BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Jonathan Maus of the Bike-Portland blog said the "big secret" is out. Messe Friedrichshafen had been in talks with Portland city officials and the German bike trade show is planning to stage a US trade show in September 2007.
"This is huge news for Portland," said Maus. Portland is one of the most bike-friendly cities in America and is close to MTB resorts with ski-lift facilties.
Portland cycle shop owner Jay Graves knew of the plans but didn’t think they were ready for public consumption. However, Messe Friedrichshafen went public with its plans today.
On p. 48 of November’s BikeBiz magazine, out last week, a photo caption mooted that a trade show move on Portland, Oregon, was on the cards. This comment was added because BikeBiz had heard rumours about an industry show in Portland but there wasn’t enough hard info to make a full story.
Messe Friedrichshafen has now confirmed it is to stage the show we’d heard rumours about. The show is as yet unnamed and the dates have yet to be revealed apart from the fact it will be sometime in September. It will probably be held in the Oregon Convention Centre, the largest expo centre in the Pacific Northwest.
Messe Friedrichshafen, a town-owned expo company, said the Portland show announcement is "in response to indications that current US bicycle trade shows will no longer be able to fulfil domestic industry demands."
Erich Reiss, general manager for international sales for Messe Friedrichshafen, and initiator of the planned bicycle trade exhibition, (a part-time resident in Oregon) said:
"Portland offers ideal conditions, including bike parks in the immediate vicinity of the venue where integrated test ride days will be held. I’m confident that the biking community will feel very much at home there."
Rolf Mohne, Messe Friedrichshafen’s MD, said:
"Our aim is to transfer the winning components of Eurobike to the new trade exhibition, while adapting them to the US market."
Eurobike has stumped up the cash to sponsor April’s Sea Otter Classic, held in Monterey, California.
BikeBiz.com has asked Eurobike whether the ‘USAbike’ show will have a public day. No response has been received yet. Eurobike in Friedrichshafen opens its doors to the public on the Sunday of the show.
In terms of website links, GoogleFight shows that Interbike can knock the stuffing out of Eurobike.
