Interbike 2011 Report

Went to Interbike yesterday. Some photos at
http://nordicgroup.us/interbike2011/.

Forget about bikes with their low margins, assembly requirements,
warranty issues, and longevity. Clearly the future of bicycling is in
gels, bars, goos, and powders. These have astronomical margins for the
manufacturer and excellent margins for the retailer. As long as Costco
doesn't realize this and come out with Kirkland Powder, Kirkland Bars,
and Kirkland Goo. At least I didn't have to buy any food from the
concession stand.

Large number of clueless component and frame manufacturers from Asia had
booths. Besides the usual motors, batteries, and controllers for
electric bicycles there were a large number of carbon fiber frames from
China. Very nice and very cheap, just waiting for some Wal-Mart buyer to
decide to move to carbon fiber. A great many of these companies were
simply at the wrong show. Interbike's audience is bike shop owners, not
bike manufacturers, and no one is interested in off-brand freewheels,
brake levers, etc.

This was Tern's first show
http://www.ternbicycles.com/news/releases/2011/06/tern-bicycles-spreads-its-wings,
and their new line of folders is impressive. Tern is run by Josh Hon,
formerly of Dahon, who split off and started a new company. His father,
David Hon, was over in the Dahon booth. Since I'm into lighting, I was
really impressed with the dynamo hub in the Tern commuter model. I don't
know who manufacturers it, but it has a mechanical release to disengage
the dynamo when you don't need to generate power. Tern had good beer
too, with a $5 donation to Bikes Belong you got a strange gel beer mug
and unlimited refills of good beer.

Magicshine, of DealExtreme fame, had a booth, and they are trying to
move into bicycle shops (after almost single-handedly destroying the
huge margins in LED lighting). They now have a U.S. stocking
distributor. When he asked my associate and I if we'd heard of
Magicshine, we said "of course, the bicycle lights from DealExtreme,"
and he groaned. One famous lighting company was admitting that the price
points of high-end LED lighting were collapsing confiding, 'there's not
much too this, an 18650 Li-Ion battery pack, a Cree LED module, and a
heat-sinking enclosure.' There has got to be a shakeout coming.

My associate was thrilled to meet "a Sacchi," I think he is the grandson
of the founder of Silca, who was in the booth of their new U.S. rep
whose employees were completely clueless about Silca products and how to
operate them. How do these manufacturers choose reps?

There were some new inventions from Taiwan, sure to be on bicycles in
your shops very soon. How about a transmission that allows you to pedal
in either direction? They explained that it allows use of different muscles.

For those that don't like how helmets look, there were some that look
like a normal hat.

The usual European companies there with their very expensive utilitarian
bikes, including Pashley and Gazelle. Moulton is still in existence and
had a limited edition model with their famous 17" wheels.

I rode one contraption on the test track that I thought had some
potential. It was a powered trailer that pushes you. The motor and
battery are in the trailer, but there is room for about two bags of
groceries as well.
http://www.bicycletimesmag.com/content/interbike-2011-ridekick-power-trailer.
A lot of people have built their own electric trailers for transporting
various loads like kayaks or canoes, but this is the first commercial
product I saw.

In article ,
SMS wrote:

How do these manufacturers choose reps?

EtOH capacity.

--
Michael Press

NYT has a Euro car show report as BAU despite eco trouble-as MB has MB
customers and will always have....doesn't make what....I assume the
Asians are unloading stock NOW.
REPS are incoherent when you got no pull there.