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Just been, and left quite quickly. Very average IMO, I’ve been every year since it came to the NEC and either my interest in cycling is waiting or its just not that good anymore. I’d be interested in what others think.
On the upside, the Nike store at Resorts World had my favourite runners under half price!
I haven't been for years, as the last time, it was pretty poor. (plus its 3 hours drive away)
I miss the old days when it was an exclusive cycles show (assuming they still add in the adventure/watersports type stuff). with lots of retailers selling stuff cheap or with show deals.
I remember coming away with a brand new Standard STA500 BMX frame, new front wheel and some FBM bars, all for a great deal! Those where the days!
Agree, very little retail to pick up show bargains.
Also, I thought it’d be a good chance to try some saddles and shoes as they are always useful to try before spending money. Only SMP had saddles I could sit on and only Lake had shoes I could try on. Fizik has no shoes bar display shoes and the saddles were all stuck to the wall. Selle Italia has a bum measurer but no saddles to sit on. Turns out I’ll be buying some Lakes shoes then.
As I said in this thread, I'm off to it tomorrow with a few of the little 'Riders. I'll report back, but I hope there's some good stuff to look at, as the kids are quite excited.
I'm going on sun, never been before but i got offered tickets so worth a look.
I may be being harsh. The kids will have good fun, loads of shiny things to look at, lots of stickers, that kind of thing.
Lucky you, Wednesday I had to go to the Flood Expo next door. Much rather have gone to the cycle show.
There were some interesting characters visiting the flood expo when we visited the cycle show yesterday.
I've been today and thought it was alright. Nothing bought as I didn't find much you could actually buy on the day. Always seems like an opportunity they have missed with that.
Calibre were giving away baseball caps with their goody bags. And stickers
It's so expensive as a exhibiter or a punter so it's no surprise that there are less and less exhibitors each year. The bike brands in particular are not bothering anymore, I suspect they'd rather spend their money on demo days.
Cheers_drive has it - I was a brand ambassador for a clothing brand and they stopped doing the London show a few years back and haven't done the NEC this year
I'll be hanging out on the Shand stand if anyone wants to come and say hi. We have Tunnocks.
How much was the parking on Fri/Sat/Sun?
Went on trade day, £16 bloody quid for parking!!
It was good to catch up with a few people, check a few new things out.
But was a bit same old, same old.
Just got back, after spending the day there with Mrs SR and four of the Mini Riders.
Parking was £12 in advance, and fairly convenient.
I was very surprised at the absence of some significant names in the bike industry. I didn't see any Far Eastern brands at all (e.g. Merida; Giant; Shimano), and other than GT and Cannondale, no (or very few) American companies.
Selle Italia might as well not have bothered, what with their 12 seats stuck to the side of a board, and Campagnolo had NO STICKERS to give out. You read that right. NO STICKERS.
The kids loved it though, and their helmets are now covered in stickers of companies I have never heard of, and probably never will again.
I went today with junior_d. Shame to be indoors as it was a nice day. First time since going many years ago when MBUK was the best magazine around and Jo Burt drew a little picture of mint sauce and coleman the cow for me.
Was disappointed there were no bike stunts (but I knew that before I bought the tickets; still, what's a bike show with no bike stunts?). The £10,000 Titici marathon xc with the 8mm top tube and carbon linkage was the standout bike for me, closely followed by the 3D cut frame with no down-tube with anodised cherry-red finish over the joints and built-in lights; the custom sparkly purple Marina; the original Yeti Arc; and the retrobike stand hidden in the corner. Also the Titici brand ambassador is Dave Hemming so that gave it some old-skool MBUK-kudos.
The Ribble stand was impressive, particularly the sparkly paint jobs. Lots of gold SRAM Eagle on a lot of bikes and so it felt like SRAM has won the day on that (even though Shimano has a more prominent stand). Noted the Shand fat-bike, but other than Surly I didn't spot any other notable fat-bike stands, which was a shame.
