National Bike Show April 2007 REVIEW

The National Bike Show 2007 Review
Birmingham NEC 28/28th April 2007

Event Review

We were lucky enough to be invited as press to this years bike show giving us more sneaky peaks at behind the scenes action than ever before...the following is a review of our day and finds along with a selection of photos of new bikes and thoughts on new kit we saw...

Then Bike Show has come back to the NEC after a few years away elsewhere, and for ease of travelling we couldn't site it at a better place location wise.

We were eagerly anticipating attending this event to see what the NBS and NEC would have to offer now together as one once more. I have to admit straight away we were pretty disappointed with the event on a whole...read on...

The first nag was the great lack of attendance from major players in the market. Many of the big UK distributors for bikes such as ScottUSA, Specialized and Trek weren't present, leaving huge gaps open in the market retail wise. Many of the UK's smaller frame and parts manufacturers and distributors attended the event, and it was nice to see so many together in one place.
Second nag of the day was the lack of things to see, to be honest we were bored after 2 hours and left shortly after - there certainly wasn't enough to look at to warrant staying all day - the lack of attending companies on a whole was poor and the trade area was pretty lacking in attendance too. The asking price of £18.50 a ticket per adult we feel was a ridiculously high price for not a lot back - if we had had to pay I don't think we would have attended now knowing what a disappointment the whole event was. I feel sorry for everyone who paid that much for such a disappointment to be honest.

On a more positive note the event seemed to be well organised and staff were all very friendly and helpful. The Trials display was incredible to watch some mental tricks being pulled by some of the UK's best Trials talent. The 4X track though was terrible - it was simply a 300yard strip with one jump for 4X sprinting, and the track was hidden away between the Trails arena and the king of dirt section - nothing much visible to the crowds at all, not good.

Another sad note was the lack of pro riders visible around the place, I know we went on the Sunday, but still, several pro riders vans and team set ups were there with no signs of the riders themselves - it would just have been nice for the public to have been able to see and shake hands with a few pro idles.

Overall it seemed to be a well organised event, but for future events we feel there needs to be more on offer for the public to see or do, or instead see a drop in the entrance price. Shows such as the 4X track arena also need to be thought about a bit more too, to make sure people can see the goings on.

Fingers crossed for improvements for 2008.

We would of course like to thank all behind the organisation of the National Bike show, to thank them all for their hospitality and the invite to the event. Many thanks.

The Bikes and Kit

There were a wide range of companies and distributors around on the day - we had everything from super high technology efficient companies such as local motorsport inspired K-9 DH Industries bikes back down to traditional raw simple frame builders such as DMR. It was great to see so many of this countries smaller companies all under one roof, and it was certainly good to be able to see and compare different companies products face to face.

Santa Cruz were present (through distributor Jungle) showing off a showcase of some gorgeous high end MTB monsters. The new shape monoque V10 was showcased along side the super light blur range. Some great paint schemes were on show with some superb examples of build kits and custom colours. It was also our first face to face meeting with the new Nomad bike - a new all day/freeride frameset, super tough, super strong, but surprisingly light. The Nomad also boosts no end of options and ideas for builds from light xc groupsets to super tough 'huck-sets'. It was certainly nice to see such a big frameset company present and it was superb to be able to see and compare their whole range face to face.

^ Santa Cruz V10

^ Santa Cruz Superlight

^ Santa Cruz Bullit

^ Santa Cruz Blur XC

^ Santa Cruz Nomad

Local Oxfordshire based K-9 Industries were present with a stand showing off their K-9 Prototype DH rigs and the highly technological designing and testing methods used. K-9 Industries advertise themselves as 'MTB with Motorsport Pedigree' - K-9 certainly utilise many design and testing methods utilised within motorsport engineering. K-9 have designed their new frameset from the ground up incorporating their new LA.Link design on a 4bar configuration frameset. THe LA.Link allows the bike to work without platform damping technology, it also allows the front and rear sus to work together as one unit maintaining an almost constant wheelbase throughout its travel. We met the K9 guys a few months ago at Aston Hill whilst they were testing - they had some extremely complicated looking computer software analysing the bikes down every run - they could track you down the whole course monitoring the bike and how much you pedalled, braked etc and once back at the top could readjust the bike to set it up perfectly for the rider. The bikes have also been full dyno tested.

