BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
The opening ceremony at today’s launch of the Taipei International Cycle Show was a fancy affair: there was no ribbon and no cutting but eight top execs held disembodied handlebars as loud music, a fanfare of pre-recorded bicycle bells, and puffs of smoke filled the air. Watch this short YouTube video of the first day.
The execs included King Liu, chairman of Giant Manufacturing; Yoshizo
Shimano, chairman of Shimano, and Erich Reiss, founder of the Eurobike trade show.
Taiwan Cycle runs until Tuesday. Present are 694 exhibitors, 163 from outside Taiwan, displaying their wares from 2299 booths.
Split between Hall 1 and Hall 3 – and intersected by Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building – this year’s show could be the last on the present site. Next year the show could be held in a new, $110m expo centre being built in Nangang, a few miles from downtown.
If held at Nangang, the 2008 show – set for 13-16th March – would be one of the first international expos to be held there. Construction should have been finished last June but there have been construction delays.
