The National Cycling Show – Any Good?

My wife has suggested we head to the https://nationalcyclingshow.com/ for a look around.

Birmingham is 3ish hours from us, so not overly local. And we would be brining our 7 year old daughter. Most likely stay overnight. Make a weekend of it.

My question is, is it worth it? Is the show any good? Or is it a 20 minute walk round and its over? There are a few exhibitors that i wouldnt mind checking out. Or is it like most of these shows, continually shrinking in size and not worth it unless there is something or someone specific that you want to see.

Any feedback is welcome!

No.

No.

No. Only time I went (over 10 years ago), it was crap, and my mate went for a ride on his bike in glorious weather instead of coming with me. I vowed never to return!

haha, thats enough feedback to seal the deal for me.

we wont bother!

If you’re close by and have a free ticket it’s like noseying around a big bike shop, but not really much more than that. I travelled an hour to go and see it, and that was too far. Also you either have to pay for transport or parking to get there, unless you ride a bike, and it’s just not worth the expenditure IMHO.

Kramer has just written what I was about to write.

Went last year on a free ticket, for a tenner and an hour on the train to get there. Finished looking around the show in about 3h. Single hall with not all that much to see. Deviate stand with the ti-lander and the lowlander was good, along with some of the custom painted frames.

I feel like it doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, there’s not much to actually buy there, but there’s also not all that much to watch/listen to. You end up walking round looking at shiny things and forgetting about them quickly. Or I did anyway.

I didn’t feel cheated at a <£20 day out, but still struggle to remember anything groundbreaking. Definitely wouldn’t recommend it if you needed to buy entry + travel 3h to attend.

A day/weekend at the Malverns Classic would be a much better bike related weekend away.

The last time I went (year before last I think) it wasn’t worth the journey from Birmingham, never mind from 3 hours away plus an overnight stay. I had free tickets too!

Appears to be rather lacking in exhibitors of interest to cyclists. No big names like there would have been 10-15 years ago. There’s a Holland & Barrett a few minutes walk from me. I see Kona listed. Will they be unfolding a couple of chairs and then hastily packing away again?

When the London one was on I could justify it with a look around town and ride on the DLR, even with less and less stands of interest over the years. Closer too.

Last year and the one before that (lost track because of covid) were total shit. Free tickets and probably recouped my travel costs in free SIS gels and protein bars 🙂 Other than that there was nothing of note and not much to buy that was bike related.

I’m an hour away, get free transport and could probably get free tickets again. It’s still not worth the cost of parking.

It was awesome in the 90’s. Dirt jumping, duel racing, trials riding and a huge skatepark full of the world’s best BMX riders. Mind blowing stuff as a teenage bike nerd.

These days I’d actively avoid it.

Cyclex 92 in London Olympia was probably the last one of these I enjoyed

Yeah, no.
Like a few of the above I’m 30 mins away and you can normally find a way of getting free tickets.
Even so, it’s unlikely I’ll be there.