A Match Made In Heaven...or Taichung: Taichung Bike Week and Eurobike Sitting in a Tree

Last month the increasingly obsolete Taipei Cycle groaned to a close-- a dinosaur of a show in an industry that has created more bottom bracket standards in the past ten years than I have changed flats. 

Taipei Cycle has been increasingly directed toward the retailers and the emerging markets with many of the major players sleepwalking into town for an expensed drink...if they even bother coming at all. 

The real action in the bicycle industry heats up during Taichung Bike Week in October, when industry managers converge on Taichung to finalize the specifications on the products and their prices that will be coming out the following year or two. As opposed to Taipei Cycle, Taichung Bike Week is entirely about looking into the future. 

With the current state of the bicycle industry when even the Giant mega-empire has lost a quarter of its value over the past year, getting a jump on manufacturing has become essential as it can allow brands to implement new technologies they hope will invigorate stagnating sales, or to nail down the production details (prices) for an extended model run for more than a single season. Production errors and unforeseen market problems in the past have led to far too much overhead failing to sell in the premium market with brands hoping to break even elsewhere in smaller markets past the model's expiration date. 

Taichung's central location plays an essential role in allowing 90% of the top OEMs to be within 40min. of the city. Representatives from the OEMs and brands can hustle off to iron out the details immediately following a presentation. 

One of the advantages of Taichung Bike Week is that it is a closed convention by invitation only, organized by industry volunteers for the industry without having to play ball with the local government or the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA). It also caters to Taiwanese OEMs and their supply chain, keeping the center fixed in Taiwan for the time being. 

This year Pro-Lite CEO, Steve Fenton, who also serves as the chief organizer of Taichung Bike Week, has reached out to Stefan Reisigner, a board member of Eurobike, to help with the organization and logistics of the event aimed at putting more brands in contact with their OEM counterparts more efficiently. Taichung Bike Week, which has often struggled with Taichung's limited exhibition space, has also procured space at the Lin Garden Hotel as a 4th location to host presentations and visitors.

Bicycle Retailer Reports: 

The seventh edition of  Taichung Bike Week will be Oct. 18-21 this year. Eurobike is working with TBW to provide attendees with a new "matchmaking tool."  The matchmaking tool will enable exhibitors and visitors to show off what they have to offer and what they are interested in before the event starts. Using their accounts, they will be able to make appointments and receive contact suggestions customized to fit their profile.

According to Fenton: 

It is all important that we use the 4^th location to bring in even more brands that need bigger space to present their ideas and products and the 4^th hotel will do this. The hotel is Called The Lin [Garden]and is about the same distance from Evergreen Hotel that Splendor is but in the opposite direction. It’s easy for us to arrange a shuttle bus every 30 minutes and as you know it’s never hard to get a taxi in Taiwan as they are everywhere. The location offers a huge amount of space for brands who need either large presentation rooms down to a small booth of say 3 x 3 mts. Best of all its got a huge space for the TBW party which we have struggled with over the last 2 years due to no space left in the three venues we use now. We decided to go ahead with a 4^th venue after asking many exhibitors about whether they feel we should talk to the City Government about using the exhibition centre they are building and the answer was a very clear no. As you know the event is run by the industry for the industry and we are a team of volunteers who do not get paid or take anything out of the event for free.

With the dual pressures of a dim forecast for the entire bicycle industry through 2018, and the rise of the direct sales model for branding online (the Canyon model), what happens in Taichung and how it happens only increases the importance Taichung Bike Week plays as the linchpin of the entire industry and possibly the most important week of the cycling calendar.  

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Also:

Don't miss the this Sunday's 2016 running of the Paris-Roubaix and Taiwan's Feng Chun-kai as he supports Lampre-Merida. Feng scored as DNF last year and also failed to finish last weekend's iconic Tour of Flanders.

The China Posts reports on an up and coming cyclist. 

               

Taiwan Cycling: A Shining Example?

The Vancouver Sun had an interesting piece in which the writer uses Taiwan as a model for Vancouver. The author raises some good points, but risks over-idealizing Taiwan's cycling environment in his pitch to his Canadian readers.

The government seized the opportunity to offer incentives to build "bike parks" around the island. These are scenic rural tourist destinations replete with paved paths, tea houses, bike rental stations, ponds and bridges, and picnic spots. There are now dozens of such bike parks all over that country, and one can only wish some clever folks would build something like them in Canada.

"Bike hotels" are springing up replete with drive-thru lobbies, wash and repair rooms, cycling instructors and rentals. You can ride your bike right into your room and hang it on the wall. Paved bike paths and bridges are popping up everywhere in rural Taiwan. It's a recreation revolution.

