It was 3 AM in Vienna, VA on Saturday, March 8th. My alarm goes off, and I jump into my traveling clothes. My 23 year old Brompton folding bike I restored after it was rescued out of a dumpster is already loaded in my van along with my Brompton travel bag packed with cameras, bike lights, and a special repair kit that goes into the frame of a Brompton. After feeding my friend’s dog who I am sitting for the week, I’m ready to drive to D.C. to meet my bike messenger friend, Greg a.k.a. “Sleazy G” at his home before setting off on our big day adventure to Philadelphia, PA. It is now 4:15 AM, and I arrive at his quaint 100 year old blue house, and he welcomes me with coffee and freshly made carrot juice, much desired after only sleeping a few hours the night before. I find that excitement is the #1 sleep killer for me. Then, we jump on our Bromptons, and we ride on the Metro Branch Trail to Union Station to catch our 5:30 train to Philly. The early morning was brisk, and the streets were quiet. Not even the Metro commuter trains were running yet, as we passed the stations. We felt excitement, but also some anxiety, as we were eager to get on our train in a timely fashion, and make our way to Philly Bike Expo. Greg and I both have missions we want to accomplish at the expo. A few months back, Greg and I met at the Dead City Alleycat bike messenger race, and bonded after geeking out over bike touring. When he is not working as a bike messenger, he is touring various places around the world on his bike, such as Egypt, Cuba, and Bolivia.
Now you are probably wondering why he goes by the nickname, Sleazy G. Well, it is common for bike messengers to have street names, and that was the name he went with. While I was assisting my riding buddy, Joel, with the organizing of the Dead City race, he would bring up characters, such as Biggs, Coach, Bruce Legend, and Sleazy G. I remember wondering what would make a person adopt such a name. So, at the Dead City afterparty, I found myself talking to a mild mannered, and eloquent man in a cycling cap and button down shirt who participated in the race only to learn that he was Sleazy G. I was shocked. I remember asking him later why he took that name when he did not appear to be sleazy. “That’s exactly it. I’m not sleazy.” He said, as I shrugged my shoulders. To this day, I still don’t know the backstory behind that nickname. Bike people are weird, including myself. A couple weeks afterwards, we met for coffee, and he enlisted my help as a mechanic to assist with creating his custom dream touring bike, which is when I recommended to him that we attend the expo. For those of you who have not heard of Philly Bike Expo, it is one of the largest bike conventions in the country, and focuses on showcasing mostly American made bike products, such as frames, bike components, and bike bags. In the beginning, it was mostly about American frame builders, but since then, the expo has branched out, and now allows other venders to participate, such as Tern, Brompton, Enduro Bearings, Wolftooth. This year, for the first time, the recumbent and trike industry decided to have some booths there. This event is a perfect place for anyone to attend if they want to build a custom bike whether it be a road bike, cyclocross bike, touring bike, or mountain bike. Here, Greg can not only drool over all of the beautiful bike parts, but he could seek professional advice about touring bikes from some of the best in the industry, such as Velo Orange, Rivendell, and Steve Bilenky. While his mission was also my mission, I also had my own agenda to accomplish which was to experience the expo for the first time, spread the word about a new exciting mountain bike magazine for women, and to meet one of my bike heroes, Steve Bilenky, a master frame builder who is famous for his ability to repair steel and titanium frames, and make frames with S&S couplers which are lugs installed on the top and down tube of a bike frame, so it can be broken in half, and packed into a suitcase. I was also hoping to meet his daughter, Bina, who in her own right is an impressive force as the head director of the expo.
We arrive at Union Station with time to spare for a few snapshots. As we walk up to our train, we fold our Bromptons, and swing our bags onto our backs. Greg needed some assistance with folding his bike since it was a loaner from my shop of occupation, Bikes@Vienna. He was still getting acquainted with riding and using these handcrafted British 16” wheel folding bikes. As we settle into our seats, and stash our bikes into a storage section close by, I get a text from my Brompton buddy, Roberta, who is also on the same train. I was excited to learn that she would also be attending not only the expo, but also the pre-expo Brompton group ride hosted by Mike McGettigan, owner of Trophy Bikes, Philly’s Brompton shop. She and I have been on a few bike adventures together, and she is known for being a major Brompton enthusiast in the DC area. By the time our train arrives in Philly, and we make our way up to the station’s main lobby, Roberta and her friend, Richard, are already waiting for us, their Brommies poised for a ride.
The time is 7:20, and we are all thinking about breakfast. Our desired food spot is The Dutch Eating Place which is at the Reading Terminal Market, two miles away. The group ride is scheduled to meet at the train station in just over an hour, but we take our chances and ride to food anyway. Riding with a bike messenger is not an experience for beginners. They train themselves to deliver important notes and packages as efficiently as possible which requires them to take numerous shortcuts, and breaking certain rules. They weave through cars, and learn to memorize the timing of lights, so they can run through them. We made quick timing following Greg’s lead, ate breakfast, and even had time to visit the Rocky steps before returning to the rendezvous point.
In front of the iconic Spirit of Transportation relief sculpture, Bromptons are already gathering. Our ride host, Mike McGettigan, who I can describe as Dana Carvey if he was a bike nerd, is helping people set the Bromptons up for a video shot, so their front axles line up with each other. By the time the ride starts, he counts 23 Bromptons, and a few non-Brompton folding bikes, such as a Dahon and a beautifully restored Raleigh 20.
If you want to get a decent tour of downtown Philly by bike, this seems like a good way to check that off the bucket list. Mike not only took us on an incredible route passing historic buildings, and riding over bridges, but he offered an enthusiastic, and eclectic historical dialogue to go with it. Since this is my first time in a big American city aside from DC which many don’t consider to be a real “big city” in comparison to places, such as Chicago and NYC, I find myself in awe of the tall modern skyscrapers in juxtaposition with old cobblestone streets.
