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The 14^th Annual SuperSwap-X Meet & Bike Show

at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex

Mar. 25, 2001

Waking up at seven a.m., it was cold, in the mid twenties with high clouds and a biting breeze, not a bad day to go to a winter swap meet and bike show. The only problem was that this was the 25^th of March; it was spring; April was just days ahead. Where was the “lamb” that was supposed to typify late March? Oh well, no matter, Guru wants to buy a rear wheel for his soft tail, and I was looking for a clip-on windshield and either would be trouble to haul on bikes. We’d take the car. After picking Rocky up we stopped at Gus’s Bushkill Deli for a great breakfast.

By the time we got to Harrisburg it was around 11 a.m. As we approached the Farm Show complex we noticed that the entire parking lot seemed to be full. I suggested that perhaps there was a rodeo or a computer show going on in another part of the complex adding to the parking congestion. I was wrong. We slowly drove by and were stunned by the line of bikers waiting their turn to fork over their hard-earned cash and to get in from the cold. We correctly deduced that there must have been lots of early birds, and they weren’t allowed in before the official ten a.m. starting time. We drove right by and stopped at a nearby Burger King to kill a little time and wait for the line to go down.

Almost an hour later the line had dwindled down to less than a thousand when Rocky suggested that “maybe they’ll let us in since we’re with the biker press corps.” That idea was worth trying. Security directed us to Frank Westfall of Middle Earth Leatherworks who was kind of running the whole thing from his table next to the main entrance. He let us right in, acknowledging that he was aware of the bottleneck at the entrance and was very embarrassed about it, but he was apparently at a loss for how to deal with the situation. We asked a few of the people who had just made it in how long they waited in line. They all told us it took them more than two hours to get in, and that quite a few people had given up and left. That explained why we were able to find parking only half way out from the gate; an early bird must have given up and flown the coop leaving us his parking spot. Please note that I did get to talk with Frank Westfall a few days later and he was extremely sorry that anyone had to wait a long time to get in. I’ll go into the reason and the fix for next year’s event later in this story.

Once you got inside there was plenty of room for people. The main hall of the farm show building is the largest single hall that I’ve ever been in for any kind of bike event. I counted over 150 vendors some using up to ten regular spaces, but most just one or two. The vendors were not packed in tightly like at some swap meets; they had room to spread out their wares, and the aisles were roomy enough to get through.

Prices were generally great. Wall Street and old Mr. Greenspan might be worrying about inflation but in the used bike parts world deflation is the word. Last fall, when Guru first started shopping for a 16” rear wheel, used ones in nice shape were going for anywhere from $150 to $250. Oh, you could find rusty spoked wheels or chipped and dented mag wheels for less, but nothing worthy of the mighty Ghetto Cruiser. Guru is fussy about what he puts on that bike, even if it is only temporary while he sends his custom Rev-Tech wheel out to be rechromed. Seems that his model wheel was discontinued and the manufacturer wouldn’t find a way to make good on it when the chrome started peeling off. The custom plater says he’ll need about five weeks to get the job done, five weeks of prime riding season in glorious spring.

As we walked through the aisles there was so much to see that I felt like a little kid in a toy store “I want one of them and one of those and that …..” Saddles of every description, custom mirrors, smoothie fender struts, fully chromed wide-glide forks, electrically heated hand grips, gel seat cushions, boots, chaps, gloves, patches and stickers and more adorned all five aisles. There was turquoise and silver jewelry, Native American bead and feather jewelry, pooka bead jewelry, gold jewelry, polished stone jewelry, and all kinds of pretty, shiny, sparkly jewelry. I maintained self-control and didn’t buy any because I need to save my money for “more important” things, like a better camera, etc.

Guru actually stopped at over a dozen stands to look at used wheels. He kept a record of what kind of wheels each vendor had, their condition, and prices. He had made up his mind not to buy before checking out the entire swap meet. He finally bought a really nice chrome wheel with twisted spokes. It has no dents chips or flat spots. Nor does it have any peeling chrome or exterior rust, not even on the spokes. It has one broken spoke, and a little bit of rust in the inside where the tube sits. That little bit of rust will be easily cured with sandpaper and Rustoleum. Luckily it’s in a place where it won’t show and won’t affect the strength of the wheel, and spokes are cheap. He paid a whole $40 for the wheel. The same kind of wheel sells for $400 when new. I’d say he got a good deal.

Aside from good prices at most vendor stands the food prices weren’t bad either. The government owns the Farm Show complex and thus the food service is run as a concession. It is my guess that someone different is running that concession lately. In the past I’d been to the same snack bar and prices were quite ridiculously high. This would have been a more pleasant surprise if we hadn’t hit Gus’s and Burger King along the way there. The snack bar could use some tables or picnic benches so people wouldn’t have to carry their food with them and drop half of it on the floor.

