Fall MWMS Video & Winter Midwest Moto Swap Date Announced!

Here is a video showing a bit of the Fall Midwest Moto Swap that took place October 19th, 2013 in case you missed out. Music by the talented Lowbrow employee Jim Dalakas, who also jammed on and off all day at the swap meet, providing some background music to treasure hunt by. Thanks to everyone who came out, each swap is getting better and better!

Come visit us at the Winter Midwest Moto Swap on Saturday, February 22nd! More details to follow soon, we have some exciting additions to really make this a can't-miss, all-day event. Coming up on Saturday, June 14th will be our Spring MWMS, stay tuned for more exciting news!

Fall Midwest Moto Swap Bike Show Winners Announced

Below is the listing of the winners of the Fall Midwest Moto Swap Bike Show:

Best in show: Ed Vanaman; 1965 BSA Lightning
American Vintage Stock: Dave Trusky; 1972 Harley-Davidson FLC
American Custom: Mike Schrickel/Chop Machine; 1975 Harley-Davidson Shovelhead
American Modern Custom: Bob Vail; 1997 Harley-Davidson Sportster “Similaria”
British Custom: Ray Myers; 1967 Triumph “Boardtrackish”
Japanese Vintage Stock: James W. Twigg; 1983 Kawasaki GPZ 1100
Japanese Custom: Juan Feliciano; 1983 Yamaha XS650
European Stock: Karl Frye; 1956 ZID K-55
Café Racer: Devid Gerowitz; 1972 Honda CB750
Competition: Bill Hanks; 1972 Bultaco Sherpa S
Minicycles: John Bova/Johnny’s Vintage Motorcycle Co.; 1972 Kawasaki MT1

And we never listed the winners of the June show, which are:

Best in show: Mark Mederski;1963 Bultaco TSS 125
American Vintage Stock: Mark Fogarty; 1941 Indian 441
American Custom: Bob Millendle(sp?); 1979 Harley-Davidson Sportster
American Modern Custom: Dennis Williams; 1989 Harley-Davidson Sportster
British Custom: Laurie Stevens; 1965 Triumph Trophy
Japanese Vintage Stock: Tony Demarco; 1972 Kawasaki H2 Triple
JapaneseCustom: Dave cordial; 2001 Yamaha V Star
British Vintage Stock: Dave Goldman; 1967 Triumph Bonneville
European Vintage Stock: Jeff Borer; 1953 NSU Maxi
Competition: Arthur Romanelli; 2008 Harley-Davidson Nightster
Minicycles: Tim Richards; 1978 Yamaha GT80

Fall Midwest Moto Swap Bike Show Classes & Info

Above is a photo of one of the bike show trophies in-progress. We have 12 categories for the Bike Show at the Midwest Moto Swap taking place Saturday, October 19th, 2013 at the Medina County Fairgrounds. Click here to see a PDF of the following information and all rules. We have something for everyone, including:

American Vintage Stock
American Custom
American Modern Custom
British Vintage Stock
British Custom
Japanese Vintage Stock
Japanese Custom
European Vintage Stock
European Custom
Competition
Cafe Racer
Vintage Scooter / Minicycle

Vintage is designated as 1984 & earlier. Competition is for full race bikes (drag, flat track, GP, you get the idea), and the rest are pretty self explanatory. Each category is judged, and we have some awesome trophies and prizes. In addition to the above categories, we will have a Best of Show award chosen by the judges as a whole. It is FREE to enter your bike in the show with your paid $5 admission! There will be a bike show registration table from 10 a.m. - Noon, and awards will be announced by 4 p.m. Now get that bike spit-shined and ready to ride!

Come See Triumph Salt Flat Race Bikes

On display at the Fall Midwest Moto Swap will be our stable of Bonneville land speed racing bikes, including The Salt Ghost, Double Vision, Kyle's Triumph (no cool name?) and Poison Ivy. Many records set between these bikes, and we have old El Mirage and Bonneville trophies from The Salt Ghost to show off as well. All photos by Jon Glover, Glover's Garage.

Attention Potential Swap Meet Vendors: We are approaching capacity inside, with only 8 spots left, almost the entire building is full! We do have 29 outdoor 20' x 20' spots left, but we are filling up quick.  Click here for online application and payment, or here for more information and contact info for vending.