Mike McGettigan giving some history about this Benjamin Franklin statue. Photo Credit: Greg Ross
When we reach the Philadelphia Convention Center, there is a long line of people and bikes, and not just run-in-the-mill bikes, but beautiful and unique steel bikes. Rivendell, All City, Velo Orange, all decked out with bougie components. Joel called this event “burning man for bike nerds.” Now, I understand why, and I feel right at home grabbing my bike valet parking ticket, and handing my Brompton over to join the mile-long area roped off for the thousands of bikes to be stored there. As we make our way to the escalator, I already find myself running into friends, and bike industry colleagues, such as Scott, a friendly mechanic from the Georgetown Brompton Junction, who I worked with for a few days to help get the junction shop ready to open, and always reminded me of a Norm Macdonald doing a Burt Reynolds impression, and David Black and Anja Wrede, owners of Rad Innovations, and authorities of adaptive cycling.
I visited the Hase Bikes factory and Rohloff factory in Germany with Anja a couple years back. After we pass the ticket gate, and get our admission bracelets, we step into the expo. My eyes light up seeing booths upon booths of shiny bike frames, wheels, baskets, bottle cages, and tools. In the center was an area set up for seminars discussing a variety of subjects from wheel building to bike touring.
In the back of the expo there were tables set up around a couple of pop-up cafes serving coffee and pastries, a must for hungry cyclists. Already, I know that this is an event where I am going to stay until they drag me out like the last kid at an arcade birthday party. Luckily, I can tell that Greg feels the same way, so I do not have to be concerned with him getting bored. However, as we get closer to the booths, I continue to run into familiar faces, and bust into conversation. So after being patient the first couple of times, Greg makes a polite getaway to gawk at the bike booths, and scour the tables for free stickers and swag, as one does at such events. With no strategy in mind, I start heading into a direction. The first booth I stop at is Velo Orange, a favorite company of mine based out of Glen Burnie, MD.
They design and manufacture beautiful vintage style bike frames and components, and I have used their parts multiple times to create interesting bike builds, such as my 1980s Fuji Mixtee city/sleeper gravel bike. If you want a mountain bike that looks vintage, but feels modern, Velo Orange can get you there with their unusual components that allows one to mix and match modern and vintage parts. I end up seeking Greg, and dragging him back to the Velo Orange stand, because I feel they would be perfect people to talk to about making a robust, adventure touring bike. The rep’s advice to him is to keep the frame design and color as bland as possible in order to avoid the thief’s gaze, and to keep the components simple, so that parts are easy to find and easy to repair. My next major stop is at the Mel Pinto/Var Tools booth to say hi to my buddy, Wayne Bingham, vintage bike restoration extraordinaire, and ogle the beautiful tools.
Most of the tools he sells are for bike mechanics, and they are of some of the highest quality. I make a personal wish list of tools, such as a derailleur hanger alignment tool and move on. Next stop is the Wolftooth booth, which is a brand that sells some of my favorite trail tools especially for mountain biking. Not only are they beautiful and light due to the high quality CNC machines they use to make most of the products, but they are extremely easy to use and pack onto a bike or bum bag. I have used their chain plier tool multiple times during some of my volunteer adaptive mtb events with great success. However, their items also come at a pretty cost, so the expo was well worth attending just to see and hold some of these tools in person. Some of you may think I am obsessed with derailleur hanger alignment tools, but it was great to see their portable version, especially since I was skeptical when seeing this design online, and the high cost. I felt that I spent hours going around in circles, my ADD in full meltdown mode causing me to visit booths in no logical order. I passed, and admired a vendor who set their area as a micro bicycle museum showcasing unique bikes from different eras. Eventually, I remember that one of the key moments I want to experience at the expo is to meet Steve Bilenky, so I search the booths until I eventually find a display of beautifully handcrafted steel bikes and tandems with Bilenky decals on the down tubes. Sitting in front of them is the iconic bearded legend along with his spirited young apprentice who also has bikes on display that he built. I have always wanted to take a frame building class, so it’s nice to talk to both of them about what a frame building apprenticeship under Bilenky would be like.
It would be a definite time commitment since the program lasts up to two months, and one would need to commit to staying in the Philly area for that amount of time unpaid. I’m logging this information in my head for a potential training experience.
After the expo closes its doors, Greg and I head to Monk’s Beer Emporium, a famous European café in Philly. A bunch of my friends from bike shops in Virginia have already been partaking for a good part of the afternoon. We put our names on the waiting list then ride our Bromptons to see some sights while we wait for the text alert.
When we return, we lock up the Bromptons outside. Normally, one would bring them inside, but the cafe is far too crowded. The cafe is inside one of the ancient Philly buildings, so tables are set within inches of one another. This gives me a chance to use a pro-Brompton owner trick which is to fold the bikes partially, and remove the hinge clamps to prevent someone from taking the bike, and riding off with it. As we are enjoying the end of our meal and Vermont beer, we realize that it’s 7:15 PM, and our train leaves at 7:40. We pay the check, quickly unfold the bikes, and race to the train station. Thanks to Greg’s bike messenger tricks, we were able to book it through traffic, and make it on the train with only minutes to spare!
We take a breath of relief, as we drop down into the train seats. We made it. I’m absolutely exhausted, so much so that we take the metro train back to Greg’s house from Union station instead of riding on the trail. As I drive back to Vienna, I find myself thinking why it took me seven years to finally attend such an awesome event. I hope to make it next year, and maybe I’ll even get to host a bike mechanic seminar, as well.
