Cycle show- Earls court

revvers

Hello all, just got back from the Earls court show and really enjoyed it. Impressed that Ribble were there as it gave us Southerners the opportunity to see their stuff in the flesh. Very busy stand!! I'm planning to get a Sportive frame so it was very helpful. The people from Shutt velo were there and they could not have been more friendly. A good reflection of their excellent company and products. I was a little disappointed that Shimano/ Madison weren't there, nor representatives of the magazines at the top of the page! Saw 'Cipo', Malcolm Elliot (wish I looked as good as him as we're the same age!!) and Dean Downing, all mixing with the crowds.
Stars for me though were the Bianchi stands, Condor and more so, Colnago. Their bikes looked awesome I have to say.
Would be nice to be able to buy a few more bits and pieces, but overall a very enjoyable day out

drewfromrisca

Compared to previous shows it was pap!!! Hardly any big brands there and a lot less freebies. Last year they had interviews with Magnus Backstedt and others but this year one with a rambling Mario Cippolini who looked like he couldn't be bothered to be there! Mate and I got round it in hour and half.

revvers

Guess I'm easily pleased :?

drewfromrisca

Nah each to their own, not going to knock you if you enjoyed it! I was just gutted the shimano, Pro, Scott etc type brands weren't there. Last year you could get on a Di2 equipped bike to give it a go and I enjoyed little things like that, but this year not much like that. Recession!?!?

revvers

Yeah could be. I noticed that Assos didn't give out their swanky brochure like they did last year I think I was happy with it because where I live, we haven't really got many decent LBS and it's nice for me to see some different stuff. I agree it wasn't as good as last year, but like I said, Colnago was really good to see. It also helped me make up my mind as to what new groupset I'm going to get

all show no go

These days it's all about Eurobike and nothing else (speaking as someone who works in the import/distribution end of the cycle business) unfortunately.

revvers

Said I'd take the wife abroad next year for holiday

AndyF16

I managed to get around in <2 hours, but as it's my first bike show I can't really comment

Have to say that some of the Bianchi machines were mouthwatering, Colnago stand was good but annoying to see the new Ace when I've only got a 2010 model

murfeey

first time,first impression,absolutely tup!!!!,mavic stand 6 wheels,with guy telling us to go and look on specialised stand for wheels to look at,no lapierre or cube, few giants,surprisingly stalls advertising lights were bigger, not going to go next year as found disappointing,

cheers murf.

TiBoy

I'm going on Sunday, looking for some insperation for a single speed I'm building. Glad the guys from Shutt vr were nice, will be popping to see them but think I may be a bit poorer when I leave them.

drewfromrisca

Doubt it TiBoy cos there ain't a lot there to buy!!! You may be disappointed on that front. To be fair quite a bit of single speed stuff there though.

revvers

Tiboy, don't think you can buy from them on the day, but they've got some of their kit there that they encourage you to try on, which is very useful when buying off t'internet obviously. Wife shall be receiving Christmas list forthwith

TiBoy

Revvers, I have got quite a lot of their kit and have been on a couple of their rides (nice and small/personal), sports wool is fantastic. I'm hoping their new winter stuff is there as I want to look at the new rain cape. If you are buying off the internet it's worth joining the club room as you get a discount off all your orders.

AndyF16

Forgot to say, hopefully someone better equipped might be able to top up the 'girls in lycra' thread after their visit - it made I larf that the girlie demonstrating sealskinz socks was getting more attention to her @rse than her feet, well from me anyway

TiBoy

Best I take my camera then, thanks for the tip off.

uptonspark

Very disappointed here too. It was a cycle show without some of the biggest names in the game there. Also thought that there could have been a few more of the Brits that are not widely available to see normally. Well done to Ribble and Mosquito but how about Enigma, Qoroz, Planet X, Sabbath and any of the frame builders? Thought the Condors looked fantastic and that's where my money will be going next but the others have missed a chance to bag my cash as they could have got my juices running enough for me to make the trip to see them when next spring comes. Didn't see many ops to bag a bit of bargain kit either but that may have been because I went on Thursday (press/trade day), seemed to be loads of people looking at who you were on your badge before deciding if they would talk to you.

Gazzaputt

Went today and enjoyed.

As said a lot of big players missing such as Cannondale, Focus and Cube.

Nice to see a lot of the Italian brands such as Colnago, Bianchi, Pinarello and Milani to drool over.

Big area to buy bits and a lot the energy products stands were selling at discount. One question to Mule. Why the hell have boxes of you new gels and not offer them for sale? Even though I enquired to by some I wasn't even offered a sample. Strange.

Plenty of swag as well Nice SRAM bag, great Continental cap, energy bars, bottles and of course stickers!

greasedscotsman

revvers wrote:

Yeah could be. I noticed that Assos didn't give out their swanky brochure like they did last year...

managed to pick one of those up today. Very nice pictures of Mrs. Assos in there

giant_man

Didn't think it was quite as good as other years have to say.

