Anyone been to the cycle show? (droooool)

supermurph09

Spent a few hours at the cycle show today, some of the bikes on show were just phenomenal!

Standouts for me were Storck, on looks they were just fantastic. Starley and also the Condor bikes have shot to the top of my wish list.

Storck TT bike:

This GT40 paint job Starley was one of my favourites, looked so clean and stylish.



also got a picture with Magnus Backstedt, top bloke.



£14,500 Bolide

StillGoing

I thought it was a bit disappointing with quite a few big names and retailers missing.

supermurph09

Tbh I'd agree, I expected to be there for about 3-4 hours but 2 was enough to see everything. Nice to see some of the dream bikes though, particularly TT bikes as it's a discipline I'll be getting stuck into.

jezzpalmer

philthy3 wrote:

I thought it was a bit disappointing with quite a few big names and retailers missing.

This, I went last year and was particularly underwhelmed.

That said, the Storck stand is yummy.

lc1981

philthy3 wrote:

I thought it was a bit disappointing with quite a few big names and retailers missing.

I went a few years back and thought the same. From what I've heard from people who've been this year, not much has changed.

thistle_

A friend and I spent the whole day there yesterday. I think if I'd gone by myself a couple of hours would've been plenty of time to just walk around and have a look at everything.

Having said that I didn't get a chance to try out any of the road or city bikes and we missed the Jiz.

The smaller stands seemed to be the more interesting ones, and the people more enthusiastic about their product.

cattytown

I went yesterday. I don't like big events on a weekend - they can be rather busy.

I enjoyed it. As others have said there seemed to be some omissions - I'd like to see more of the small builders there - good to see Ribble, Condor, Spin and Starley, would have been nice to see the likes of Dolan, Planet-X and Wyndy Milla.

I think the most damning thing I can say about it is I only spent £28 in hall!

Paul.

MickTheMove

Massive disappointment ! Some very good niche bikes and starleys showroom is better and free to get in! Went with the intention of buying a VR turbo and only saw two, the elite looked ok but the staff looked and acted like they counts not be ars@@d to be there, the guys on the garmin stand more wanted to chat amongst themselves than explain the kit!

Could properly moan as I went with the intention of spending gosh and ended up spending 35 on glasses!

All in all very poor if you want to buy anything but ok if you want to spend money on looking at a few shiny bikes!

Should say the fondriest guy was vey helpfull!

simonhead

Anyone been to the London one? How does it compare?

slowandsteady

Love the Starley.

what kind of reviews do they get? I've never heard of them before.

mfin

Funnily enough, out of the Storck stuff, the TT bike seems a bit lacking in the aero department, mind you, when I look at TT bikes I do tend to look how aero it looks rather than how good it looks. Some of their top road bikes looked very nice though.

For TT enthusiasts it was lacking in TT kit I thought compared to last year, barely a disc wheel in sight for example.

Campagnolo stand was far smaller than last year, couldn't see all the wheels, just a few.

I thought the show was better for those looking for a £1000-£2000 bike though in previous years, which is a good thing for a lot of people, if Canyon could be bothered to attend it would be good for this reason too, shame they don't bother.

It's always nice to spend a couple of hours staring at bike kit, but it's better if lots of stands bring all their kit, a lot of stands had so many things missing.

Huge FSA stand not being looked at too much, probably because a lot of people don't want Full Speed Ahead written on their bikes.

Generally the show was disappointing compared to last year for me, and last year I was hoping this year's would build on what they'd done and be bigger and better.

Oh, and why don't the people who are doing 'show specials' on Energy products actually make those specials cheaper than you can buy them on wiggle etc??

SoSimple

Went along hoping to see Canyon but they are obviously doing so well they don't need to try!

Thought the Storck, Enigma, Pinarello and Condor stands were the highlights and completely underwhelmed by the attitude of the staff on the Colnago stand. The three of them ignored everyone and spent their time texting and chatting among themselves....and I was a potential customer!

They should visit the Rose and Campag stands to learn how to work a show.

As for the question about how the NEC show compares to the London version...I'd say there's not much in it, they are both very average and I won't be bothering again.

It was useful to see sme of the 2014 bikes on my short list in the flesh for the first time but it makes you realise that not much has changed from the 2013 versions except the paint job, an extra cog and a few quid price change.

Interesting to see Pinarello knocking out a nice looking carbon bike for less than £1900, but shame it was so severely compromised with kit you wouldn't expect to see on a bike at that price.

casatikid

Went yesterday as it opened.
Disappointed really as apart from looking at the dream bikes there was very little else to see.Nothing to buy really as hardly anything for sale.

