Interbike: Day #1
September 27, 2006
ORbike/Good Sport Promotion team member Tom Knipe is at Interbike in Las Vegas. If you wanted to go to Interbike, the bike industry's largest annual expo, you probably couldn't. The affair is limited to retailers, importer/exporters, paid exhibitor, manufacturers and industry affiliates (Tom's category). Tom estimates that about a quarter of the passengers on his plane were bike people.
Tom says the event is really overwhelming and he's trying to pace himself and ease into it. All of the big name companies are there, but there are also a variety of mom and pop-type companies represented. Everything from super low-end quality products to the top of the line stuff is on display. And those displays are sometimes in the tens of thousands of dollars - for the display alone. Electra bikes has a black wall enclosed display area with security guards out front. So what's inside that needs security? "A display dedicated solely to rear fenders" Tom says. So the security guards? "Just a gimmick, I guess. Or maybe they're really serious about their trade secrets."
Jay Graves, owner of the Bike Gallery is there. He says he loves "seeing how much excitement there within the industry about using bikes as healthy functional modes of transport". He also shared with Tom that as of last night he is no longer the president of the National Bike Dealers Association, the baton has been passed to Bob Updegraff who runs a shop in Kansas.
Highlights of what Ton's seeing include an electric motorized scooter that can go 20 miles an hour and run for three hours on a lithium battery, a four-wheeled "family bike", the Electra "Amsterdam" and people from all over the world - including Taiwan, Australia, England and Italy. In fact, Tom says there is an entire section dedicated to manufacturers and distributors from Taiwan.
Tom is so caught up in the excitement he doesn't really have time to hit the Las Vegas strip for lunch, but it doesn't really matter. He says he's keeping well hydrated and nourished gorging himself on energy drink and nutritional bar product samples.
We'll check back in with Tom tomorrow.
Posted by orbike at September 27, 2006 12:33 PM
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Comments
Great to hear about Tom's adventures in Vegas. It really can be overwhelming!
Thanks for the report Ayleen, look forward to hearing more about the trip.
Posted by: Jonathan Maus at September 27, 2006 10:31 PM
So, can these guys tell me, when are they going to develop a helmet that isn't so ugly? I think more people would wear helmets if they weren't so ugly and dorky.
Posted by: Christine at September 27, 2006 11:03 PM
Check out the new nutcases, Christine (http://www.nutcasehelmets.com/), and they're local.
Posted by: vj at September 27, 2006 11:16 PM
Hi Christine,
I agree, the look of helmets is often a barrier to people wearing them. I like that more aerodynamic models have come out in the accessible price range over the last couple years. At Interbike this year, Giro helmets had a two-level display, a totally over-the-top impressive display to promote helmets. I think of that as a sign that they're thinking more about the look and style of helmets, not just the functionality.
Posted by: Ayleen at September 27, 2006 11:16 PM