Bargains galore: Shop discounted inventory at Chicago Winter Bike Swap
Looking for sweet deals on bikes, components and gear? You’re not alone.
About 1,000 bikers and vendors will converge at the Kane County Fairgrounds, 525 S. Randall Road in St. Charles, Sunday, Feb. 8, — or Super Bowl Sunday — for the annual Chicago Winter Bike Swap. Organized by the Honeyman family, owners of The Bike Rack in St. Charles, the swap runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the lobby opening at 8:30 a.m. Admission is $8 for adults or $8.50 with a credit card; free for kids 12 and younger. Parking is free.
Dane Honeyman, The Bike Rack’s general manager, explained they took over the swap in 2018 from a prior owner who’d run it for 12 years or so. They continued the swap at Palatine’s Harper College in 2019, then skipped the 2020 pandemic year, resuming at the fairgrounds since 2021.
Harper College’s plans to redo gym flooring meant a venue switch after 2019. Familiar with the nearby Kane County Fairgrounds, shop owner Hal Honeyman and son Dane settled there after seeking other venues.
Was a Super Bowl discount involved? Not so, according to Dane. The swap has run on the second Sunday in February since 2021. A playoff schedule change pushed the big game into February, aligning with the swap, or what NFL game officials might term “encroachment.”
Honeyman estimated the swap has averaged over 90 exhibitors during its five-year fairgrounds run. Individuals offer bikes, components and gear for sale. Bike shops and other vendors purchase booth space for their discounted inventory. Regional bike clubs table at the swap too, promoting events and membership.
Advocacy groups also staff tables/booths educating about Illinois biking issues and events. Ride Illinois, the statewide nonprofit biking organization, has been a regular.
Chicago Area Mountain Bikers (CAMBr) also have promoted their sport. This year, for the first time, attendees can learn about the Active Transportation Alliance and its efforts to make walking, biking, and public transit safe and equitable options for getting around the Chicago area.
Bill Kragh, longtime member and treasurer of the Arlington Heights Bicycle Club, thought his club has been tabling there for 8 to 10 years. Broad exposure helped promote membership, its own bike swap (now discontinued), plus its Arlington 500 ride, which is May 31 this year. Discount cards offered in 2025 yielded 25 to 30 early bird registrations, per Kragh.
The Fox Valley Bicycle and Ski Club has attended the swap for more than five years, according to President Jason Fair. The club promotes membership and its annual Swedish Days Ride, scheduled for June 14, with a discounted fee ending Feb. 28.
“We love meeting fellow bicycle enthusiasts,” he said. “It’s also a good chance to reconnect with existing club members.”
Fair added, “A lot of people attend the swap interested in biking, people newer to the area who are not familiar with the club. They are already bikers looking for an opportunity to join a group with riders similar to their skills.”
Vintage Bikes Feature
New this year is a vintage bike section. Elgin resident John Haboush, longtime customer at The Bike Rack and swap participant since 2013 or so, recently pitched the idea of this special feature to attract the niche community of vintage enthusiasts, and possibly expand swap attendance.
Haboush has shared his knowledge of vintage bikes via his YouTube presence, John's Vintage Road Bike Garage, noting almost 22,000 channel subscribers. Owner of about 60 road bikes, he explained that “vintage” is a hot topic right now, with definitions varying based on one’s generation. Besides special craftsmanship, vintage has an emotional component: personal memories of bike ownership.
He considers bikes vintage if they predate 1990. “But that’s just me. People collect things because they remind them of their youth,” he said.
For some, Schwinn Sting Rays are vintage. For older collectors, it’s the balloon-tired bikes of the mid-50s, admittedly my first ride.
Haboush worked in a Streamwood bike shop from 1982-89 before representing GT Bicycles for 10 years as a sales rep.
“I have a passion for vintage road bikes,” his YouTube bio notes. “I get excited seeing all the bikes I wish I could have had when I was in my teens and early 20s. Chrome lugs are a turn on!”
Bikecentennial Postscript
Unlike 50 years ago, Palatine’s Jim Michie upgraded his cross-country experience this past January from his original 4,200-mile Bikecentennial adventure in 1976. His travel was winged, “camping” was indoors, and meals included silverware. Also, for exercise, he hiked, not biked.
About 45 of the 2,000 who cycled across America in Bikecentennial celebrated its 50th anniversary at Adventure Cycling’s Jubilee in the Desert Jan. 9-12.
Nine of those in Tucson originated from Michie’s own 15-rider cohort who cycled east in 1976 from Reedsport, Oregon, to Yorktown, Virginia.
Despite a 50-year gap, that 60% attendance rate seemed impressive, reflecting what must have been a special group chemistry during their miles together. “76ers” flew in from Maine, Alaska, and Hawaii and other states. Only the Netherlands’ six riders, origin of the group’s “Dutch Apples” nickname, didn’t make it.
In Michie’s opinion, the weekend flew by too fast. Fellow bike mates shared memories and revealed stories that their accompanying spouses may have never heard, or heard differently. They resurrected memories of their youthful antics as teens and twenty-somethings on an adventure, tales no doubt embellished in the retelling.
To hear Michie tell it, it’s easy to imagine some of the mischiefs: prank-puncturing the tire of someone who hadn’t flatted the entire ride; yanking tent stakes to rouse late-sleeping campers; popping wheelies and taco-ing a front wheel on a fully loaded bike.
Like vintage bikes, vintage memories can be reminders of one’s youth.
• Join the ride. Contact Ralph Banasiak at alongfortheridemail@gmail.com.