Eurobike 2021
For a long time there was nothing going on in the exhibition sector. More than one year I did not have the feeling of the wide, interesting world. Networking doesn’t work so well online. Therefore, it was for me no question: Eurobike must be.
My motto is: “Never change a running system”. With my bike, equipment and setup I am more than 200.Rode 000 kilometers, more than satisfactorily. Why and what should I change about it? I don’t need a gravelbike with bikepacking equipment. It is always nice to see how many things I do not need.
Nevertheless, I am already curious. Of course I want to know what’s new at the fair. And for your own visibility there is nothing better than being visible. &
Arrival
Due to time constraints I unfortunately could not ride the whole route by bike. At the 1. September with the train at least the delays were not yet planned for. The strike of the train drivers started only on the 2. September. Wisely I took my e-bike with me. Who knows if trains will even run on Friday, or if I’ll get to ride my bike home.
Despite immense delays I finally arrived only 10 minutes late. Riding a train can be more adventurous than riding a bike .
It has never been so fantastic weather during the Eurobike. The lake has something of its own. The waterfront was full, not only with bikes! A mixed feeling of vacation and “wider world” made itself felt.
Many thanks to the SC Friedrichshafen. Participants of the fair are allowed to camp on the sports ground for 7 Euro. This is not just like a vacation for me, I don’t just want to talk about “microadventure”, I want to do it too!
The place was almost empty. Other campers said that there was hardly anything going on at the fair either. A look at the exhibitor directory showed, there were some brands missing, such as Ortlieb, Tubus , VauDe, Velotraum, ..
First day at the fair
Every day at the show starts with breakfast in the blogger space.
A round view, who is all there? I’m not one of those “influencers” you know via social media. Meanwhile I am also about 20 years older than average.
My T-shirt, which says: “assuming I am just an old lady was your first mistake” should prepare my counterpart a little bit.
Actually, I’m quite happy that not everyone knows me and I can walk quietly through the fair. On the other hand it makes me happy when special people recognize me.
Blogger tour
Many thanks to Writers Club, Pressedienst Fahrrad and whoever else for organizing not only the Blogger Space, but also the tour.
Innovative companies were chosen and a blogger presentation was arranged.
The first stand was Shimano. Actually not my favorite brand. With my travel bike I was proud to get along almost without Shimano. Only the pedals are from the brand.
The main focus at the fair were of course pedelecs / e-bikes, cargo bikes and if it is without E, but then a gravel bike.
So also at Shimano the focus was on the new motor: EP8
As Ambassadeur Shimano has caught Sven Hannawald.
Somehow it fits. It was also getting lighter and more powerful. Only the career of Sven Hannawald had an unpleasant end in the Burnout.
Actually, 85 Newton meters of torque says nothing to me, under 400% pedal power assistance I can imagine a little something. Quieter and lighter is definitely a criterion.
That one has attached the display behind the handlebars to protect it in case of falls, makes sense. On my e-bike (with Yamaha motor) the display is not in the middle but on the left side of the handlebars. With falls (Have I already had some with the e-bike?) it is not damaged. However, when I put my bike upside down (or saddle& ), I should put something under it.
I missed a bit of the feeling. Why do I need the engine? For example, “It brings me a little closer to the discovery of the wide world ” (if I had not already cycled it without a motor& ), the sense of freedom and adventure on new paths that it opens to me, etc.
A test drive is worth a thousand words. Best in the field and not just in the crowded test park at the fair.
Continue to Schwalbe
I also became a test rider of Schwalbe under very funny circumstances. (You can read about it on my blog ) Here I had to learn that my good old Marathon Mondial is “old school”. It’s still around, but much more in demand because of all the “gravelbike hype” is the G-One.
Price-wise they are about the same as the Mondial, but here you finally learn again rather how to patch a tire& . But it is also available “Tubeless”, the G-One Bite and G-One-Ultrabite.
For those who still wanted to use an inner tube, but still wanted to save weight, there is now the somewhat expensive Aerothan – tube. But it weighs hardly anything.
(Still) a little less known, is the company “Classified”. To save the front derailleur on a derailleur they developed the Power Shift hub
Now please don’t expect me to explain the technology to you. Again, it’s much more important to test it yourself, feel the driving experience.
After all, it has earned the company the “Gold Winner Award 2021”.
Next we went to the pioneer of e-bikes, the Flyer from Switzerland.
Having worked in Switzerland myself until 2008, I got to see the beginnings first hand, when the first colleague marched into the office with his battery, which at the time looked like a handheld vacuum cleaner.
Since then, of course, some things have changed, as well as the image of e-bike riders has changed. There is not only the Flyer for the older generation with low entry, meanwhile there are also the high class “SUV “s, almost like E-MTB, but with luggage rack for touring. Staying true to the Panasonic engine.
In Switzerland they sell much more S-Pedelecs, because the legislation for S-Pedelecs is not as strict as in Germany. As far as I know, the S in S-Pedelec stood for “Swiss”, meanwhile it is rather interpreted as “Speed”.
