Bike collectors pedal vintage renaissance
Vintage bicycle enthusiasts are dusting off the frames for a special show and shine event in Ponsonby this weekend.
The Retro Rouse will showcase more than 200 steel-frame bikes from the pre-1990s era, with nostalgic bike lovers coming from all over New Zealand - some even making day trips from the South Island.
While the exact amount of attendees is not yet known, interest has been shown by more than 250 people on the event’s Facebook page.
St Heliers residents Shayne Goodwin and wife Carmen are organising the event after they discovered a surprisingly large collectors community which had not yet been brought together.
‘‘There is sort of a renaissance of vintage-bike cycling as well as collecting. It’s a niche vintage market but it’s quite on the rise,’’ Carmen Goodwin said.
‘‘This event is really a celebration of an era of cycling before carbon fibre.’’
Some of the bikes on display will be worth as much as $30,000, including bikes banned from competitions and some hand-made in Italy.
One of the most rare, Shayne Goodwin believed, would be a Lotus Type 108, of which only 15 were made worldwide.
Apparel will also be a feature, with authentic woollen race jerseys from the pre-1990s era expected to make a strong showing.
‘‘There’s a lot of incredible and extraordinary stuff out there,’’ Shayne Goodwin said.
Shayne fell in love with vintage bikes after picking up cycling as a teenager. Collecting the memorabilia was a way of reminding him of the golden years of cycling.
‘‘That was the era I grew up in, it was a great time in the sport and it was a lot more real than it is today,’’ he said.
‘‘The way the bikes were made, all the craftsmanship and componentry, they weren’t massproduced.’’
His love seemingly extended to a much larger community throughout the country, and an event seemed inevitable.
Shayne Goodwin has been working with Auckland Council to stage the event on a much larger scale in the future, with The Cloud on the city’s waterfront a possible venue.
This weekend’s event will take place on Saturday from 12 to 4pm at Freemans Bay Community Centre in Ponsonby.