While there are more cycling projects in Taiwan than ever before designated for cycling recreation, at best Taiwan's current cycling situation might be similar to having dozens of beautiful islands separated by shark infested waters and nary a boat in sight. The hotel he describes is the Yoho Bike Hotel near Heng Chun in Pingtung County. He also fails to delve into the quality or purpose for many of these trails and leaves it to the reader to imagine an ideal, when in fact, there are tremendous problems with traffic flow, speed limits and the quality of construction.

You can ride to the market, school, library, between towns, to the beach, all on smooth paved recreational paths than don't allow motorized vehicles or pedestrians.

The idea of interconnectivity may be stretching it a bit. I know people who opt for taking a taxi everywhere to simply stay off the dangerous roadways.

Politically speaking, the end result is that most Taiwanese are now in favour of spending yet more taxpayers' money on much more cycling infrastructure. Building safe and separated bike paths and dedicated overpasses costs money, and in urban areas that means lots of money. Simply painting an imaginary line on the pavement is not enough to encourage most beginner cyclists to start jousting with heavy metal.

I do take some exception with the paragraph above. I have yet to see the government directly engage citizens in transportation policy. Most bike lane projects seem to be directives issued from the Executive Yuan or township chiefs with a special budget allotted to them from the central government. This is often where we see bike lane funds misspent on painted sidewalks and crumbling tiled paths. The Taipei City government even voted against spending more funds on rebuilding the disastrous Dunhua Rd. bike lanes. 

I understand the writer is trying to instigate progress in Vancouver's cycling infrastructure by leveraging it against Taiwan's. Unfortunately, by heralding Taiwan's cycling policy without due balance, the interests of the citizens of Vancouver are not being served. While Taiwan makes a conveniently distant example to draw from, there may be better examples a bit closer to home.

Portland, Oregon may be one of the best cycling cities in the world, and it is within a day's drive from Vancouver. It may be more worthwhile to ask for some advice from other cities in the Pacific Northwest, than trying to use selected examples from Taiwan, which is still struggling with its own traffic culture and with the conflicted interests of the state and other political actors who benefit from the current direction of recreational cycling policy.


Also:

• Taichung Cycle and the Formosa 900 will be held simultaneously next year. 

• Giant's Tony Lo advocates Taiwan's "economic integration"(Read: economic and political unification with a large, belligerent neighbor) to ensure its economic viability. Shock Doctrine!!! It is no secret that Lo is politically aligned with the ruling KMT. It is a shame to see his company exploit Taiwanese national pride for profits while selling the nation downriver. Quote: "Lo said Taiwan needs to integrate into regional markets as soon as possible so local firms can enjoy the trading privileges that other nation’s companies do, such as tariff exemptions." This is a familiar talking point repeated by the KMT in their drive to ratify the ECFA agreement (in which bicycle makers were an early beneficiary). Of course, since ECFA was signed there have been no FTAs to date and ECFA has had almost no positive effect on the nations economy or regional competitiveness. 

• The City Fix publishes a strange piece detailing the resurgence of cycling in China and Taiwan. I can't for the life of me figure out why the two countries are being discussed in the same piece as they are two separate states that, naturally, would have different policies and political cultures. It seems random in the least. You might find a better corollary in comparing the UK and India. 

• Sir Chris Hoy, the Olympic gold winning track cyclist from the UK was caught up in the little tremor we had last week. Apparently, Hoy was in Taichung checking up on his new self-branded frames and was given a proper Taichung welcome. Hoy also has some family history on Taiwan. 

Frozen Fates of the Far East: Cycling The Rift Valley

The Frozen Fate blog has a wonderful write up of biking Taiwan's East Coast. Lots of valuable information regarding renting bikes and riding in Taiwan from a visitor.

There are multiple cross-mountain roads connecting the two highways at various places along the length, so one can either do one or combinations of both. Also of note is that, Route 193 that runs parallel to Highway 9 from Yuli into Hualien City is highly recommended over Highway 9 at that stretch due to much less traffic, and the rolling terrains combined with the countryside sceneries makes for a more exciting ride, compared to Highway 9 which has many big trucks passing through.

This is a favorite route for cycling tourism and it has been heavily promoted by the tourism industry for the level of infrastructure available for cyclists.

Also:

• Taichung Bike Week is well underway and several of the big players are in town to show their wares. Campagnolo has been keen to demonstrate their electronic shifting. ProLite and Token are looking to raise brand awareness with booth presence as well.

• The 2012 edition of the Tour de Taiwan is looking for qualified English/Chinese interpreters to assist riders, teams and journalists during the event. Qualified interpreters must hold a TOEIC certification. Details HERE.

• Taiwan's big 3 brands are in fat city.

• Todd from the Daily Bubble Tea takes the Super Sampler Cycling.