Tag Archives: Visits

Taipei Cycle Show (3) – touched by royalty

Posted on by

It is possible to have too much of a good thing. I am Cycle Showed out – 11 straight hours of walking the aisles, going to the meetings, hearing the talk. The work stuff is work – that goes with the ECF day job so no commentary here. But other impressions of Taipei Cycle Show?

The bike business matters here

I cannot imagine a bike show anywhere else bringing the President of the Country to do the opening ceremony. OK, it’s the 25th anniversary, but this is a field in which Taiwan really sees itself as a world leader. Just how much of our day to day kit comes from Taiwanese providers I can’t tell, but I had just had no idea of how many big international brands were actually Taiwanese in origin.

Bling Bling

Taipei Cycle Show stand

Show bling 1

I guess I had assumed that an Asian economy and the bikes I have seen on the streets lend themselves to urban workhorses, the sort of bikes that really feel at home in the Netherlands, Germany or mainland China. If this is a big market surely it will be one of the best places to see utility bikes and cargo bikes?

Not a chance. Acres and acres of bling. Carbon fibre everywhere, multicoloured components and the vast majority showcased on lightweight dropped handlebar road bikes.Typical micro frame on show at Taipei

The exceptions are a good range of electrically assisted machines; a fantasy of multi-coloured panniers and an amazing range of micro-frames, bikes for adults built onto small designs, way smaller than your compact road racing bike. I keep thinking they are folding bikes, the layout is similar, but they are mostly rigid.

Apparently the bling serves two purposes. Firstly the show is hugely

Show bling 2

Show bling 2

important for component and frame manufacturers to sign up with international bike companies who will buy in their own specification. So on the stands you have to demonstrate that you can do high quality work no matter what your core business.

Secondly when the show opens to the public on Saturday nobody going out of their way to come to a bike show wants utilitarian bikes. Now that does feel like the shows I know. The affluent middle classes here want bikes that demonstrate their lifestyle.

There is a hill near our hotel that had a steady stream of lycra clad roadies out training until 9 yesterday evening, all in full kit.

Show bling 3

Show bling 3

As an aside

I’ve been to most of the shows in the UK since I started work in the sector and before that I went along as a consumer. I was at the Harrogate shows in the UK in the early 70s because my Dad was involved with English Schools Cycling. It was only when I saw some poor bloke in a superhero costume today that I recalled being volunteered to stomp round the Harrogate festival in a Michelin Man suit because they were one of his sponsors. I think it must be a horrible a suppressed memory that resurfaced today because of jet lag. Ouch, painful and embarrassing. I’m not sure that would improve my credibility here, thank goodness there was no Facebook in 1973.

We are not worthy.

Ok the President coming was cool. Fantastic to feel that cycling really is important. Meeting the top people from Giant and SRAM is cool. But today I met cycling royalty.

Ernesto Colnago.

If you have to ask who then it doesn’t matter. It’s a cyclist thing.

80 years old, looking as fit as a fiddle. I spoke no Italian, he speaks no English. I don’t care. My work here is done.

Taipei Cycle Show (2) – “madness motel”

Posted on by

I was going to add a post today about the start of the cycle show. But I just have to write about our hotel.

Ibis Hotel, Taipei

Ibis Hotel, Taipei

See anything odd?

Just your everyday anonymous square box. But the web site bills it as a “boutique hotel”. Well to my understanding that means a hotel with a bit of a twist, often a conversion from a previous use that gives it some interesting features.

Standard foyer, marble and plants, alright so far. But then some slightly complicated instructions about going through two doors and the room needing to be “opened up”.

To my astonishment on the 4th floor I stepped out of the lift area into something that looked like a 1970’s night club. Very dark, with some reflected neon lighting bouncing off a strange concrete stairwell, made up of a circular ramp.

To my left what appears to be a set of garage doors, the first of which was open with a door at the back, with my room number on it. And yes they are plastic fish hanging from the ceiling.

