Eurobike 2008
By BOB
USED finally returned to their headquasters in good ol' Quakenbrück after a week on Lake Constance at the Eurobike. We met a lot of cool people and spread the USED word around! Enjoy this fast and furious review of the biggest Bike Show on earth.
Demo-Day
Picture: this is eurobike and not the las vegas demo day
Bob: The Demo-Day was a great success for USED. We had a stand next to Storck and Alex Rims and we showed all our new products. We had a lot of journalists on our stand, Mr. Pardey from the FAZ, Markus from Velobiz, Jo from Radmarkt, Doug from Bike Retailer and Daniel from Aktiv Radfahren, who even did a radio interview at our stand for the Bavarian Radio.
It was very hot (over 30°!) and thanks to HP-Velotechnik who were the only company professional enough to have suntan oil on their list of things everyone needs at a trade show. Thanks for the free suntan oil! After the show was over we went back to Friedrichshafen and set up the USED Stand. It was a lot of hard work but we made it, thanks to Dan, Uli, Conny and Nick and the XXXL-Pizzas in town.
USED and Allegro
Bob: The new bikes and frames have been a big hit at the Eurobike. Lots of people were drooling over the Track frame from Richard Ayling. Richard used to be a track racer and has trained people like Cadel Evans, Robbie McEwan and Stuart O'Grady in their track days. He was also at Cannondale Australia for long time and he used his experience to make the geometry just right for the TRACK-Frame. Although the main target is the street the bike has the kind of feel that track riders will recognise.
Asked about the abundance of fixed and single speed bikes at this show, Richard said 'The fixed crowd is growing daily, also in Australia. I like to think of our bikes as jazz, the others are the punk-rockers. We are all doing similar stuff, but our ears are different. We are not heroes, just jazz musicians!'
Richard is a very good musician and an even better bike-builder and when he met Bob they soon discovered their musical empathy. Check out the track frame as soon as possible.
Also we did a video with Richard about the Global Cooperation between USED and ALLEGRO and the frames. And Richard played some mandolin as well.
Same procedure as every year - Gary Fisher on the USED-Stand
Bob: Every year you will see Gary looking at the new innovation products at the Eurobike Vision Stands, where USED also has it's booth. Bob and Gary talked about Utility bikes in the US and about Obama and McCain and the high increase in utility bike riding now in San Francisco. Gary is a european bike advocate and has a whole range of European bikes at home.
Picture: Gary Fisher and Bob
Nick (from Carry Freedom) says: It's said that great minds think alike, so I was pleased that Gary Fisher named his new city bicycle line 'Simple City', which happens to be the same as my design company. I planned to use this name for my new city bike line, but have instead gone for www.Paper-Bicycle.com, which is perhaps better?
Picture: carry freedom paperbike
This was the bike that got all the journalists worked up. The Paper Bike from Carry Freedom. A cargo-bike with a lot of sex-appeal. One size fits all, ladies and gents, and the chain guard can be changed to suit your mood, gender or just simply for advertising. Read more about it here >>>
Is Brooks the only leather saddle?
Bob: We also saw many other good people at the show, Tom from Selle An-Atomica, with a great saddle that rides like a 'rode-in' Brooks out of the box. It's biggest selling point though is that it's waterproof. Leave it outside in the rain, throw it in a bucket of water, nothing will stop this saddle. Tom Milton has been working on this project for a long time and is a treasure trove of information. He was easy to recognise at the Eurobike because he was wearing the tackiest Hawaiian shirt ever (and a different one every day!).
Check this picture if you don't believe me....
Picture: the marx brothers: bob, Richard from allegro and Tom Milton from Selle An-Atomica
Eurobike Party - and the heavens opened!
Bob: Everything was prepared for the party. USED had a master plan, first to the SRAM party, get some food and then of to the big Eurobike Party in the open area. Things started to go wrong from the start. Standing in line for food at SRAM, Dani got a burger, Bob got a burger (the last one!) and everybody else in the line missed out. This was kind of embarrassing because Bob had got tickets for Rainer and Markus (KMX), as well as Uli, Nick and Conny. So what to do??
We went out into the Atrium where it was raining hard, the band had just started playing and we got some food there. Andreas of Body Scanning was there and we got some size stickers. Most men at the Eurobike saw his posters as they were taking a pee. The headline was 'What's your size?', each pissior was labelled S, M, L, XL and of course the line was at XL, all the others were free! I guess men are like that. Here's the poster:
Anyway some how Bob got a Large(!) and Conny a Small, Andreas of course was the XLarge, but it was his idea so girls, don't jump to conclusions....
Picture: L-R: Large, Medium, small, small and xtrasmall
MONARK in the Zeppelin Hall
Bob: It was a case of Led Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen. The heavy metal dudes from Sweden were showing there transport bikes as well as a new Pedelec - ECO. Conny was there with Andreas and Daniela working the stand. The interest is big for transport bikes and the Long John and Truck were very popular. The ECO-Pedelec "Powered by Panasonic" is a classic city bike, but with that extra power for climbing hills and riding long distances. MONARK has sold many of these bikes in Scandanavia and is now moving with USED into the German market.
Picture: ECO from Monark
Nutty Nutcase also there
Picture: Dave and simone from Nutcase
Bob: Dave, Martin and Simone were also there from Nutcase. Last year they were guests on the USED-Stand, now they are firmly established with their fine helmuts. Simone had a new Dirdl on everyday, saving the new Nutcase Dirdl for the public on Sunday.
The Kynast Reunion at the Eurobike!
Picture: stephan esser, bob and andreas schuwirth
Bob: About 50 years ago (or was it just ten or so?) these three were working for Kynast in Germany. Stephan Esser and Andreas Schuwirth were Product Managers at the old, traditional bike company in Quakenbrück were Bob and also Dan worked. In those the days the brilliant ideas that these guys had were beaten down by the traditionalists, who fought against all kinds of progress. Needless to say the company went into insolvency and disappeared from the face of this earth and we know why! Stephan is a sought-after bike designer, Andreas is Mr. Body-Scanning and Bob is still USED.
We'd like to thank anybody else that dropped by our stand. Thanks to Andreas and Gisela for Organisation, Coffee and Sympathy, Peter from Taiwan (with Tommy), the guys from Pedal Power and HP-Velotechnik, Kirk and Jo from Iceletta, ABUS for the locks, Pitlock, Kemper Fahrräder, Klaus at Yuba, Rainer and Markus at KMX for tools and beer, Hannes from Extra Energy, Charly from Switzerland and all our guests. Thank you for being interested in our products and for thinking USED. We look forward to working with you in the future!