‘Seeing our industry together and getting excited about products’ – Madison CEO Dominic Langan on the return of iceBike 

Madison’s in-house show iceBike returns in 2023, taking place in Manchester from 5th-6th March, and in London from 9th-10th March. Madison CEO Dominic Langan talks through the changes to the format for this year  

What is new for iceBike in 2023? 

The most obvious change for iceBike in 2023 is the format: instead of one show in Milton Keynes, we’re running two shows, with one in Manchester and one in London. This change will hopefully make the show easier to get to for more dealers and gives us a business an amazing opportunity to freshen up the iceBike

format in two quite different locations. IceBike will still have everything people enjoy about the show: fantastic brands, great evening entertainment, a chance to catch up with people you’ve not seen for a while. A lot has happened since the last ‘live’ iceBike back in 2020, least of all there being quite a significant change in the structure of our sales team. In the UK we no longer have any sales agents and some new faces working for Madison and Sportline who you will be seeing for the first time in either Manchester or London. We also launched new brands during the pandemic and we would love you to meet the people behind the brands. We are also very pleased to announce that cycle mechanic legend in blue, Calvin Jones from Park Tool will also be in the house for all your ‘Tool Time’ questions. 

Why have you chosen these locations/venues for the event?

Whilst the Government hasn’t had much success in ‘levelling up’ we thought we could give it go and as lovely as Milton Keynes is, a change is as good as a rest and I think it was time to shake things up again! We have tried to reduce the travel time for as many of our customers as we can and have found two venues we believe are equally easy to reach by public transport or by car. Wherever we locate the shows there is always someone who may feel it is inconvenient or hard to get to. We do understand that but we have tried really hard to accommodate as much of the customer feedback as we could for this year’s iceBike. Furthermore, we have suppliers flying in from all over the world to support this event and to talk directly to our customers. They are really keen to hear the retailer feedback about the UK market and their products and we have to be as efficient with their time too. Manchester and London are both great cities to visit and we also thought it may appeal to some to extend their time in the cities before or after the show for a little rest and recreation with their loved ones! Why not? 

What are you most looking forward to for the return of iceBike? 

Seeing our customers. Seeing our industry together and getting excited about products, attending the seminars, talking to each other and formulating ideas about how we move forward in a challenging market which is still full of opportunities and still has an amazing and exciting medium to long term future. We’ve missed that level of interaction and this year more than ever before, I think it is crucial we all take every opportunity that presents itself to make ourselves better informed and better equipped to tackle the challenges we are all facing. In the current market it may feel like some suppliers are really not caring about the specialist independent retailer but we really do care and we have loads of initiatives and plans to back that up and we want to talk to you about it. We also want to have a bit of fun, relax and socialise with our customers and some great ideas come about over a drink. Let’s not miss that from happening in Manchester or London this March! At each venue there will be a session where you can ask me or any of my senior team anything you want about the business, the market, our outlook etc. ‘Ask Dom’ was a successful element for Digibike last year and now you can get the live version! As ever we’ll also have the Madison Services teams there too from Freewheel, B2B and Credit Control so feel free to make use of their expertise. 

The products 

Shimano, as ever, will be one of the main brands to watch out for at iceBike and its CUES seminar will be very important for dealers. Plus there’s a chance for anyone who hasn’t seen it to get a look at 105 Di2 in the flesh. There are also new things in its soft goods and shoe categories too. Madison Clothing is another brand that we’re very excited about at the moment and it’ll be showing what it’s been up to for the last few months which is absolutely worth checking out. Its upcoming AW23 range has had its order date extended right to the show, and it’s something you won’t want to miss out on. Another important thing to see is Lazer’s Kineticore range.

Launched last year, Kineticore is Lazer’s own technology targeting rotational impact prevention in cycle helmets. But unlike other solutions in the market, Kineticore manages to markedly improve helmet safety while improving ventilation and lowering overall helmet weight. It really is a very impressive technology and Lazer is now adding it to a whole host of existing helmet models after the comparatively limited range released last year. Vittoria is racing ahead at a phenomenal pace with new products and technology innovations. This brand was new to Madison during the pandemic and is exclusive to Madison and iceBike will be your first chance to meet the team from Italy and hear about their ambitions for

Vittoria in the coming months. One of the most interesting stories at iceBike will be on Elite’s stand. Among all the high tech products like interactive turbos and the new Aria fan it’s the humble bottles and cages that are the stars. That’s because Elite is on a mission to become carbon neutral and its new ‘bio’ range of bottles and cages is a big step in the right direction. The Jet Green is a bottle made from plant-origin bioplastic derived from sugar cane, and the Prism and Cannibal XC cages use similar techniques and incorporate waste products from other industries recycled into bottles as well. It’s an amazing story, and well worth seeing for yourself.

Madison becomes the new distributor for Knog from 1st March and iceBike will be your first chance to see some new products and hear about how we will be representing Knog in the UK and Ireland in 2023 and beyond. We will also have a number of bikes and e-bikes you can take out on a scenic tour of Manchester and London using all the latest products including Lazer Kineticore helmets, Madison and Hump apparel and eyewear as well as many other great new products being shown at iceBike 2023. 

For more information on iceBike, visit iceBike.co.uk