mentioned you Jos.

Track store in camden town! Best news ever.

I'm racking my brains to try and think of an 'antique' store in camden ... unless you mean borough of camden...can't think.

anyway, best not publicise which one lest he get harassed.

it's a hard to reach spot and i even ride past it every day. they are moving anyway.

Sounds cool.

I love places like that. Maybe it's best he just sits on it all.

What am i saying!

SELL IT ALL!

he's sells occasionally on ebay, but reckons he doesn't make much money that way. hence he wants to build bikes and sell the complete. i told him, i thought he would make less this way.

dogsballs he's sells occasionally on ebay, but reckons he doesn't make much money that way. hence he wants to build bikes and sell the complete. i told him, i thought he would make less this way.

He may make less but I'm guessing he didn't really collect to sell (otherwise he'd be selling already). Mebbe he foresaw the fixie/track boom about 20 years ago and has been hoarding in preparation? My guess is he wants to sell them complete because he likes making bikes. It's much more rewarding than just selling on components, even if it's less profitable.

I picked up a bike from a guy in Watford and you couldn't move for bikes. Not specifically track bikes but everything! he had them in the front room, back room, kitchen, all the sheds in the garden and all the way down the alley as well. I thought he might just have a couple when i found his add on gumtree.

It was a little strange. I guess he was just hoarding.

******...THREAD DIG ALERT... ******

whatever happened to this story dogs?

this dude is sitting on an even bigger fortune if his stuff's still in storage.... or did he reveal himself as someone everyone has now already cleaned out... ;)

graham in london

oh.

goes back to being uninterested in life

Sorry to change the line of converstaion but I have been refered to this thread (Alladins Cave) by another member. I was told that a certain Doug Pinkerton may be able to help me and that he is Alladins Cave.

I'm trying to contact Penny Farthing owners in the North East or South Scotland for an event in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Any help and or contacts would be appreciated. It's kind of urgent.

Thanks in advance.