Many thanks to Anja Knaus, one of the few women here in the bike industry.
EuroBike Stage/ Academy
After a very active morning, the two presentations came in handy.
The first “Diversity in the cycling sector”: If you look around EuroBike, a high percentage is male after all. How to change that? What does “cycling sector” mean? In the bike industry? In tourism? Or simply as a cyclist?
In the bicycle industry I do not know im me so well from. But they do exist, as you could see not only from the participants of the panel discussion (or from the very competent Anja Knaus from Flyer). The number of women cyclists traveling alone has increased extremely, or they are now more visible through social medial?
In my opinion, one learns best by example and imitation. And they become more and more numerous.
But if you want to increase the number of women at fairs like EuroBike, maybe you should change the concept.
I couldn’t miss the next “lecture”: “The 1×1 of Gravelbiking” with Felix Krakow and Gunnar Fehlau.
A few years ago a friend asked me what I think about gravelbikes. My answer: only a hype, will disappear again. I thought the same thing about mountain bikes 30-40 years ago. & It seems that I was just as wrong about the gravel bikes, it was one of the focal points of this year’s fair. Gravelbikes were almost the only ones still without “E”, although of course they are already available with “E.
Mainly road cyclists are switching to gravel, as they have been denied gravel roads until now. Mountain bikers have always been able to ride off-road, just not that fast.
“A whole new world opens up for road cyclists. “What was the case for me with each new bike version: with the mountain bike to the mountains, with the road bike the remote roads in the Black Forest and with my Velotraum travel bike opened up the whole world to me anyway.
If I follow the trend so, seems to me, Gravelbike has animated especially in connection with “Bikepacking” also the mountain bikers to change saddles. It’s lighter and faster on tours. In today’s time, when most people suffer from time constraints, an argument.
Thanks to both, I have learned a lot, but I will not buy a gravel bike, that would be my ninth bike. &
More discoveries
At the end of the day I discovered four more interesting things.
First I thought it was a new Tubus – Gepachtrager for Fullies. This was not so, the carrier was only not attached to the seat tube. The idea to put the lock there I found very good, because I have in the frame or otherwise already everything full of water bottles.
Very stylish (and sustainable) are the wooden handgrips from VeloSpring.
At first sight they look very uncomfortable, even though they have an “ergonomic shape”. The trick is, they have a spring inside, which absorbs every shock. Understandable that they are not exactly inexpensive.
Ortlieb did not have a booth, I could still admire the new backpack bike bag “Vario-PS”. It had also received an award.
Surely quite practical for a day trip.
A device that I wouldn’t call a “bike” now, really enables new realms: the Manta.
With that you can ride on water if you can. That you need a lot of practice for this is shown by the failed attempts on the lake near the fairgrounds. Then perhaps rather a pedal boat.
Apres fair
The fairground is just three kilometers away from Lake Constance. Besides me, other fair visitors enjoyed the evening at the lake.
From next year the fair should be in Frankfurt. There is then a completely different ambience.
Second day of the fair
Because of the train strike, it became a very short day of the fair. To have a chance to get home, I had to take the train 4 hours earlier.
The day, the first public day, was under the motto: “Holiday on bike”.
In the meantime there are hardly any countries (except North Korea and a few Central African countries) that do not advertise bicycle tours. Immediately I discovered Taiwan and Canada, two countries that are still on my wish list. Because of Corona you will probably have to wait a little longer.
For today I have mainly planned the “Travel Talk”.
It has been taking place for twenty years now, actually not that long when I consider that I have been riding tours for more than 40 years.
Yes, bike tourism has increased a lot in the last few years. But there were bicycle travelers before. There was once a time when not everyone had a car, so you went by bike. (for fun you can have a look at Heinz Erhardt) .
Well, because there were no cars yet, there was no need for bike lanes either. Times have truly changed, especially since the e-bike (pedelec).
It is certainly not new for any of you. But that Germany is by far at the top of Europe, was new to me. ( of the 5.04 million bikes sold (photo), 2 million are e-bikes)
Everyone wants a piece of the pie, especially the tourism industry. There is also a strong demand there.
With e-bikes, more go further and higher. New paths are always being created. Whether that is always positive? Anyone who follows the discussions knows how controversial it is.
The presentation about 3 countries – Enduro trail Nauders Reschen showed how to convince the different interest groups with “salami tactics” (piece by piece). As usual, there must be a person whose heart and soul is attached to the project and who brings along a lot of sweat and patience.
As a woman I was of course not so enthusiastic about the report of Axel Carion. Even just calling his races “BikingMan”, (I only found out on the website that women are also allowed and also perform excellently).
I took the coffee break as an opportunity to leave. Another look over the fair hall.
Ciao Eurobike, Goodbye Friedrichshafen.
Compared to the journey here, the return trip was very pleasant, quiet. I thank everyone who stayed home because of the strike
Instead of waiting an hour for the last connecting train, I preferred to go by bike. “Doing” is just so much more fun than talking (or listening)😉 about it;