Met Malcolm Elliot and Dean Downing, narrowly missed Sean Kelly, took pic of Rebecca Romero (nice gal), Wilier great stand as was Colnago, best retailer stand Bespoke cycles (much bigger and better than last year), didn't see Mavic there, not Giant, Shimano and Scott.

Didn't see Rapha there, were they there? Good to see Milani and Peugeot (!) there though.

Not bad overall, 7/10. Impressed with Principia new colour schemes, Ribble stand bloody busy! The 'buying shop' didn't contain many top brand names imo, but still good to see it there.

TMR

I really wanted to go to this show, but my wife is pregnant with our first and he's currently 12 days overdue! We only live 35 miles NW of London, but I daren't go. Knowing my luck she'd go into labour as I walked through the front door at Earl's Court

greasedscotsman

What about the awful "picture" on the top tube of Contador's bike? Nevermind the clenbuterol, he should be banned for a bloody terrible bike!

AndyF16

The Mad Rapper wrote:

I really wanted to go to this show, but my wife is pregnant with our first and he's currently 12 days overdue! We only live 35 miles NW of London, but I daren't go. Knowing my luck she'd go into labour as I walked through the front door at Earl's Court

Sounds perfect, she could have all that screaming and grunting over and done with by the time you'd seen all you wanted in peace

nicensleazy

Just a few pictures of the lovely Colnago frames!

http://colnagoconbrio.posterous.com/

TMR

AndyF16 wrote:

Sounds perfect, she could have all that screaming and grunting over and done with by the time you'd seen all you wanted in peace

What sounds amazing in theory is painful in practice

deptfordmarmoset

On reflection, the bikes that impressed me most that I didn't expect to be impressed by were the Condors. My feeling was that a lot of the big-name top-end bikes, beautiful as they were, looked a little like sports car wannabes, complete with go-faster stripes (remember them?). The Condors looked more like ''I'm a bike and I want to be a bike''' bikes. Whatever it was that they'd done, their stand seemed to work better than many.

TMR

deptfordmarmoset wrote:

On reflection, the bikes that impressed me most that I didn't expect to be impressed by were the Condors. My feeling was that a lot of the big-name top-end bikes, beautiful as they were, looked a little like sports car wannabes, complete with go-faster stripes (remember them?). The Condors looked more like ''I'm a bike and I want to be a bike''' bikes. Whatever it was that they'd done, their stand seemed to work better than many.

I wish they'd sort their sodding web site out. It's been under construction for months

ynyswen24

I had a great day with some really nice fish and chips in the pub opposite Victoria Coach Station on the way back! I'd agree that a lot of the big names were missing due to Eurobike having been only a short while before (and perhaps, for some of them, the uncertainty over the future of the cycle to work scheme might cause them to be cautious) but the people that were there did put on a great show.
I think the Condor stand was the standout one for me (not only because I got a free cap off Grant...) but I also liked the Cooper's and even the tourer on the Pashley stand. The guys on the Sigma Sport stand were friendly and some of the clothing looked great. Really liked the Solo stuff on the Paligap stand. Cipo was probably distracted by the thought of the supermodels he was 'meeting' (probably) later. Maybe some of the road bikes are getting too busy graphically with striped this and that and overworked logos but that was offset by the long period I spent just looking at the Pegorettis on the Mosquito stand. Is it sad that I asked a stranger to take my photo standing next to one? Yes.

JonEdwards

Thought it was pretty pish actually. I've been for the last few years and this was definitely the worst.

As a mostly mtber/part time roadie, there was very little of interest on the mtb front - the most interesting bikes were on the Moose Cycles stand (who happen to be my LBS) - and Aaron Gwin's Yeti and Sam Hill's Spesh. Very little in the way of MTB kit - especially full face lids and armour - both of which I need to buy new ones of and it would have been handy to try.

On the road front LOTS of identikit plastic bikes with wobbly tubes. Sadly no Enigma, Qoroz, Sabbath etc to drool over. Mosquito bikes did their bit (but HOW much????) and there was a lovely white Colnago Master, plus a proto high end steel Condor. which was a nice attempt at a modern stel bike.

The sheer number of names that weren't there was telling. No madison (shimano/giro), trek, scott, giant, cannondale and none of the UK microbrands like Cotic, Singular, On-one Charge etc, who for me are the really interesting bit. The fact that Hotlines chose to do their own show, at the same time in Brick Lane says a lot.... (I heard from a mate who has displayed there in the past that it was cheaper for him to do Eurobike including travel and accomodation, than it was just to rent a stand space at EC).

The best bit was meeting up with a whole bunch of mates, both industry and non-industry who were there - I just kept bumping into people I knew from all over the place. The product on display was very much second class in comparison.

greasedscotsman

The Mad Rapper wrote:

I wish they'd sort their sodding web site out. It's been under construction for months

Apparently it will be finished in the next couple of weeks. They were working in the stand for the show and weren't able to finish it. Seems a bit rubbish to me, you would think they would really want the new website done for the show...

Clarion

I thought it was better than last year, which was really rather crap.

Pretre

Read somewhere that Madison etc are doing their own show in January sometime.