Medina Super 8 Group Rate for Midwest Moto Swap Attendees

Pictured here is Tim's 1965 Triumph TR6. If you like this, you should come see vintage bikes and buy parts and crusty treasure at the next Midwest Moto Swap! If you are coming in from out of town, there is a discounted group rate available for Friday night at the Medina Super 8 motel which is located nearby. Mention 'Midwest Moto Swap' for the discounted rate of $49.29 plus tax for a non-smoking double room (breakfast included). You can contact them directly at 330-723-8118.

Chop Cult Sponsoring Fall Midwest Moto Swap

We are proud to have Chop Cult as a sponsor of the Midwest Moto Swap. Take a look at the Chop Cult community and also scope out their Facebook page here for daily posts to feed your motorcycle habit.

Fall Midwest Moto Swap Vendor Information

You can check out and print a copy of the Midwest Moto Swap vendor application here. Be sure to send in your application soon to make sure you get your desired spot, $30 per spot for your choice of a 10' x 20' indoor or 20' x 20' outdoor vendor spot. Each purchased vendor spot includes 2 admissions. Completed applications can be faxed toll free to 1-866-378-2871 OR mailed in to Lowbrow Customs, ATT: Midwest Moto Swap, 800 S. Progress Dr, Medina, OH 44256. Vendor setup is from 4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. the day before the show (Friday, October 18th, 2013) and 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. the day of show. For more info or if you have questions please contact Will Stoner at 440-591-5099 or via email at will_stoner@live.com.

Lowbrow Customs Presents the Fall Midwest Moto Swap: Saturday, October 19th, 2013

Following the success of the first Midwest Moto Swap this past June, we are pleased to announce the Fall Midwest Moto Swap at the Medina County Fairgrounds in Medina, Ohio on Saturday, October 19th, 2013. As usual, free parking, only $5 to get in (under 16 and active military with I.D. are free!), and vendor spots only $30 for your choice of a 10' x 20' indoor or 20' x 20' outdoor spot. Flushed out with lots of motorcycle and chopper parts and apparel raffled off throughout the day and a judged bike show with 12 classes and you have a fun-filled October day in north east Ohio! Stay tuned for more details.

Spring Midwest Moto Swap Video

This video is from the first, bi-annual Midwest Moto Swap, presented by Lowbrow Customs. Mark your calendar for Saturday, October 19th, 2013 for the Fall Midwest Moto Swap! Video by Jon Glover.

Midwest Moto Swap is Tomorrow!

Midwest Moto Swap commercials have been running on cable TV in NE Ohio for the past week. Weather is looking great with 77 degrees and sunny! The turnout should be stellar, we have people coming from all over the midwest to show off their bikes, sell at the swap meet, or dig through piles of old parts for their own personal white whale. Some vendor spots are still available, fill out and pay with this online form to reserve yours, or call Will Stoner at 440-591-5099 or via email at will_stoner@live.com to reserve yours now.

Vendor Highlight: The Gasbox

Jesse Bassett & The Gasbox will be at the MWMS with some Gasbox-built bikes on display and a swap meet spot full of old bike parts. Come check out their award-winning builds in person this Saturday!

The Nosh Box will be at the MWMS This Saturday

Happy to announce another food vender at the MWMS this Saturday, The Nosh Box! Specialties include Philly sandwiches and walking tacos. Get some this Saturday at the Medina County Fairgrounds will scoping out motorcycles and digging through parts!

Cleveland BBQ Company will be at MWMS

The Cleveland BBQ Company will be on hand at the Midwest Moto Swap this Saturday, June 15th, 2013 to serve up some killer BBQ via their custom Deuce-And-A-Half M-109! Come dig through the swap meet, check out all the cool bikes in the show, and get some good food while you're at it.

Midwest Moto Swap Bike Show Trophies

Here are just some of the trophies that will be awarded Saturday, June 15th at the Midwest Moto Swap in Medina, Ohio! There are 11 classes, plus Best In Show. Did I mention that you can enter your bike in the MWMS Bike Show FREE with your paid $5 entry to the event? That is 12 chances for you to win glory and bragging rights, as well as a kick ass trophy. Take that wedding picture or your kid's soccer trophy down and replace it with one of these bad boys. A huge thanks goes to Biltwell for making these trophies, and to Josh at Old School Helmets for painting them!

From the top, left to right. Best Modern American Custom (any year), Best American Custom (pre-1985), Best European Custom, Best British Custom, Best Japanese Custom, Best Cafe Racer. Click here for a full list of classes and Bike Show info. See you there!