Several stands were selling raffle tickets. I’m hoping to win the replica knucklehead from Clopper’s of Chambersburg.

There were quite a few antique bikes on display, including some race bikes from the 1920s that are still used in vintage racing events. I saw a Curtis, several Indians, a few Hendersons, and Excelsior-Hendersons with their distinctive “Schwinn” emblems just like the one on my old ten-speed bicycle.

A real crowd drawer was D.T. Howard’s dual hydrogen peroxide rocket propelled motorcycle. It is a completely custom made machine, with lots of long straight tubing several high pressure tanks and two small rocket motors, one on either side of the rear fender. It is claimed to produce over 1,000 horsepower.

There were fewer bikes in the show than in most shows, but what was lacking in quantity, was made up for in quality. There wasn’t a dog in this whole pony show (except for one rat bike that was meant to be that way). The workmanship and time spent to create such works of art deserve praise. I tried to take notes as the prizewinners’ names were announced. The announcer was not always clear so please excuse me if I missed or misspelled any names. The First Place winners of each class were: Margaret McCastry (Lady’s Bike), M C Motor works (Sidecar), Roy Chamberlain (Softail Full Custom), Glen Luxenberger (Custom Shovelhead), Dennis Ritchie (Radical Pan head), Scott Fisher (Mild Custom Shovelhead), Jim Paul (Mild Custom Softail), Dan Forish (Dresser), John Slaymaker (Stock Pan head), Brad Hinkleman (Evo Hard tail), Rick Clark (Full Custom Swing arm), and Larry Hisko (Radical Evo).

I would estimate that well over five thousand people attended, simply based on the fact that there were at least two thousand in line at eleven o-clock, and people continued to enter steadily from opening until around 4 p.m

For whatever it’s worth, I never got a windshield. All the used ones I looked at were too scratched up or too clunky-looking to do the Turtle Bike justice. I guess I’ll have to buy a new one. The weather should be warming up soon so I’ll have all summer to shop for one. I did get something that I needed, a replacement Kuryakyn foot-peg in perfect condition, for only five bucks, it even came with a stalk and bracket for which I don’t currently have a use.

Though the ads gave us the impression that this event was run by J&P Cycles and Susquehanna Valley Harley-Davidson, we learned that though both of those companies actually were sponsors and were well represented Frank Westfall from Middle Earth Leatherworks was the real coordinator. Except for the line to get in he really did a great job of organizing things, especially since this was his first time doing it.

Frank told us to check with him before we left to obtain attendance figures. He was way too busy to talk but he gave me his number and asked me to call him. I tried calling him all day Monday and Tuesday but kept getting busy signals or his answering machine. He responded with a phone call on Wednesday morning

Frank explained that this was the first year that he, operating as “Super Swap X”, was the promoter of this show. He followed the formula that was given him by J&P Cycles who ran it for the previous 13 years. He used all the tools and information that they provided him. He was unaware that there had been somewhat long lines during previous years, and there was no way to guess that this year’s attendance would be more than a thousand more people than any previous year. He was really heartbroken that even one person was compelled to walk away without going in because of the long line. He said that next year, he plans to have more than one entrance open. Additionally he plans to have ticket sellers outside either on the sidewalk or in the parking lot so people won’t have to wait in a long line to buy tickets. He also wants everyone to know that advance tickets were available at Susquehanna Valley Harley-Davidson. People who live close to Harrisburg were encouraged to get their tickets in advance to avoid the ticket line entirely. This practice will be continued next year. My estimates of the actual size of this event were pretty much confirmed by Frank, although the total gate is still being calculated. Just imagine what it would have been if there had not been a long line and nobody had given up trying to get in!

Frank told me that his real passion is racing antique motorcycles. The 1907 Curtis and the 1928 Henderson flat track racer on the stage were his. Currently the only vintage races held east of the Mississippi River are for bikes made after 1929. He and his friends travel to the Midwest to race their antique bikes. At the last race he was at in Iowa a 1916 Harley ridden by Dale Gamel took first place and a 1914 Harley ridden by Mike Terry took second. Both of those bikes were on display near the stage on Sunday. Frank is involved with the Syracuse mile vintage races June 23 at the NY State Fairgrounds, and he is trying to make AMA sanctioned ARMA racing popular in the east. He points out that many of those old bikes, Curtis, Indian, Merkel, etc., were made here in the East.

If you like top quality show bikes and if you like to shop for bike stuff, I highly recommend going to the Harrisburg Super Swap X show next year. I plan to give Mr. Westfall a call next winter to remind him about the now infamous line, though I doubt that it will be necessary.

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