RonB

Went this morning. Pretty happy tbh. Not bothered about show offers, just good to see plenty of kit in the flesh so to speak. I met Matt Stephens - wish I had asked for a tip from Kenny. Met TOB podium girl, strangely she did not seem too impressed with my suggestion to play out a champagne moment a la Angel Madrazo.

I might have made up that last bit.

IanRCarter

mfin wrote:

Oh, and why don't the people who are doing 'show specials' on Energy products actually make those specials cheaper than you can buy them on wiggle etc??

That happens everywhere. I go to classic Mini shows and they all say the same thing about special show offer. They tend to put the RRP price and then the 'Show Price' which is another way of saying 'Our Normal Price.' If they make it look like they're selling it cheaper, than many people believe it even though it isn't. I've seen so many people inflate their prices for a show when you could buy it cheaper off them online, people just assume it's cheaper at a show.

I did think about going to this, but I've already spent enough on kit and don't fancy paying to walk around looking at bikes, however shiny they are.

redvee

CASATIKID wrote:

Went yesterday as it opened.
Disappointed really as apart from looking at the dream bikes there was very little else to see.Nothing to buy really as hardly anything for sale.

Ditto, much more stuff for sale at ExCel back in January(?) and more stands too. Already booked tickets for London in February and making it a 2 day thing with a night on the lash on Friday and show on Saturday.

rajMAN

SoSimple wrote:

Went along hoping to see Canyon but they are obviously doing so well they don't need to try!

Thought the Storck, Enigma, Pinarello and Condor stands were the highlights and completely underwhelmed by the attitude of the staff on the Colnago stand. The three of them ignored everyone and spent their time texting and chatting among themselves....and I was a potential customer!

They should visit the Rose and Campag stands to learn how to work a show.

As for the question about how the NEC show compares to the London version...I'd say there's not much in it, they are both very average and I won't be bothering again.

It was useful to see sme of the 2014 bikes on my short list in the flesh for the first time but it makes you realise that not much has changed from the 2013 versions except the paint job, an extra cog and a few quid price change.

Interesting to see Pinarello knocking out a nice looking carbon bike for less than £1900, but shame it was so severely compromised with kit you wouldn't expect to see on a bike at that price.

You should have asked the ponces if they had the number for Maestro's! A proper place to buy Colnago. :shock:

mfin

The Windwave guys at Colnago and the one Colnago guy from Italy couldn't have more pleasant and helpful to me.

Perhaps they just spot the kind of person that buys/likes Pinarellos and don't bother much with them if at all.

These guys must get so bored with some people, at De Rosa one guy started talking to someone and opened with "Will the Disc Brakes on these road bikes catch on?" and the rep bloke instantly looked bored to tears. Why the pillock wanted to ask a guy on that stand I don't know, he then tried to get the guy to discuss the "advantages", I caught a knowing smile off the Rep that he'd caught an idiot. There were so many dim people asking so many dumb things, and things about stuff they clearly were stating they weren't interested in buying, and practically noone talked anything but bikes (some berk will say it's a bike show now). It must drive all the staff barmy by the end of Sunday.

thistle_

SoSimple wrote:

Went along hoping to see Canyon but they are obviously doing so well they don't need to try!

Or doing so badly that they couldn't afford to go? (rumour on Friday was that Continental's stand cost over £30k which is a lot of extra tyres to sell to cover the cost...)

The BMW guy said they had to fight to get money off their marketing department to come to the show because they generally don't market their bikes very heavily. He was hoping they'd be allowed back next year with a couple of demo bikes.

giant_man

Went on Friday and didn't spend as much time as previous years. Campag stand, brilliant. Shimano stand, brilliant. BMW stand, complete waste of time imo. Continental stand was OK, not 30k worth OK though. Starley stand completely uninspiring ...

Some brands missing, but for the Storck and Colnago stands were worth it. The Storck Aernario's are particularly lovely imo ...

poppit

Just asking, what makes a good show and is there such a show in the UK?

johnny25

I went this afternoon with my lad for 4 hours and thoroughly enjoyed the show.

Good chat with the Storck reps and was very interested in the Storck Scentron G2. They gave me lots of details and options on set up. Price could be a sticking point though!

The De Rosa stand was full of gorgeous bikes. Again, keen on the R838. No one to talk to, but seeing the bike in the Athena set up was worth it.