^ Local Oxford based K-9 industries

It was great to see Empire Cycles present at the event also. I have been trying to keep up to date with their new frameset progress over the past few months. Empire has designed and produced prototype framesets via castings...yes castings. Empire have now produced a handful of prototype Empire cast downhill bikes have just been built so that intensive product testing can take place over the winter period and into next year. So far this project is generating lots of interest and the bold look of the frame has been a hit for sure. The previously released CAD drawings really do not do the frame justice - the engineering quality and detail that has gone into this frame has to be seen in the flesh to be appreciated. The bike was on show at the event, and was certainly getting a lot of interest. The bike is still being tweaked and adjusted as testing continues as to get the best finished product possbile. We wish the 2 man team behind Empire Cycles the best of luck with the final testing and the finalising of the design before mass production starts at the end of this year and beyond....

^ Empire Bikes DH Prototype frameset

Sunn bikes were also present at the show, via distributor Ride Central - it was great to see these bikes in the flesh. The Sunn Radical DH bike has been creating a stir in the MTB world and forums for months now, it certainly looks the business and seems to be creating quite a following... Also on display were some Sunn XC bikes which look to be of the highest quality with some good little finishing extras to boot.

^ Sunn XC hardtail bike builds

^ Sunn

Another new company to our shores was Bionicon Back Country Mountain Bikes. Even though Bionicon arent that well know, we happen to know they are a small company based in the Bavarian Alps - although they are in a remote location they have spread a network over the entire globe in order to develop and produce their vision of the perfect bike.

^ Bionicon Bikes

The Bionicon bikes utilise an on the fly adjustment of the whole angles of the bikes - using a bar mounted switch you can effortlessly alter the angles of the bikes from full on downhill attack mode to front lowered cruising position.

^Bionicon bar mounted lever

Back in 1996 Bionicon bought their first full suspension bike and only half a year later did they start to think seriously about how to optimize their daily rides, as they were not satisfied with the uphill performance. The rising front wheel on uphill sections and a hurting neck drove the Bionicon guys incase. Lots of brainstorming, doubts over existing products and inspiration from nature showed them the path towards suspension travel and geometry adjustment as a way to optimize the daily ride, apart from simply reducing weight. In 1999 Bionicon shifted their development to the pneumatic link system you can see on this website. It was more logical to adjust the front and the rear of the chassis simultaneously as animals do. More then 20 different versions were created. Winning the ISPO DuPont Brand New Award 2000 for the most innovative sports product gave Bionicon tons of PR and drove them to bring this system into the market.

What's the difference ? In the downhill postion:

centre of gravity shifted backwards
up to 200mm suspension travel according to model
upright position on bike
perfect traction
no "endo" feeling in steep terrain
high straight line stability from relaxed head angle in downhill position

in the uphill position:

centre of gravity shifted forwards
suspension fork travel adjustment without bottom bracket sinking
upright position on bike
perfect traction and reduced bob through K.P.P (Kinematic Pedal Platform)
front wheel stays firmly on the ground
more effective breathing position
70 / 100 mm fork travel

^ Bionicon Bikes

Solid Bikes were also on display at the show. The Solid range is now getting a good name out there, and many more are starting to pop up in this country. The Solid frames are on many peoples wish list for a new DH rig. Super tough, superb adjustability and some awesome colours available!!!!

^ Solid Bikes

Brooklyn Machine Works (BMW) bikes were also on display. BMW bikes are some of the most sought after dreamed about rigs in the world. The hardtail frames are reasonably common over here, but the machine works DH/FR bike shown opposite are still rare over here, maybe one reason due to the price! These bikes are probably the toughest you will find, and are hand built to precise specifications. Similar to BMW cars, superb dedication to detail and precision! If you can afford one you cant go wrong.
The machine work DH rigs run 24in wheels for tight cornering and superb strength. One of the most striking features is the mad chain line linked up via pulleys - this is to keep a constant tight chain line for pedalling even when the shock is working, and also to prevent chain slip or even loosing your chain at the worst.
At the end of the day, these bikes are like the marmite effect for looks, but one thing is for sure, you will never break one in a hurry....

^ Brooklyn Machine Works

Hope Technologies were at the show with a massive stand showing off a very nice selection of many of their new products.

On display were Hopes new hydraulic brakes featuring all new calpiers, redesigned levers and rotors too. Hope had a demo brake set up at the show and the new Hope lever feels so much better than the old pro lever of old Hopes.

Hope also had many of their other products on show including their new aftermarket rotors, new reworked hubs, new CNC stems, and much much more.

