Cycle Show NEC Birmingham 26-29th September.

[Mickthemove]

Went today and was very disappointed ! A lot of average stands, a lot of major manufacturers not present, almost arrogant stand personnel (garmin - nothing was going to interrupt the staff having a private chat) not a lot of stuff to spend dish on even though took plenty to spend!

Went for a view to learn about and poss buy a VR turbo but only saw two ! Did get a pair of prescription ready specs for 35 quid though.

Maybe I was over expecting but I thought it was very poor!

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

The lack of things available to purchase was something @gavgav & I commented on last year. Shame it hasn't changed.

I'm still looking forward to going and seeing what's new for next year though.

 

[Brandane]

I say the same to those that **** and moan about the Motorbike show at the NEC.
These things (as with many things in life) are what you make of them.

It's going to be great, my camera is on charge.

From one who does actually want to like these shows, whether it be car, truck, motorbike or cycle: I used to go to quite a lot of them, even driving from Ayrshire to Birmingham and back in a day to see the motorbike show; BUT, as the years went by I got more and more disappointed by ALL of them.
The charges for car parking (yes I DO think £8 is a lot, just to park your car) and for event entry started getting a bit steep. At the same time the shows got worse. Top brands not present, not allowed near the bling, far too crowded, disinterested stall attendants, etc.. There was a severe lack of ideas for anything "showy", just a series of stands showing a limited array of stuff, some of which couldn't even be bought there and then! Not many bargains either.
Basically, there was nothing there that couldn't be seen by spending an afternoon visiting a few bike/car/cycle shops in any big town.
NEC/SECC, I won't be suckered into attending any more of your second rate rip off events.

After all that, I hope the show at the NEC is not a disappointment, @y2blade .

 

[Twotter]

Just back from the show and I quite enjoyed it. Some nice bikes....I was drooling quite heavily on the Bianchi, Condor, Specialized and Trek stands, and kept getting lost around one corner of the show, but always seemed to keep er....'finding' the Van Nicholas stand...mmmm titanium The retail experience was more limited than I expected so no money spent but all my lot enjoyed our day out.

 

[stevey]

Just back from the show and I quite enjoyed it. Some nice bikes....I was drooling quite heavily on the Bianchi, Condor, Specialized and Trek stands, and kept getting lost around one corner of the show, but always seemed to keep er....'finding' the Van Nicholas stand...mmmm titanium The retail experience was more limited than I expected so no money spent but all my lot enjoyed our day out.

Same here totally fell for the colnago bikes , it was an ok show agree though retail was a bit s##t. Will give it a miss next year though back home now ordering the stuff off the internet now.

 

[gavgav]

Just back from an enjoyable day at the Cycle Show with @Rickshaw Phil . Some VERY nice bikes there, Ribble & Condor were my personal favourites, but plenty of others looked decent, Trek, Cube, etc. Can't believe the price of some bikes...........£15000 for one of the Pinarello's. OK I know Wiggo uses one, but can it really be worth that much?

Again the retail was a bit limited, although BBB seemed to have a bigger range on sale than last year? Also enjoyed the pint of Doombar to help ease the aching legs from all the walking around

We took the train, which is much easier than bothering with the hassle of driving on the M6, parking at the extortionate cost and also took a packed lunch to avoid the extortionate food prices

@Rickshaw Phil drooling over his personal favourite from the day, on the Condor stand

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

Just back from an enjoyable day at the Cycle Show with @Rickshaw Phil . Some VERY nice bikes there, Ribble & Condor were my personal favourites, but plenty of others looked decent, Trek, Cube, etc. Can't believe the price of some bikes...........£15000 for one of the Pinarello's. OK I know Wiggo uses one, but can it really be worth that much?

Again the retail was a bit limited, although BBB seemed to have a bigger range on sale than last year? Also enjoyed the pint of Doombar to help ease the aching legs from all the walking around

We took the train, which is much easier than bothering with the hassle of driving on the M6, parking at the extortionate cost and also took a packed lunch to avoid the extortionate food prices

@Rickshaw Phil drooling over his personal favourite from the day, on the Condor stand
View attachment 30086 View attachment 30087

I didn't realise you got photos.

 

[gavgav]

I didn't realise you got photos.

I took the stealth option

 

[jowwy]

Just back from the show and I quite enjoyed it. Some nice bikes....I was drooling quite heavily on the Bianchi, Condor, Specialized and Trek stands, and kept getting lost around one corner of the show, but always seemed to keep er....'finding' the Van Nicholas stand...mmmm titanium The retail experience was more limited than I expected so no money spent but all my lot enjoyed our day out.

titanium is the only way to go - van nic stand was very nice

 

[y2blade]

After all that, I hope the show at the NEC is not a disappointment, @y2blade .

Far from it, We had a fantastic day there yesterday...bought a few bits, now looking for a full carbon roadie
Just uploading some pics

 

[y2blade]

 

[y2blade]

 

[y2blade]

 

[Dmcd33]

Not as good as I was expecting. A lot of the stands didn't seem to price their stuff, so you either had to ask (very crowded so not always easy) or not bother.

Managed to get a £100 helmet for £60. Genuine bargain as I Googled it on my phone and could not find it cheaper than £100.

It would have been a lot better if less crowded with obvious pricing evident on labels etc..

 

[y2blade]

It was great to see Raleigh there didn't realise they were still going tbh, I was very pleasantly surprised to see them at the show, let alone with decent looking bikes!!!!

I'm going Carbon frame in spring (will keep my Allez Sport as a hack), the show was great for me to compare prices/equipment levels across different brands. For a set price bracket Carbon Framed bike I noticed "fashionable/cool" branded bikes seem to have average/poor groupsets, whereas less "fashionable/cool" brands are the same weight while running highend groupsets.

I'm not one for blindly following the heard.