The 2016 edition of Taipei Cycle has come and gone, and it is official. According to the organizers, Taipei Cycle grew 1% over last year, with 8300 international buyers from 107 countries.
Despite the usual platitudes and official indications of another rousing success--if you ask any vendor, the show was a success is the standard pat answer--the 2017 edition of Taipei Cycle will be rescheduled for a July opening in response to Taipei Cycle's growing obsolescence in the long shadows cast by the most important Taichung Bike Week in November, Eurobike in late August and Interlake a month later in late September. Taipei Cycle has been struggling to find a niche to appeal to distributors and retailers.
I was already feeling a type of zombie-like malaise about the show last year, and this year the feeling was even more acute, with many of the same vendors going through the motions because the competition is also there going through the motions, but the heart was sadly missing. The feeling in the Nangang Exhibition Hall was subdued at best and, at least of the last day, the day that was open to the public, the cavernous exhibition center was relatively quiet. Many of the long corridors between booths looked like Main Street in a ghost town. Many of the usual carnival barkers pulling stunts and hopping on chain stays sat in silence in front of once screen or another. Even some of the bigger names decided to give it a miss or allow local distributors fill in for the company booth. Even the iconic groups manufacturer, Campagnolo, failed to show up...as if anybody would have noticed anyway.
Now, this isn't to put down any of the terrific vendors who worked their asses off all weekend to make something of the show. I talked with several dedicated people who believe in their products and were busy pulling the deals over coffee and refreshments. The issue is Taiwan's place in the industry and the timing of the event does not make an early March expo a necessity for most companies.
Even more surprising...or not...was the lack of interest in Taipei Cycle 2016 in the wake of the Velo-cities bicycle conference that was held in the week prior. It seemed there was little crossover between the two events.
For Taipei Cycle, I picked up my press badge and strolled among the vendors looking for the story of the expo. I found I was really looking for anything to take home to write about and very little help.
Some of the biggest OEMs were in attendance.
There were plenty of enthusiastic cyclists roaming the carpets dreaming cyclist dreams of n + 1.
For some booths, any answer was the wrong answer.
I was happy to see Los Angeles representing in Taipei.
Several of the booths had been reimagined and looked pretty spectacular, while others simply needed a wall of racks to support product.
Several distributors trotted out some established brands in a variety of settings to whet the appetite of possibility, when a brand earns or develops a reputation that holds the customer's imagination and trust, to increase the imagined value against the actual costs.
If last year was the year of the Fat Bike, this was the year of the gravel / mixed surface / gran fondo bike. I was happy to get a look at Seven's new mixed surface titanium Evergreen. Beautiful bikes... but I'm a bit partial.
I was hugely disappointed with Fuji. The Global Product Manager for the Road Division had put up on Facebook some press and pictures of this bike in the hills of Taipei. I was hoping to get a little more information from the representatives at the Fuji booth. Instead, a group of about eight or nine booth reps were too busy hanging out with each other, and when I tried to have a few questions answered, they just pointed me toward the bike without followup. I may not be the largest publication, but I was treated with much more grace and kindness by other large vendors.
It seems more companies are hoping the average rider realizes he is just that, average, and looks for something a little more practical in comfort and geometry.
The promise of electronic shifting and hydraulic braking was on full display. Several companies were flashing their wares in this realm.
I was again happy to see my good friends at Primavera Cycles. They make such wonderful alloy bikes that are made in Taiwan. Primavera is an excellent example of a Taiwanese company that has worked hard to develop and nurture a brand's growth through shrewd tenacity and measured growth to establish a stable and reliable brand. Several smaller companies try to rush too much product to the market at one time, unable to focus on the supply chain or mismanaging their media. Primavera have been stellar in this.
I have to admit that if I ever got into MTB, I would be looking at Santa Cruz.
Bowman Cycles had this beauty with their partner at Token.
Every year I see so many great ideas coming from Tern as they focus on making bicycles that can fold into our lifestyles rather than forcing our lifestyles to radically change to accommodate a bicycle.
Meanwhile, Brompton was doing what they do best.
Then it was time to play Taiwan Bike Brand Bingo!!!!!
Several names are simply used as place markers (Your Brand Name Here). Others are hoping to establish themselves as viable bicycle brands in their own right.
For Axman, a highly regarded OEM for finish work, it is a careful balancing act as the company is poised to expand its own branding throughout Asia, while trying not to encroach into the markets established by its customers. Several of Taiwan's OEMs are hamstrung by their position between OEM and the retail market.
Others are simply "brands" as far as they paint a logo on someone else's tubes while they sell off surplus bulk purchased components.
In many cases, it is a choose your own adventure with available tube combinations to "create" a new model.
This year the cold war for visibility has gotten hot as several companies deployed a full arsenal of visual enticements to attract eyeballs onto curious new products or at least raise the visibility of a brand and come out hard in a soft market.
At one point there were five competing groups of expo-babes vamping about competing for attention. I thought they might break out into a rumble like A West Side Story in hot pants.
And for those who were not interested in following the Expo-babes, they had an echelon of TdT teams and a few big names who were all too happy to remain anonymous, having been reduced to signing autographs at a wonky trade show.
For the record, DURO Tire and Wheel won this battle hands down.
In the sea of products where everyone is trying to differentiate themselves from the next guy and it is a shell game of suppliers vs. producers, I was happy to chat with Steve Fenton of Pro-Lite. He was a generous and gracious host to me at his booth and expounded in detail on how he has built up his company, his brand and maintained the valuable relationships that keep a brand viable in a market overflowing in an immense tidal wave of products of dubious pedigree.
BLKTEC had a nice looking booth to test their wares.
I was also happy to chat for a while with the Rob Valentini, a sales manager from DT Swiss, a long time innovator in the increasingly crowded and lucrative market for bicycle wheels. DT is still driving innovation, but those damed 240 hubs will forever remain classics.
There was also an increase in disc rotor availability, with market forces driving the adoption of disc braking technologies.
And then there are all the little things....
I did have the chance to look at a few LED light manufacturers. I am beginning to think that the simple LED is the easiest product to screw up. I find more design flaws in LED lights than any other product. They are usually under engineered. The worst were from Tacx. Two pairs of the Lumos lights simply died. Lezyne has been hit or miss. Usually the fastener is inadequate or the headlight constantly shifts during a ride. Rear lights have been impractical for location, batteries are temperamental and USB charging has not been robust enough for Taiwan's weather. My latest was a bright little bastard by ilumenox that attached to my chain stay. That lasted three outings. It fails to charge.
Why is engineering an LED so difficult?
Lastly, there was the concealed bicycle motor, probably not unlike the one that everyone's friend has in a similar looking bike to our own.
While the company seemed thrilled with their achievement, I am sure Brian Cookson is less pleased.
Another common thread I heard among booth staff of Taiwanese companies, was the two-fold concern with China's encroachment into all aspects of the production of high-end equipment and the lack of interest in the Chinese market for high end bicycles in tandem with a softer European market.
That is the business....
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