It’s a jumble out there!
Dozens of pedal pushers from Park Slope and beyond gathered at the Brooklyn Bike Jumble in Washington Park on Sept. 10 to buy and sell custom and used bikes and the parts to make them. But beyond trading two-wheelers, the fair is just generally a terrific place to hob-nob with other gear-heads, according to attendees.
“It’s great,” said Sloper Gabriel Martinez, who came to sell a Schwinn he tricked-out for his girlfriend, before she got a newer model. “It brings like-minded people together, and makes me feel like I’m not a crazy person for having 20 handlebars in my tiny apartment.”
The twice-yearly open-air flea market is a super place to find one-of-a-kind rides, say visitors — and to score the best deals on two wheels.
“It’s cheaper, but you can get some really great old bikes and unique bikes,” said Tea Linderburg, whose 12-year-old daughter Palma Leth picked up a sweet purple bike at the fete. “We just love all the different bikes they have there.”
Linderburg and her family moved to the Slope from Denmark two years ago, and the clan is still dedicated to living a car-free European lifestyle, so supporting bike-friendly community events like the jumble is important to them, she said.
“It’s such a great event and I want to support that,” she said. “We’re used to bikes everywhere — we don’t own a car.”
And for sellers, it is an awesome opportunity to chat with prospective customers in a casual setting and show off their wares in action, they say.
“You get a personable experience — you can walk up and meet people, talk with them, see the bikes, test ride them,” said Andrew Rufe of LHQ Bicycle Components, who came from out of state to sell a custom single-speed design he says he created especially for New York’s streets. “It’s like an outdoor experience.”
As for Martinez, he says he never sold his girlfriend’s bike and it is still up for grabs — you can find it chained up at the park on Fourth Avenue and Third Street with his contact details and a $200 price tag, he said.