Pinarello stand was okay. Lots of lovely expensive bikes, but no one to speak to about them.

Watched the finals of the BMX which was entertaining, then spent 40mins on the track trying out a Pinerello and a Domane. Impressed with Domane 4.3, but I'm after a bit more speed and aggression.

Checked out the FSA stand, Shimano stand, took my lad round the BMX stands and then headed for home.

All in all not bad for £16. And I only live 16 miles from the NEC.

leepez

I really enjoyed the show on Saturday and found the seminars Body Geometry and Continentals tyre technology to be very interesting and picked up some good tips.

Trialled the Wattbike which seemed a very good training tool, trialled the Rotor Qrings and took a fancy to some of the bikes on the De Rosa stand.

rodgers73

Went 2 years ago and was quite underwhelmed. Never bothered since.

saprkzz

I was totally drawn in by the Ceppo bikes! Loved these.. and when given the price of a frameset on one of them, I was sold.. only to be told, oh you cant order this frame as its only available in the US!!!! seriously don't bring it too the show!!!! gutted.

jessand

We were going but the website was down when I tried to book tickets. When it got back up it was too late to use the discount code and I saw it was £10 parking. Worked out it would cost about £50 for the pair of us (allowing for a couple of coffees) and decided I could get a lovely pair of tyres for that! So we went for a ride instead - lovely day Friday.
Going to the Caravan Show, same venue, in a couple of weeks - £7 entry and free parking - it's always a good show.

casatikid

RE-The guy that said the Starley bikes were for him.
I had seen pictures in cycle mags so I contacted them as they said they build British bikes for British cyclists.Well it seems they do build them for British riders but all they do is buy the frames from Asia then stick lovely colours and stickers on them.That is what they call custom build.
You may as well buy a frame from Alibaba trading in China and get it built up yourself.My mate bought a Pinarello Dogma copy from then which cost around £450 inc import tax and the frame is lovely with superb paintwork.

rowlers

CASATIKID wrote:

RE-The guy that said the Starley bikes were for him.
I had seen pictures in cycle mags so I contacted them as they said they build British bikes for British cyclists.Well it seems they do build them for British riders but all they do is buy the frames from Asia then stick lovely colours and stickers on them.That is what they call custom build.
You may as well buy a frame from Alibaba trading in China and get it built up yourself.My mate bought a Pinarello Dogma copy from then which cost around £450 inc import tax and the frame is lovely with superb paintwork.

There is more to Starley than "just" and Asian frame; this is a reply to me from Starley Bikes, when I questioned their "open mould" frames. I have no connection with Starley - I just don't like unfounded gossip:
Two of our frames are open mould (the T2 and Track frame) however we use a different material and ply compared to the same manufactures that are using those moulds. Think of it as a jelly mould, different mixtures make firmer jelly! The others are our designs - we do however use a rear stay mould design that's very similar to another manufacture on one of the road frames.

However what makes us really different is all frames are brought into the UK completely raw, we test everything to EU standards (certificates available) in Warrington. We hand prep, paint and finish in Altrincham - ensuring quality of frame construction and finish. Every frame has a lead time between 2-4 weeks, as they go through our paint studio.

Not forgetting a 5 year warranty on all frames!

I hope the above answers your questions, but if I can help with anything else don't hesitate to ask.

mallorcajeff

I have done both and was in bham saturday. The last time im going. Was hoping to show my mate whos new to cycling some bikes to buy and kit to buy. Nothing to buy as usual but i guess wiggle etc no need to go and sell stuff. For me tri uk was the best stand very helpful. Rest of it was a waste if time. Took a few pics of nice bikes. The guy on the tri uk stand convinced me my next bike subject to test ridew ill be either giant propel or a wilier cento one air. Stunningmachines. Im in mallorca tonight for a fewd ays visiting the mrs and have been to a bike shop today that was better than the whole show. Waste of money and time to travel too. We all like to buy stuff. I bought a pair of trainers for the wife (jogging) and that was it. Agreed the starley gt40 was stunning. Alan sugar was wandering about but seems only their to raise the profile of what was a very 5hit turn out in my opinion.

Went to london two yearsa nd thought never again must go bham and that was even worse including the travelling. Next time im going to eurobike. Proper bike show.

redvee

giant man wrote:

BMW stand, complete waste of time imo.

Looked at the BMW bikes and it took some time to spot any branding, all I could see was a small roundel on the seat tube.