BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The London Bike Show, now in its second year, opened its doors for this week, with more space taken up by bicycle exhibitors.
Exact numbers on exhibitors or visitors are not yet available (the show finishes on Sunday) but BikeBiz spoke to several key exhibitors for their take on the ExCeL-set event.
Madison, back for the second year, has a huge presence. Will Fripp told BikeBiz: "It’s actually the same footprint as last year for Madison, but the organiser has been joking that Madison had its own postcode at ExCeL.
"The bike part of the show is about three times the size of last year’s and we’re very pleased so far. We thought it was busy for the debut year, but it’s definitely busier this year."
Chicken Cyclekit was also there at London Bike Show’s debut last year. Boss Cedric Chicken told BikeBiz: "It’s much bigger than last year and is very busy. We’ve got a lot of great new bikes and kit for everyone to look at.
"One chap wandered in from the Boat Show and was looking at our new Time bikes. He said it was much more interesting than looking at boats!"
Cube’s Dan Maker also had a positive take on the show. Cube was making its first appearance at ExCeL there: "We’ve been really surprised that people have been asking us proper questions – we’ve hardly had any tyre kickers and everyone has been genuinely interested in the bikes. And clued up too. It’s the best bike show I’ve been to in the UK for years. The atmosphere is really positive. And I am usually very cynical about shows."
Trek’s show offering heavily featured its custom bike building Project One – ideal for boat buyers with a grand or two left over.
The idea behind Project One is that the customer designs the bike – to a certain point – online, then is directed to one of Trek’s designated Project One dealers (around 65 of 250 ‘quality Trek dealers’) where they’ll be fitted for the bike and certain aspects – including the colour – can be chosen. Trek even has its own colour chart on its stand, a la Dulux, to help customers pick their favourite hue. Trek told BikeBiz it has had a great response from customers at the show to the Trek Project One.
As soon as Vos Media, the organiser behind the London Bike Show, releases attendance data, we’ll spread the word at www.BikeBiz.com. In the meantime, we’ll post a random selection of pics from the show on the site shortly.
