Shimano Announce Plans For Huge Sports and Leisure Complex

Shimano have announced plans for a new cycling, fishing and rowing multiplex called the “Experience Centre.”

Doesn’t look much now but wait till 2017

The new sports leisure complex will be built at the site of an old brewery in Valkenburg, Netherlands, and should be open to the public from Spring 2017.

The site will span over 15,000 square metres and will also feature a bicycle rental centre, restaurant, hotel and events centre.

Visitors will get the chance to try out new Shimano technology

In a press release today, Shimano emphasised the uniqueness of such a project, as well as how it will engage visitors:

“The concept underpinning Shimano’s Experience Centre is a journey of social and product experience moments, helping visitors engage in a fusion of interaction and function. Each area will be presented as a sensorial experience, encouraging guests to move, feel and live the Shimano moment.

“The focus for the social experiences will be on making, taking and creating a moment with exhibits such as content upload areas and ‘My’ Shimano interactive screens, a Shimano Café, demo workshop and Shimano Heritage area.

“Meanwhile the emphasis for the product experience areas will be on Riding the Moment, Reeling the Moment and Rowing the Moment. Across the three sports of cycling, fishing and rowing, unique opportunities to test the latest technologies in fun and safe or challenging environments present fans with an unrivalled range of testing opportunities.”

The video below will give you a drone heavy idea of what the Big S has planned.

For the full press release click here.

Chipps Chippendale

Singletrackworld's Editor At Large

With 22 years as Editor of Singletrack World Magazine, Chipps is the longest-running mountain bike magazine editor in the world. He started in the bike trade in 1990 and became a full time mountain bike journalist at the start of 1994. Over the last 30 years as a bike writer and photographer, he has seen mountain bike culture flourish, strengthen and diversify and bike technology go from rigid steel frames to fully suspended carbon fibre (and sometimes back to rigid steel as well.)