Lots of boiled sugary sweets for junior (don't really get that at a cycle show. Should be more healthy stuff) and lots of energy flapjack samples to graze on. Which was nice. Best deals seemed to be the Oxford bike company and a few samples hidden away near the ebike demo area. Also observed that a lot of saddle companies were there but other than Sella, there seemed to be no way of testing them.
Colleague went on trade day, gave a one word review that rhymes with "height" si I didn't bother using my free ticket. Went for a ride instead
I popped in today, it seemed smaller than previous years. I was impressed with the J.Laverack bikes, the retro Yeti arc was nice. On the whole I thought it was a bit disappointing.
Last time I went there were some guys setting up a magazine but had nothing to show, had a good chat with them though. I wonder what happened to them.
It’s always been tiresomely tedious with the exception of meeting “SP” of course
Went today, first time for me, smaller than expected but i thought it was ok but i guess it depends on your looking for. For me I came away with a renewed/larger sponsorship deal & 3 more potentials and a pair of sunglasses 🙂 I did pay for those.
Some of the stands were disappointing where there is just a distributor rather than a proper contact from the company.
Nice to get look at some bikes in the flesh that you normally can't, really want a Rose Thrill Hill now.
Went today and it was massively underwhelming. Was looking to try on a few helmets, look at saddles and peruse the choice of hardtails (mainly steel). No-one had a saddle to sit on but I got my arse measured on the Ergon stand, 11.4cm. could only try three helmet brands, Giro, Bell and Kali. Found a few hardtails but no-one would let me feel the weight of any, let alone sit on one! Most of the people manning the stands didn't have much knowledge apart from the marketing crap and the description in the catalogue, a few notable exceptions were Calibre, Orange and Whyte. It would have been a better use of my day to go round the local bike shops frankly. Was noticeable that a lot of big brands weren't there, bike, clothing and accessories. Quite a few brands that were listed weren't there too. Disappointing really.
Yup, a bit underwhelming for me and Mrs oldnick, the kids enjoyed it though.
Had a quick chat with the lady on the Whyte stand, what a good idea to have a QR code on each frame that gives you all the technical details for that bike (largest chainring that will fit etc). Whyte are still waiting for the Rich Energy settlement and cans...
Went Saturday afternoon. I thought last year was scraping the barrel, but this year it really reached new lows! I have anything but respect for those that still bother to show up and exhibit, but I can also understand why those that don't bother any more don't bother... The UK bike trade is in the duldrums right now, and everyone is shutting up shop? Why...? Well to put it quite simply, anyone and everyone is taking the piss! The price of exhibiting at the NEC is stupid, you'd need to quantify to any CEO just how many more bikes exhibiting there actually contributed to these days, and it seems that the big boys know it doesn't make one iota of difference these days!
Mind you, the same can be said for Bricks and Mortar stores the way the industry is going...
Kudos to those that bothered to exhibit, but I'm just glad I don't have to pay for my tickets, would have been angry if I'd had to pay to get in to that shambles!
I was there on Sunday. I was disappointed by the lack of big manufacturers attending and the retail zone was poor. 16 quid to park was a complete rip off and I won’t be going back next year. I went to the Bike show at Excel a couple of years ago and said that I wouldn’t go back.
From an exhibitors perspective, we did the an indoor show once but likely never again. Why anyone would want to stand around indoors for 3 days plus all the rigmarole of set up and tear down I do not know. Given there's a number of big outdoor events that involve fresh air, beer, and riding bikes that you could be at instead (Tweedlove/Ard Rock/Malverns etc.) and thats the issue I guess - ultimately a lot of people in the industry do it for the love not the pay. You can probably do all three of the big ones for the price of an indoor show it doesn't stack up well financially either. You might get more 'people' at a show than any I mentioned, but the people at the bike only outdoor events are of what a marketeer would call better quality - more likely to be specifically interested in what you're selling. The notion that you can lump together a load of outdoorsy things and hope it makes a show never really worked for me as a punter or a vendor.