Collector ready to help fix, find, identify bikes old & new
A cluster of bikes sits beside a house on 14th Street in Aurora and any passerby traveling down that lane can see the two-wheelers alongside a sign reading, “Matt’s Old Bicycles Collection.”
Matt Sisson of Aurora has been amassing a bicycle collection for over ten years. Some of the bicycles are displayed on his front lawn, but the extent of the collection expands to each corner of his garage.
Sisson’s interest with bikes began in 1996. He was three years old when he was with his mother at the home of their neighbor, Helen. When he made his way into Helen’s garage, he found a 1950 Schwinn Hornet bike.
When the two women found him, he was fascinated by a button he found on the bike’s fake gas tank.
“I kept pushing on the button and Helen asked me, ‘Do you know what that’s for?’” Sisson recounted. The button was for the bike’s horn and the tank on the Schwinn Hornet contained a electric battery that powered the device.
It wasn’t until a decade later when he was 14 years old that Sisson gained his first bike from his uncle, Jerry, who had a small collection of his own.
“It was a 24-inch bike from the 1960s,” Sisson explained. “I couldn’t remember what the model was, but I picked the bike out of the bunch and I learned how to fix it up so I could start riding it.”
Sisson’s fascination in finding bikes started to blossom a year later when he rode to the Aurora Dump and found an older bike model within the rubble.
“I saved a 1960s 24-inch Hiawatha bike,” Sisson commented. “I managed to fix it up and got to ride it a few times.”
Fixing bikes is one of Sisson’s favorite activities when maintaining his bicycle collection. In looking for parts to fix his new rides, he went onto eBay to find similar models being sold online.
“I saw there was Schwinn from the 1950s, but it was so expensive!” Sisson stated.
Sisson’s search for new bikes often resulted in disappointment, as buying classic bikes was as difficult as finding them. Prices on eBay for a Schwinn Hornet could range from $1,200 to $2,500.
After Sisson graduated from high school in 2012, he used his graduation money to continue adding to his bike collection. A year later, he had managed to collect 36 different bikes. Some were similar models to the ones he had collected in the past, but also there were models of recent makes.
The more bikes Sisson collected, the more interested he became in the concept of swapping bikes for different models. Sisson recounted bike swaps that he attended in the past, remembering where he went and what models he traded for. He traveled to Denver, Colo. numerous times as well as Wichita where he would sell bike parts and gain new bikes for his collection.
“I bought a 1946 B.F. Goodrich from Denver, and... I bought a 1952 Schwinn Green Phantom in Wichita,” he commented.
With his bike collection continuing to grow, Sisson wants to share his collection with the community. He is always on the lookout for different bikes to add into his collection. If anyone within the community has bikes that can’t be identified Sisson said he would be happy to help identify them. He is also available to help fix broken bicycles.
And if there is a particular bike that anyone in the area is looking for, Sisson stated that he would be happy to help find it.