Also on show were Hopes new CNC bodied MTB lights which can be fitted onto a new Hopes integrated stem too.

Hope had some nice displays on show including their CNC made 'mini bikes' displaying many of their Hope Parts.

For the ultimate in precision made top quality parts Hope is a definite definite contender, and their British too!!!

^ New Hope Brakesets

^ Hope bling displays - CNC galore

A nice company to see attending the show was Pace Cycles.

Pace had a fantastic selection of kit on display including several of their new framesets including the new 303 heavy duty HT frame, and the 404 and 505 full bouncers.

^ Pace 505

^ Pace trail HT 303

Pace had a wide range of their carbon fibre forks on display too, from the solid rigid carbon versions right through to the FR u-turn models and everything in between. Paces new 80mm carbon XC race fork was turning a few heads too.

We were most impressed by the new 404 and 505 full suspension frameset recently bought out by Pace. The frames a good proven design including many nice features and superb machining detail (see pic below). The framesets looked tough but light, and were built with light Easton XC tubing. The quality of the machining and welding can be seen the photo below. The frames on show were fitted with DT Swiss air shocks, we will have to wait and see in the near future to see what prices and shock options Pace will have on their 404 and 505 frames. I know one thing though, I want one!!!

Also on display was the DT Swiss SSD carbon fibre air shock, weighing in at a feather weight 145grams with all the options and gubbings attached required by the modern mountain biker, including air sprung oil dampening, adjustable rebound, lockout and remote switch capabilities.

^ Super light carbon shock, very posh!

DT Swiss 190 ceramic hubs were also on display weighing in at a ridiculously light 310 grams the pair!!!! The XC racers will be happy. The hubs feature sealed bearings and come as shimano centre lock as standard with option 6bolt rotor conversion adaptors.

^ 310g/pair DT Swiss Ceramic hubs!!!!

Locally based BALFA UK (Tring, Herts) were at the show, it was certainly good to see them there!

On show were some amazing examples of custom bikes including the Avent Vandal (Top Left, Yellow), the .243Racing SL HT (middle left, black), the Appalache Real (Bottom left, white), Avent Arson (Top Right, red), .243Racing DH HT (middle right, black) and the .243 FR HT frame (bottom right, white).

Also on show was some of the hottest custom parts available from the likes of Dangerboy, .243, Bombshell and Acros.

^ Our friends Balfa UKs stand

Element Bikes, alloy XC hardtail on show (top) and an alloy XC hardtail frame with carbon fibre rear end.

Both frames looked to be high quality framesets and appeared to be good value frames too.

The carbon fibre rear ended frame (the Nitron-OE) features carbon fibre wishbone stay / seat stays / down stays, but still keeping alloy dropouts - good idea to me. Integrated headset, disc only and neat cable hose guides as standard. BB faced also.

^ Element bikes

Knolly bikes DH frameset. Proven suspension design with 8-9inches of travel. Super tough swing arm and adjustable replacable dropouts as standard.

^ Knolly

DMR Bikes had a stand present, showcasing probably THE best of British dirt jump and street frames and parts.

DMR have got some nice looking new paint and graphics schemes for 2007 along with a host of new parts and accessories.

^ DMR

Merlin Cycles, the Lancashire based Custom frame builder and shop had a display of some of their custom built handmade Merlin XC hardtail frames.

Merlin frames are of the highest quality and are hugely popular on the XC trail riding side of things. With various versions available at very reasonable prices they are becoming hugely popular. Available in various colours and specs, and available as frame only or very well priced custom builds are available direct from Merlin themselves.

^ Merlin Cylces Custom Build HT selection

Commencal had a huge display on the go, with about 20 bikes on display, the Athertons race team van on show and some of the Animal/Commencal Atherons bikes on show also.

Some new models for 2007, and certainly some nice paint jobs available too.

Superb performing, well balance, great value bikes for all disciplines. Supreme DH very successful on the DH race circuit, and the Meta XC range are very popular with XC racers, Enduro Riders and Trail Riders alike.

^ Commencal animal team bikes

^ New Commencal DH rig

^ Commencal Meta 5.5 XC/FR Bike

24Seven bikes had a good display, showcasing some of their great value for money parts and frames. 24seven now offer super value complete off the shelf DJ, 4X, Street and FR bikes which they had some of both on display.

Great value, really good riding bikes, with superb specs to boot.

^ 24Seven DJ rigs

Other bikes on display:

^ Ibis

^ Foes Fly

^ Trek Session DH