As the sugary haze from all of the free jellybeans and protein bars on the weekend is slowly receding, we can look back and say that Tredz had a really productive and fun show. Good to catch up with a lot of people we usually only get to talk to on the phone and there were some really cool products on display...
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First off, my personal highlight was meeting Hans “No Way” Rey, the German Mtb hall of famer and all round legend. We swapped adventure stories, he told about the time he danced on a volcano in Hawaii, rode Machu Picchu and car jumped in Los Angeles, I told him about having to find another way in that morning because the district line was closed. |
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Best bike of the show? Well purely on aesthetics you’d have to agree with whoever chose this retro Condor as winner of the best in show design award. Classy. |
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I also had a massive soft spot for the Witcomb frames. |
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Charge probably had the most original display, their scummy kitchen (matching their appliance themed range this year) looked amazing. |
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There was a healthy town bike presence, with some seriously funky boutique’s, |
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cool saddles |
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and rear end set-ups. |
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Fuji bikes top end carbon model had a pretty impressive attention to detail in their components, the rear wheel spokes were flattened on one side and rounded on the other to compensate for the wind differentials caused by the gears. Wind tunnel geeks. |
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Specialized, Felt, Scott and other big brands had big a lot of floor space. Specialized's dominating display of products and huge presence in particular attested their status. |
This was my first bike show (the rest of the team are tired old hacks), I'm already looking foward to my next one. And I'll come back wiser having learnt at least one important show lesson: Just because its free doesn’t mean you have to eat your own body weight in granola bars.
