View vintage bikes during show, swap meet

A combination of nostalgic and historic bicycles will be on display Sunday when Village CycleSport in Arlington Heights hosts its third annual Classic Bicycle Show & Swap.

The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the store's parking lot, 1313 N. Rand Road. Admission is free, though there is a $5 fee for bikes entered to be judged.

Nearly 80 models in all will be set up, ranging from turn-of-the-century models to ones from the 1930s, '40s, and '50s.

Some of those include Whizzers from the 1940s, which were considered state-of-the-art motorized bikes built with one-horsepower gas engines that allowed riders to cruise at 30 mph.

Also on hand will be Schwinn Phantoms with their distinctive balloon tires, as well as members of the Wheelman Club with their "Bone Shakers," or High Wheeler bikes.

Joe Eberhardt, co-owner of the Arlington Heights store and one by the same name in Elk Grove Village, says the show is an outgrowth of his own hobby in collecting and restoring bikes and his desire to promote the sport of cycling.

"There's no other place you can go to see all of these old bikes," Eberhardt says, "after the display on Navy Pier closed."

He will feature some from his own collection, including an 1899 Columbia bike, which operated on a drive shaft instead of a chain. He also will have a 1955 Huffy radio bike on display, with its radio built right into the bike's tank.

One that always draws a lot of interest is the bike that Greg Lemond rode when he was the first American to win the Tour de France in 1986.

Eberhardt figures models from Schwinn's Sting-Ray series, with their trademark banana boat seats, will account for the largest group in the show, including many from the colorful Orange Krate and Apple Krate series.

Young families find these particularly interesting and nostalgic since they were popular in the late 1960s and 1970s.

"We get a lot of people who want to see the bikes they rode as kids," Eberhardt says. "They bring their children to see them, and they spark a lot of stories."

Judges will award ribbons for best models in each class, while the event also will feature refreshments.

An equally big part of the show is the swap meet, where vendors and collectors will be on hand to sell hard-to-find parts and accessories needed to restore collectible bikes, as well as vintage bikes themselves.

Eberhardt and his partner, Vince Boyer of Addison, time the show each year -- one week after the Alexian Brothers International Cycling Tour of Elk Grove race -- hoping to build on the growing interest in cycling.