FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany (BRAIN)—Next year the industry’s leading international trade show, Eurobike, will move a week earlier on the trade show calendar. The show’s first day, Demo Day, will be Aug. 24. The final day of the show will be Saturday, Aug. 28.
It’s uncertain how the change in dates will affect industry suppliers, but SRAM’s John Nedeau, vice president of OE sales, said it shouldn’t pose much of a problem for SRAM. “It doesn’t seem to significantly impact us at this point,” he said. SRAM is a global manufacturer with factories in Europe.
But, Nedeau added, it could force some European suppliers to juggle their schedules to meet the earlier dates since many allow staff to take most of August off. SRAM usually has new parts available for suppliers in July so they can build up bikes ahead of the show and still take most of August off.
Stefan Reisinger, Eurobike’s project manager, said there has been an industry trend toward introducing new products earlier in the calendar year. And the decision to move the show one week ahead reflects that trend, he said.
Eurobike has opened in the waning days of August in the past, but these dates are slightly further ahead on the calendar. The decision by Messe Friedrichshafen executives to announce earlier dates has nothing to do with Bike Expo, a new show in Munich that’s scheduled for July 23-26, Reisinger said.
Bike Expo’s project manager, Markus Hefter, told Bicycle Retailer & Industry News last April that Munich had no plans to target Eurobike.
Still, officials at Eurobike are keeping a wary eye on Munich, particularly after Bike Expo picked up the support of Z.E.G., Germany’s largest retail buying group. Its 1,000-plus members account for $2 billion in sales in Germany. Earlier in the year, Eurobike and Z.E.G. had failed to reach an agreement on joining the Friedrichshafen show.
For more on this story, be sure to read the August 1 issue of Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.
—Marc Sani