Jakprints: Print Sponsor of the Midwest Moto Swap

Thanks goes out to Jakprints for helping support the Midwest Moto Swap by handling all of our printing needs, from our VIP Vendor laminates to the thousands of color fliers we have passed out around North East Ohio! Jakprints is a Cleveland-based company, check them out for all your printing needs.

Hot Rod Parking @ Midwest Moto Swap

There is special parking at the Midwest Moto Swap for hot rods, so don't be shy, you can drive your classic cager while swapping and shopping for proper motorcycle parts and snag a primo spot while you are at it!

Vendor Spots Filling Up Fast! Get Yours Now.

Indoor and outdoor vendor spots for the Midwest Moto Swap taking place Saturday, June 15th are filling up fast! The vendor laminates just showed up (thanks Jakprints!), which get receive once arriving for setup on Saturday morning (setup is 6 a.m. - 9 a.m. day of show) and get you in the door and entitle you to free coffee and other such benefits.

For those of you who haven't locked down your spot yet, good news, you can now register online and pay securely with credit card by using this online vendor registration form!

Vendor Highlight: Imperial House 71 & Shawn Long

Midwest Moto Swap is proud to announce that Shawn Long of Imperial House 71 will be in attendance, selling some hand striped and lettered goods and doing hand lettering and striping on the spot. He will also have his Shovelhead and Panhead (being built for Born Free 5 right now) with him. Check out some more of his work at Imperial House 71.

Meet Will Stoner

Meet Will Stoner. Will is helping organize the Midwest Moto Swap swap meet with his long list of contacts he has built over the years. You may already know Will if you are in the motorcycle scene in Ohio, but if not, here are some words about his motorcycling history:

"My first love was drag racing, but I married motorcycles. I bought a  Honda Scrambler 90 in 1967, which I misused and neglected maintenance for three years. Not only did I not change the oil, I didn't know where the dipstick was. In the summer of 1971, a couple friends got Hodakas and started racing motocross.  That sounded like fun, so in November I picked up a very used Hodaka Super Rat for a couple hundred bucks.  Indian Summer was here on the Thursday I brought the bike home and rode it in my yard long enough to get huge blisters on both hands. By Sunday the weather had turned to snow for my first race. I slathered around in the mud and managed to complete two laps. That was enough to change my life. By the summer of '72, the drag car lay fallow on its trailer and I was racing motorcycles twice a week.

The only form of motorcycle competition I haven't done is hill climb and I was all the way up to mediocre in all the rest. The closest to fame I came was winning the 400cc class at the 1979 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges road race. But I had three other fast riders and a team of forty people helping. Three months after that race, I suckered one of our crew members, Kit, to marry me. For the next four years, I dabbled occasionally with bikes until I quit my job and Kit and I started a landscaping company. In an effort to be a "responsible citizen", my stable of motorcycles was sold.

 

The next two years were spent harassing my lovely to let me get another bike. She finally caved in when a friend called the house to ask me if I might be interested his old Yamaha RD250. Several months before, I told the seller, over several beers, to let me know if he ever wanted to sell the bike. I wasn't home and Kit took the call. The selling price was cheap, so she decided to surprise me and have Teddy, the seller bring the bike to our house that Sunday, knowing that I had plans and wouldn't be home until late afternoon. Whatever I was doing turned out to be a bust, so  I went home early.  You'd think I'd caught her in the bedroom with a boyfriend. She was red-faced and fidgeting. Then Teddy pulled into the driveway with the Yamaha. WE walked out to the drive to greet Teddy. I'm so stupid. I said.

"I know Teddy wants to sell this bike. Can I please buy it?

Smiling, she said "No."

"Why not?"

"It's sold". she said, grinning more. Did I mention I was stupid?

"who bought it?"

"a woman." Bigger grin.

"Did Grace (a former owner of the Yamaha) buy it ?"

"no...." she giggled. The light bulb goes on. I start crying. She starts crying. We start hugging and kissing in the driveway. Teddy thinks we're nuts. Two weeks later I have a trials bike. I'm back in the motorcycle game.

I start riding tiding trials, where I meet Bud Kubena and his then-twelve-year-old son, Kerry. Bud is a BSA enthusiast and he and Kerry restore old British bikes. I tell him I'd like to get an old Triumph to restore. He tells me about a 1968 Bonneville rolling basket-case in Pennsylvania. I buy it. The disease sets it. It's incurable.

