Islington's Business Design Centre was pretty much filled with bikes: several levels of the main hall and various smaller side rooms were packed with stands:



The 'no retailing' policy (except for magazines :-) ensured that there was no 'jumble-sale' atmosphere: instead, more classy displays of the latest goods and bikes on offer. There were also seminars throughout the day - not to mention a rather loud fashion show three times a day right in front of our stand!

It was good to see plenty of Velo Vision subscribers popping by - and also good to welcome many new readers who hadn't seen the magazine before.



The S-327 Russian trike and Airnimal bikes attracted a fair bit of attention. Thanks to Airnimal for transporting magazines to the show for me.

With the honourable exceptions of the Bikefix and London Recumbents stands, there weren't a lot of recumbents on display, and even fewer trikes - let's hope for more next year. Bikefix did have a rather splendid chopper-style machine created by one of their staff, and also a Dutch child-carrtying machine:



There were stacks of folding bikes: Avon Valley Cyclery were re-launching the Bike Friday range for the UK, with their foldingbikes.co.uk emporium also bringing together Airnimals, Birdies and the new Frog mini-folder amongst others.

Brompton had their own stand, as did the newly-revived Airframe folder from Silkmead Tubular, and a large display marked the launch of the Gekko, a short-journey folder once known as the Ant. It rode quite nicely, and was surprisingly rigid despite the number of pivots - but it was heavy - 15kg. A lighter version (9.5kg) in aluminium is promised next year, but can they retain that stiffness I wonder? Just a single speed, too, but a snip at £299 (silver only available, despite the coloured bikes in the pictures). I was briefly in line to win the unfolding speed contest, with 13 seconds, but apparently some nimble-fingered visitor beat me to it with an impressive 12 seconds.



Among the other things to catch my eye was a display of 'new designer' or final-year student projects: these included:

• A mechanical regenerative braking system attached to a Birdy (Thomas Jenkins, Southampton Univerity):
  
  
  
  Apparently the whole machine weighed around 20kg. Energy is stored in a large coil spring...



• A mock-up of a fully-enclosed drivetrain-type bike (Gavin Nettle, Huddersfield) which uses a hub gear built in near the bottom bracket as a sort of jackshaft:
  
  



• and this rather nice-looking MTB in wood and tensioned cables (James Coleman, Loughborough University):
  
  


Len Rubin's exquisite titanium 'Ultimate Folding Bike', based on the Brompton, was at the show, and we're promised a test in the near future.

Another thing we'll be chasing up is the impressive work being done by Transport for London under the slogan 'Cycle all over London'. Set up by Mayor Ken Livingstone, the team is doing some great work to get people onto bikes - both teh travelling public and essential services such as police, ambulance personnel and even traffic wardens, whose work in keeping bus (and cycle) lanes clear is often unappreciated.

iCycles, makers of the see-through cycle which recently featured in Velo Vision, were there with both their polycarbonate and plywood versions. Both looked lovely, and they even had a polycarbonate wheel, too:



It's also been interesting to see how some of the promising developments on show were seized upon by eager manufacturers: maybe an encouraging sign for new inventors? For example the Danlite, an LED light which fits on a stalk projecting from the end of your handlebars, has already been snapped up by a major distributor:



Meanwhile another company, Recoil Suspension Seatposts, who were there just to 'test the interest' in their clever steering lock, apparently walked away with £4.5 million of orders, according to the trade website BikeBiz.co.uk.

This device leaves the bars free to rotate on the stem, making the bike unrideable, unless the proper key is used to secure the bars. Ingeniously, wrecking the lock with drills or whatever won't help any potential thief: the only way to operate a bike so equipped is to operate the lock and so fix the bars. Or use welding gear! Not a substitute for a good U-lock, but it would certainly work against the opportunist thief who might attempt to ride off on a bike momentarily left unattended.

A further Cycle 2002 report, focusing on folding bike developments, can be found at the Folding Society website.

Finally, if Mr Anthony Castles is reading this, could you please get in touch? Many thanks for subscribing, but... I need your address! Unfortunately the leaflet you gave me with it on was hoovered up by over-zealous cleaners overnight, so I don't have the details. Thanks!

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Posted by Ben - Kinetics (ben@kinetics-online.co.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Blast - I really wish I had gone now...

Are wooden bikes going to be the next big thing, then?

 

Posted by Seamus (seamustuff@yahoo.co.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
I wonder how much it cost to exhibit there compared to the CTC York Rally and the Millenium York Rally.

Sort of a comparison of value of investment, how many people saw the goods on display at each event.


 

Posted by Buzz Starkbier (Buzzstarkbier@aol.com) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Wooden bikes could become the next big thing, if more bike manufactures experience problems with Aluminum frames.

 

Posted by Buzz Starkbier (Buzzstarkbier@aol.com) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Wooden bikes could become the next big thing, if more bike manufactures experience problems with Aluminum frames.

 

Posted by Peter Eland (peter@velovision.co.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
This just in:

*****
HEALTHY ATTENDANCES ON ALL FOUR DAYS OF CYCLE 2002

Figures released from the organisers of Cycle 2002, the International Cycle Show held at the Business Design Centre in Islington, London from September 26 - 29 underline the comments of the exhibitors who were there.

Thursday: Trade & Preview Day: 2,190 plus 110 press

Friday: 4,360 inc 60 press

Saturday: 6,350 inc 50 press

Sunday: 5,230 inc 30 press

TOTAL: 18,240

****

 

Posted by Steven Brandist (stevenbrandist@yahoo.co.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Are these good figures for this kind of show? I hope so as we enjoyed the show. Michael (2) especially liked charging around on his LIKEaBIKE with the others for the LIKEaBIKE owners rally. In fact they got a bit oput of hand at one point when we gatecrashed the Try-Out course. David Henshaw of A to B tried to organise that the LIKEaBIKERs could have a go on the course, but the grumpy old man who was trying to shut to close it down (at 1.30pm!). He tried to stop them but had to give up when 4 x 2-3 years olds screamed past his ankles onto the course.

 

Posted by Sue (sa121@york.ac.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Someone should get in touch with the MoD. A squadron of twenty or so excited 2-3 year old LikeaBikers charging in unison could be a terrifying addition to any arsenal.
And if wooden bikes are the next big thing, are cyclists going to have to worry about woodworm?

 

Posted by Roger the Hilldodger (@spokesfest) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
I think wooden bikes should be the next thing in cycling. As a traditional woodworker with 25 years experience I could set up a business to make them. Bespoke of course. Get your orders in early!

RtH

 

Posted by Sue (sa121@york.ac.uk) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Ah, and before you know it, there'll be DIYers trying to build their own out of lengths of broom handle and circular MDF table tops...

 

Posted by Antony Hawkins (antony.hawkins@pedalcars.info) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
Sorry to rain on iCycle's parade, but one of the new teams to the British Pedal Car Championship recently debuted a car with polycarbonate disk wheels. Being disks, they were probably more aerodynamic and easier to make than the "spoked" versions shown here!

 

Posted by 't Mannetje (info@tmannetje.nl) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
You like the dutch childcarrying bike?
See more at www.tmannetje.nl

 

Posted by Ralf Grosser (Buzz starkbier@aol.com) on Wednesday 2 Aug 2006
In Frankfurt last weekend I found a shop, that had a Likeabike.
But in an adult size. I testrode it, and it tuned out to be quite fun.
I am wondering, if I could build a wooden unicycle.
I once rode a wooden Pennyfathing, at a cyclefest.

 

 

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