“Best trade show ever”

Mel Payne of Clark’s Cycle Systems said the 2009 Eurobike, which finished in Friedrichshafen, Germany, on Saturday, was the best expo the company has ever attended.

"We go to lots of trade shows and exhibitions but this one exceeded all expectations. Eurobike is now such a global show, we saw every international distributor we needed to see."

Justin Stevenson of Whyte used Twitter to get BikeBiz to visit his stand (with 1028 exhibitors, such a tactic was clever use of technology).

"It’s our first time exhibiting outside the UK," said Stevenson. "The response here has been amazing, non-stop business throughout the day."

Eurobike attracted 39,152 trade visitors (an increase of six percent over last year’s total), from 75 countries, and 1,556 journalist. In addition, there were 21,000 visitors on the public day.

The Eurobike show was founded 18 years ago and is owned by the small lakeside city of Friedrichshafen.

Messe Friedrichshafen CEO Klaus Wellmann said: "This was the best Eurobike of all time.”

Next year’s show will be staged 1st-4th September and not 24-28th August as advertised at the show.