IFMA 2008
By BOB
It's been a long September already, first the Eurobike (see here) and now the IFMA. The traditional German bike show that will close after this show, has been around for almost 50 years, but is no longer the right stage for a rapidly moving bike business. The IFMA was the business show and a lot of the bigger companies will miss the order days the show provided. The Eurobike has moved the bike show into new dimensions and not even the Cologne Trade Show could keep up. I was always a fan of the show, because Cologne was a great media city, lots of magazines, tv and newspapers. But i guess the mixture of two days business and two days public, was never really meat or fish, some wanted business, others wanted to show their stuff to the public and a good show went lost somewhere along the way.
IFMA Party
Picture: at the cathederal praying for the year of used - l-r: Dan, Nick and uli (posing again!)
Bob: The Party is always an IFMA highlight. Good food, good people and a stunning view of the Rhein and the Cologne skyline. My friend Christian was there at his first (and last) IFMA and he met some cool people. For those of you new to Cologne, they drink what you call Kölsch which is beer in small 0.2L glasses. The problem is not the beer but the number of small beer glasses you drink. The waiters are on some kind of commission i think, because you always have a new glass in your hand as soon as the last one is half empty. This leads to all kinds of confusing conversations at the party, but that's Germany for you! Nick was there from Carry Freedom with his Paper-Bike and of course the USED crew with Uli and Dan (who arrived just i time for the Party, leaving Bob and Uli to do all the work beforehand!).
Picture: yvonne & elke (ifma-team) trying to keep the customer satisfied and laughing at bob's jokes
The USED booth was a mixture of our new products with the tried and trusty USED mobility solutions. New: The Long John, Cargo Racks, Carry Freedom Paperbike and the Monark ECO electric bike and the new USED Steel Bike range. We were part of the VSF stand with Rohloff, Hebie, HP-Velotechnik, Riese and Muller and others. We had some great catering and have to say a big thank you to everybody at the VSF-Cafe for the great service and friendliness. I think we went through 200 cups of coffee on the USED booth alone. Our Xtracycles were always a big attraction, i wonder why all the people looking at them don't buy one, it can't be just a price problem.
Picture claudia müller: bigboy with bigboy and sweating hard!
Nazi's and USED and the IFMA
Bob: On a more serious note, we were out on Friday night in Cologne, we went to a nice Italian Restaurant and had some great food (Tallatella with Shrimps and Safran!), but the disturbing thing was the massive police prescence on every corner.
Seems that on Saturday an hoard of right-wing extremists were on their way to Cologne for a demonstration against Muslims. I suppose some of you reading this outside of Germany, might find this very disturbing, but you will be pleased to know that modern day Germany is very different to any pre-concieved conceptions you may have. The resistance against the Nazi-Demonstration started as the demonstrators were arriving in Cologne, the taxi drivers refused to take them anywhere, the hotels refused them rooms, also the bars like our hotel pictured on the left were showing their "Kein Kölsch für Nazis" (No beer for Nazis) poster. Best of all the roads to the demonstration were all blocked by peaceful protesters so that the demonstration had to be abandoned.
A victory for democracy. We tip our hats to the people of Cologne and this example of the critical mass making this kind of rally impossible to go ahead...!
Cruiser Ride with a Cactus in your Heart
On Saturday the Cruiser Ride took place. Starting at the Dom and going across the Rhein to the Trade Show area and gathering at the Entrance for some photos and some beer. I saw a girl on a green cruiser with a cactus on her fender. Of course i invited her back to our stand for some photos and gave her a Cactus10 T-Shirt. The cruiser riders are a cool bunch of people and another good example of how peaceful most human powered riders are. The whole trade show was really rocked by the cruiser riders, who rode through the halls and promoted the product bicycle in a very positive way.
Picture: this is cactus 3, the best cruiser at the ifma show
Where to from here - The bike business in Germany
Bob: To quote Timbuk 3 - "The futures so bright i gotta wear shades!". Well maybe not yet, but we are getting there. After a crazy Eurobike and a subdued but very positive IFMA, it seems that bikes and what you do with them are becoming more acceptable as an alternative transport concept. Gary Fisher called them "Bikes that do things" and that sums it up. My reflections after the show are:
PRICE - Dealers tell you price is always a problem and your stuff is too expensive. The consumer is cleverer, he buys gas, he knows food is more expensive and he knows that a good bike has it's price. I hope the dealer wil learn from this and go out and sell our products boldly - remembering "the quality remins when the price is long forgotten!"
UTILITY - You can do so much with a bike. Commute, shop, exercise, socialise, communicate and have a lot of fun in the process. Watch those SUV drivers jealous looks as you pick up your beer crate from the supermarket - they would love to be you! Take up less space, be responsible and be loud about it. Tell people you only use the car when you have to, tell them you feel better for it.
FUN - We love what we do - we like the products we sell and we like the business we are in. It is a lot of fun being in the bike business. In a weak moment i would compare it to love and peace and San Francisco in the late 60's, but of couse we know it's a regular business like every other. All i do want to say though is that i like most of the people in this business, suppliers, customers, competitors, press and whatever are having fun. At the Eurobike i approached Stan Day from SRAM, who i've met on a few occasions, and introduced him to my apprentice Uli. Stan shook his hand, winked at me and said "Does he know we're all crazy in this business?". He does now.
Check out the T-Shirt here: The message is "My bike drives me crazy!". Doesn't that just say it all.
Picture: YOU drive me crazy
MONARK on the USED Stand
Bob: Conny from Monark was also in Cologne and was showing the new Pedelec - ECO. 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. We had some good talks with dealers and consumers and it seems there is room for a good Pedelec at an attractive price with a quality system from Panasonic.
Picture: ECO from Monark
We'd like to thank anybody else that dropped by our stand. Thanks to Albert and the VSF-Team for Organisation, Coffee and Sympathy, Christian from Web.de, the guys from Pedal Power and HP-Velotechnik, Kirk and Jo from Iceletta, Reiner from KMX, the Toxy guys, Axel from the BICO and a very warm thank you for the IFMA-Team: Maren, Elke, Yvonne, Sonja, Tim and all the rest. You did a good job and we will be sad not to come back again. We wish you a lot of luck for your next projects.