IBIS Hotel Taipei, garage room

IBIS Hotel Taipei, garage room

And then it hit me. I am in a multi-storey car park. This is the nuttiest motel I have ever seen. You can drive your car up the old access ramps and park it in your own private garage, in front of your room. Behind your personal garage, your room.

The room is nice enough in terms of decor, but I just can’t get over the fact that I’m sleeping in a car park. Actually the other odd thing is that none of the rooms are joined to the windows you see, they are either fakes, or shine on to service corridors. My room is truly sleeping in a concrete box, even if a well decorated concrete box. And apparently one target market is Chinese couples who come here for their wedding night. Not exactly my cup of tea.

Manfred Neun from ECF has come up with a solution of course, we need to get some bikes from the Cycle Show and park them outside to make a statement to the other customers. Or maybe not, let’s just celebrate the madness.

Taipei Cycle Show (1)

Posted on by

Never saw this one coming when I signed up for the ECF job. Taipei Cycle Show, the world’s biggest bike show – apparently thousands of metres of bicycling bling, the one nobody in the trade can afford to miss. I’m here because most of ECF’s sponsors are here, so I will be on best behaviour for the rest of the week. But I’ve just got here, its Monday afternoon and the blasted hotel won’t let me in to my room until 6. So of course I’ve been for a walk seeking first impressions and cycling. Now I have time to post a few first impressions from the lobby before I get the room.

I came in to the city on public transport. Most of the western looking people at the airport set off for the taxi rank and its extensive queue. I have a hotel to the north of the city and a little bit of research showed I could combine bus and metro – called the MRT here. So I paid about 5 Euros to get to town, only westerner on the bus, made me feel a bit more like an authentic traveller. However the bus did hit a real traffic jam on the route to the city which gave me a birds-eye view of a massive aerial construction project running out to the airport. I hope it’s the extension of the MRT in have read about, I’d hate to see a modern city not learning the lesson and still trying to build freeways to solve congestion. At the moment its really weird, there are these odd disconnected shapes on the skyline which made me come over all Blade Runner, their shape doesn’t sit right on the eye.

Hardly saw a single cyclist as we drove through the city, but then the first one was a classic little old Chinese lady on a cargo trike. Yippee – if little old ladies haven’t been driven off the roads then life is OK – we do not despair.

Taipei Jiannan Road Station Cycle parking

Taipei Jiannan Road Station

And it is pretty cycle friendly out here by the hotel near Jiannan Road station. Immediately outside the station a good selection of bikes parked.

And as soon as I got 100 metres from the hotel door on my walk I came across my first virtually new bike lane, and even better a large road sign

Taipei New Cycle Lane

Taipei New Cycle Lane

saying “Bikeway”. 5 minutes later and I was in a wide windswept park by the river and despite the muggy rainfall a small but steady stream of cyclists were out getting some exercise on a leisure route that looks like it goes a few miles. Mixture of rider – all male – from older chaps on city bikes to young blokes in lycra on some serious kit.

Some nice touches on the cycle lanes too. Every property exit has its own personal give way sign painted on the tarmac – now wouldn’t we like some of that back home.

Warning stencilled at property exits to protect cyclists on cycle lane from leaving cars

Warning at property exits to protect cyclists on cycle lane in Taipei

Having sated my initial desire to get in touch with my inner cyclist I then did the only thing a cyclist can really do on a damp muggy afternoon when you are not riding. Tea and cake of course. I was dismayed to see the ubiquitous Starbucks and McDonalds but then I found a tea house serving proper Chinese teas and food make with tea flavours. Not quite sure about the tea flavoured dried tomato, I’m sure that is an acquired taste but I enjoyed the freshness of the tea and mousse cake enormously. I’m going to enjoy this.

When I have recovered from 24 hours without sleep I’ll have to track down a hire bike, got to go out to the show to register so may as well ride if I can.

More on bike shows tomorrow.