In the fall of 1989, we're at a friend's party and I'm, of course, talking bikes with another friend, Bruce. We're talking about BSA Gold Stars and Bruce mentions that he has a 1956 BSA B33, the Gold Star's modest cousin, the he wanted to sell. I go over to Bruce's house. The bike is really neat. I want it. Bruce is asking $1,100 for it. I don't have $1,100. He says it's mine whenever I want it. Genius Idea! I'll put on a swap meet. I'm an expert at swap meets. I've been to three. I rent the Chagrin Falls National Guard Armory for a Sunday in February, 1990. I scour the phone books, bike mags, and harass friends for addresses. I sent out thousands of post cards. I make tons of phone calls. I sell out the Armory: forty-five spaces! It snows eighteen inches Saturday night before the swap meet. i have a landscape business. We have over one hundred plow customers! My seventy five year old mother gets stuck in the snow. I have to go rescue her in the blizzard. I'm having a heart attack! The snow stops.  We get the plowing done. It's 6:00 AM and I drive by the Armory. There are tracks leading in. I figure it's the Sergeant and he's clearing the parking lot. I drive in and there's a guy in a red pickup truck, waiting to get into the meet. Time comes for the show. We pack the place. Everybody has a great time.  I make enough money to get the bike. I call Bruce. He says "Ya know, I've decided to keep the Bike." I'm in the swap meet business!"

Bike Show Class Announced for Midwest Moto Swap

We have 12 categories for the Bike Show at the Midwest Moto Swap taking place Saturday, June 15th, 2013 at the Medina County Fairgrounds. Click here to see a PDF of the following information and all rules. We have something for everyone, including:

American Vintage Stock
American Custom
American Modern Custom
British Vintage Stock
British Custom
Japanese Vintage Stock
Japanese Custom
European Vintage Stock
European Custom
Competition
Cafe Racer
Vintage Scooter / Minicycle

Vintage is designated as 1984 & earlier. Competition is for full race bikes (drag, flat track, GP, you get the idea), and the rest are pretty self explanatory. Each category is judged, and we have some awesome trophies and prizes. In addition to the above categories, we will have a Best of Show award chosen by the judges as a whole. It is FREE to enter your bike in the show with your paid $5 admission! There will be a bike show registration table from 10 a.m. - Noon, and awards will be announced at 4 p.m. Now get that bike spit-shined and ready to ride!

Swap Meet Vendor Application & Info

You can check out and print a copy of the Midwest Moto Swap vendor application here. Be sure to send in your application soon to make sure you get your desired spot, indoor (air conditioned) 10' x 10' spots are a mere $20, and outdoor (on blacktop) 18' x 20' spots are $30. Each purchased vendor spot includes 2 admissions. Completed applications can be faxed toll free to 1-866-378-2871 OR mailed in to Lowbrow Customs, ATT: Midwest Moto Swap, 800 S. Progress Dr, Medina, OH 44256. Vendor setup is 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. the day of show. For more info or if you have questions please contact Will Stoner at 440-591-5099 or via email at will_stoner@live.com.

Motorcycle Enthusiasts Mark Your Calendars

From humble beginnings at the Lowbrow Customs' Swap & Meet last summer comes Midwest Moto Swap. Our open house and swap meet at our warehouse in Medina brought in hundreds of people, tons of cool vintage motorcycles and choppers, and swap meet vendors from all over Ohio and even Michigan, all with less than a week's notice of the event.

We are proud to announce that Will Stoner of Classic Swap Meets is managing the Midwest Moto Swap, bringing decades of swap meet organizing experience, vendor contacts and more than a little vintage motorcycle knowledge to the event.

Taking place at the Medina County Fairgrounds, we now have more than enough room for swap meet vendors hawking crusty motorcycle parts indoors & out, as well as a big judged bike show (classes to be announced shortly!), loads of killer raffle prizes to be given away all day, and all on the cheap. Please take a look at the links on the right side of this website for details, but vendor spots are a mere $20 for a 10'x10' indoor spot and $30 for a 18' x 20' outdoor spot. It only costs $5 to get in to the event, and you can enter your motorcycle in the bike show or bike corral free with paid entry!

Stay tuned for bike show classes, more updates, and profiles of vendors and companies attending the Moto Swap, because we already have a killer list of parts vendors, painters, custom builders, and chopper shops that will be in attendance.