BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Whereas air-conditioned Interbike in Las Vegas has rough edges (just think of all the booths that are little more than horizontally-displayed products pressed up against a tressle table draped in a white tablecloth), Friedrichshafen’s non-AC Eurobike is a
precise, professional show from end to end.
Even the recumbent makers make an effort to dress up their booths.
At this year’s show – the twelth, and the biggest to date, 24 000 trade visitors are expected – there were
plenty of drop-dead gorgeous bikes. Roadies were visibily salivating
on the Storck and Merlin booths, for instance. Storck has a 968-gram frame that can be made up into a 4.5kg bike.
But for sheer showbiz razzamatazz (and a respectable amount of tech sophistication), the
bike of the show has got to be the Scott Genius.
Except it’s not a bike, it’s a range. And all the Genius MTBs come
equipped with in-house rear shocks, a brave move by the European brand
with a US heritage.
The adjustable-on-the-fly suspension combo is said to make for the best
XC ride to date. BikeBiz.com wouldn’t know, test bikes have yet to
dispatched, but from a rough head count on each passing, it’s likely
that the Scott booth was the most consistently mobbed at the show.
Want more tech info about the Genius? Mark Alker of
Singletrackworld.com did a superb report about the recent slap-up
pre-show press trip organised by Scott. The article can be found at
http://www.singletrackworld.com/article.php?sid=1092
PIC BELOW: Scott UK’s general manager Ian Hughes was barman at close of play on Thursday night. A missed vocation for the former car mechanic/radio-DJ/Marin rep…
