The Cycle Show 2006 Review @ ExCel London

It’s Friday the 6th October and I’m stood in the cue eagerly waiting to get into the Cycle show held at the eXcel centre London. For us at Bucksmtb this will be our first chance to see the latest ranges of bikes and components due to hitting the bike stores for 07.

Upon entering the exhibition we were greeted by stall after stall of some of the best bikes and componentry available on the market catering for the demands of all aspects of cycling from DH, to All day XC all the way through to roadies.

From looking around the bike show one of the things that is becoming increasingly apparent is that at any given price point the quality of components is rapidly increasing across all the major brands. Which is good news for riders looking for ever better kit; it just makes deciding which brand to go for even more challenging. The SRAM group in particular has expanded further and looks to be going from strength to strength. However for me the highlight has to be the new Shimano XTR range which adorned many of the top end 07 bikes.

There were many bikes that stood out at the show, however for me there were two highlights from new bike ranges; the Felt Virtue with its patent equilink bar and the Scott Spark. The Virtue pushes the boundaries and expands the all day bike category further while the Spark (Scott’s new full sus XC racer) was incredibly light and looks to continue the resurgence of the short travel full sus bikes.

Along with viewing the bikes I was able to take part in a Dualathlon, comprising of a 2km run on the treadmill and 3 miles cycle on a turbo trainer. It turned out to be much tougher than expected, in particular as the 3mile ride simulated a ride comprising mainly of hills. No problem I thought, until the lactic set in and my legs reminded me that I hadn’t ridden for 3 weeks (Time to start my winter training!). I completed the race in a respectable 19:27, some 2mins down on the pros but it was thoroughly enjoyable and added a bit of extra fun to the day.