Trade shows aren't the exciting circuses that they used to be. Gone is the time when the keenest media would literally run down the aisles to show the next unseen product to readers before their counterparts got to it first. These days, there's usually not much at one of these things that hasn't been seen before, which makes complete sense - if you're a company debuting a product that you've worked long and hard on, the last thing you want to do is reveal it to the world in the middle of a flood of show coverage that includes countless articles on everything from the extraordinary to the ordinary. No, instead you time your product release to your own schedule so you get maximum bang for your buck, and what we're left with at trade shows is a mix of the kooky and, if you're lucky, a few hidden gems.
The Taipei Cycle Show is a bit different, however, in that it's often a goldmine of both the kooky and those yet to be seen hidden gems, much more so than its Eurobike and Interbike counterparts. It's not a massive show in terms of floor space - Eurobike feels like it's the size of a small country in comparison - but one could easily get lost between the booths full of products that don't appear to have any destination whatsoever. This parallel universe is a bit like The Upside Down but for the bike world, and it's full of strange bits and bobs rather than fog and a scary monster, although I might argue that there are plenty of battery-powered monsters lurking everywhere I look.
I spent the last day of the Taipei Cycle Show wandering around The Upside Down with camera in hand and fueled by grape flavored Comebest PowerBOMB energy drink, looking for those odd bits and bobs.
The answer to every handling and geometry quandary seems to be 'make it longer' these days, doesn't it? Enter the 20'' wheeled 'SlidyBike' that lets riders adjust the reach to their liking. The quick-release adjustment feature seems a bit silly given that surely every rider will just automatically extend it to the longest position, I suspect. Add an angle-adjusting headset to take five or ten-degrees out of the head angle and you're set.
And speaking of reach, here's Reach's full-suspension, 20'' wheeled road bike. It appears to use a similar MCU-based bumper system as the old Pro-Flex machines, including for its pint-sized linkage fork. It's so forward-thinking that it even has room for a water bottle inside its front triangle, something that a lot of the latest (and only sometimes greatest) full-suspension mountain bikes can claim. That said, I think it'd be a bit of a reach to find a setting where this blue rig would excel... I'll let myself out, thank you.
I think that cycling trade shows would be a whole lot more exciting if they were auto trade shows, but that's just my two cents. If you know me, you know that I'm a fan of four-wheeled things, even if it might be heresy to say in these parts, and I think that I've finally found a Lamborghini that I can afford. I'm not usually a fan of ultra-compact sports cars, but a single-seater yellow mini Lambo would be the ideal commuter for me.
Many bolts, much titanium.
I only included the Fortuna all-wheel-drive bike for all the single-speed and gearbox zealots out there. Why have just one chain when you can have four, right? There are also three chainrings, eight cogs, one freewheel and one fixed cog, and a handful of pulleys, all of which makes me believe that you'd be a very fortunate to not have some sort of drivetrain-related mechanical while out riding the all-wheel-drive Fortuna.
Nothing to see here, just a 3D printer making some pedals out of rice husks. Wikipedia told me that Asia produces roughly 770 million tons of husks annually, which probably looks like a whole lot of rice husks, and that charcoal from these things used to be used to clean teeth back in the day before toothpaste was invented. A set of bike pedals doesn't seem that far out there when you find out that the same husks are used in fertilizer, pet food, insulation, and even fireworks. The rice husks platform pedals apparently pass ISO Standard testing, so you know that you're safe while also being environmentally responsible.
With Cane Creek debuting their new Helm, and all sorts of long-travel 29er downhill forks on the horizon, it's an exciting time for suspension dorks. TopGun clearly isn't sitting back and taking it, however, with their new external-boinger fork looking ready for the job. It's both coil-sprung and features a steel chassis, so you know it's up for anything you can throw at it, TopGun's use of quick-release dropouts means that it's backward compatible with wheels from thirty years ago.
Everything is better when you can lay down while doing it, so why not cycling? This funky looking rig appears to tie both its front and rear-suspension into a single coil-over shock, as well as sporting a nitrous tank in a very questionable location right behind the seat. And while single-ring drivetrains are all the rage these days, this bad boy is even more hardcore with its direct-drive drivetrain. No word on how steering and pedaling work together, especially with the nitrous factored in, but I bet it makes things exciting.
I've never wanted to be a small child as much as when I first saw this little X-Mini rig today, and I could definitely picture myself being a gram counting toddler who insists on aluminum valve stems and that my apricot baby food mush is weighed before I eat it. It's adjustable in length to fit as your child grows (or to handle better through the living room obstacle course), and comes in at just 2.47kg thanks to a CNC'd aluminum frame. It also costs about $230 USD, so you really have like your kid to pick one up.
Just in case you're wondering what would happen if a shopping cart and a bike hooked up, this is it. I think you're supposed to kick the bike along, kinda like it's a tripod scooter version of the much smaller and much cooler X-Mini push bike shown just above this yellow beast. Question for you: would you rather ride the dual-suspension recumbent with the nitrous bottle and foot-steering, or this yellow push-trike?
They have the factories, technology and skilled workers to build anything, they know there market and its not us.
When you send a code to the CNC it spits out parts, the expensive ones go to us because we are stupid have money, time, and buy into the marketing.
That said I have a new ride, and I think the only thing "made here" is the grips. Now I'm stupid with time and no money.
www.topgun.com.tw/product.php