Cycling Fair in Paris - A Disappointment - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

09-29-2003, 06:37 AM

Quick write-up for anyone here who may have felt a moment's twinge of
regret at not being able to attend this event: you didn't miss anything.

I went on Saturday morning. Organisation was wanting from the start -
for example, they were not even capable of clearly signing separate
entry queues for ticket-holders and people buying tickets, so I found
myself waiting 40 minutes at the wrong entry. Crowds were huge even
though I got there fairly early.

Entry cost 10 Euros per passage of door, meaning you couldn't go out for
lunch and come back in. Once inside, you had no-where to sit except for
some clement exhibition stands which provided seating and left you
unmolested (thank you, RATP!). This was to force people to the one or
two overcrowded, overpriced and smoke-stifling sandwich bars where there
was seating. Otherwise, circulate until you drop, or sit on the floor.

There was only one hall devoted to cycles. Many important dealers were
absent. I was particularly keen to get some information on the Giant
bicycle I had priced out the week before, but Giant, Trek and other
majors were not present. Also there was almost no representation for
electric bikes and kick-scooters - two other areas that interest me
greatly and that clearly do come under the rubric "Deux Roues".

The range of cycles being shown was small, with a heavy emphasis on the
"sexier" road and mountain bike sectors. There was practically nothing
responding in an innovative way to my quest for a high-end, feature rich
comfort bike capable of handling steep elevations. There were some
fantastically gorgeous carbon-framed racing bikes that had me gawping on
a design level (Italians, unsurprisingly), but that was not what I had
come for.

Exhibitors were uncommunicative and not very well-informed. For example,
at the Cannondale stand, they had to rootle around in their Catalogue
before they could find a bike that answered to my specs, and they were
not able to detail me the advantages of the various features of a model
that nevertheless cost 1300 Euros - where you'd damn well expect to know
what you were paying for. The geezer at Brompton was to deep into his
sandwich to answer any of my questions willingly. Pity, because in its
way the Brompton T6 was the most interesting piece I saw.

Shimano, whom I wanted to query about the Nexus shifter, hub dynamo
lights and the high-end hydraulic disc-brakes which equiped the
Cannondale Street 800 that I had enquired about, shoved a brochure into
my hands and left me to get on with my own research.

Today, I find myself more confused than ever, whereas the whole point of
this fair for me was to shed light on some of my questions. I do not
trust most of what I was told, because what little information I
received was overly angled towards selling rather than informing
objectively. I do not feel that I completely wasted a day. I got some
references that I will follow up on the terrain. But this Fair was not
nearly as fun and instructive as it could have been.

Elisa Francesca Roselli
Ile de France

09-29-2003, 09:19 AM

Hey Elisa from the french Island,
it's like this for french customers most of the time...
The brands just go: Pay and shut up, -and why not?
It is working in France and people are used to it,
although the french otherwise really like to contest
everything.
About Giant: (Some very inside and secret information)
Why they weren't there? Well, when the day came to make
the decision they had something else to do in their french
office and just forgot to make the reservation.
Trek is not widely distributed in France, maybe Lance's image
is too much for them, winning the tdf all the time on a Trek.
About electric bikes:
They cost much . Think there where 300000 bikes stolen in 2001
and 26 % of the people that lost their bike do not even buy anoter
one. The french market is limited in highly priced urban bikes
because of the lack of clients for them.
Keep on biking and the courage on your french island...
I told you , the places to go are Friedrichshafen of Vegas.
Anyway there aren't so many english speakers going to the Paris
fair it seems.
Ciao Robert Schinner

Elisa Francesca Roselli a écrit:
> Quick write-up for anyone here who may have felt a moment's twinge of
> regret at not being able to attend this event: you didn't miss anything.
>
>
> I went on Saturday morning. Organisation was wanting from the start -
> for example, they were not even capable of clearly signing separate
> entry queues for ticket-holders and people buying tickets, so I found
> myself waiting 40 minutes at the wrong entry. Crowds were huge even
> though I got there fairly early.
>
> Entry cost 10 Euros per passage of door, meaning you couldn't go out for
> lunch and come back in. Once inside, you had no-where to sit except for
> some clement exhibition stands which provided seating and left you
> unmolested (thank you, RATP!). This was to force people to the one or
> two overcrowded, overpriced and smoke-stifling sandwich bars where there
> was seating. Otherwise, circulate until you drop, or sit on the floor.
>
> There was only one hall devoted to cycles. Many important dealers were
> absent. I was particularly keen to get some information on the Giant
> bicycle I had priced out the week before, but Giant, Trek and other
> majors were not present. Also there was almost no representation for
> electric bikes and kick-scooters - two other areas that interest me
> greatly and that clearly do come under the rubric "Deux Roues".
>
> The range of cycles being shown was small, with a heavy emphasis on the
> "sexier" road and mountain bike sectors. There was practically nothing
> responding in an innovative way to my quest for a high-end, feature rich
> comfort bike capable of handling steep elevations. There were some
> fantastically gorgeous carbon-framed racing bikes that had me gawping on
> a design level (Italians, unsurprisingly), but that was not what I had
> come for.
>
> Exhibitors were uncommunicative and not very well-informed. For example,
> at the Cannondale stand, they had to rootle around in their Catalogue
> before they could find a bike that answered to my specs, and they were
> not able to detail me the advantages of the various features of a model
> that nevertheless cost 1300 Euros - where you'd damn well expect to know
> what you were paying for. The geezer at Brompton was to deep into his
> sandwich to answer any of my questions willingly. Pity, because in its
> way the Brompton T6 was the most interesting piece I saw.
>
> Shimano, whom I wanted to query about the Nexus shifter, hub dynamo
> lights and the high-end hydraulic disc-brakes which equiped the
> Cannondale Street 800 that I had enquired about, shoved a brochure into
> my hands and left me to get on with my own research.
>
> Today, I find myself more confused than ever, whereas the whole point of
> this fair for me was to shed light on some of my questions. I do not
> trust most of what I was told, because what little information I
> received was overly angled towards selling rather than informing
> objectively. I do not feel that I completely wasted a day. I got some
> references that I will follow up on the terrain. But this Fair was not
> nearly as fun and instructive as it could have been.
>
>
> Elisa Francesca Roselli
> Ile de France
>
>

09-29-2003, 10:13 AM

I was planning to go today (last day), especially since I can also go to the
Motorcycle fair at the same time, but after your review, I scrapped that
idea. Rather spend the 2 or 3 hours riding. I wanted to see what
Specialities TA had, but I can visit them since they are just down the road
in Clamart.

Thanks for the review.

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> a
écrit dans le message news: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]...
> Quick write-up for anyone here who may have felt a moment's twinge of
> regret at not being able to attend this event: you didn't miss anything.
>
>
> I went on Saturday morning. Organisation was wanting from the start -
> for example, they were not even capable of clearly signing separate
> entry queues for ticket-holders and people buying tickets, so I found
> myself waiting 40 minutes at the wrong entry. Crowds were huge even
> though I got there fairly early.
>
> Entry cost 10 Euros per passage of door, meaning you couldn't go out for
> lunch and come back in. Once inside, you had no-where to sit except for
> some clement exhibition stands which provided seating and left you
> unmolested (thank you, RATP!). This was to force people to the one or
> two overcrowded, overpriced and smoke-stifling sandwich bars where there
> was seating. Otherwise, circulate until you drop, or sit on the floor.
>
> There was only one hall devoted to cycles. Many important dealers were
> absent. I was particularly keen to get some information on the Giant
> bicycle I had priced out the week before, but Giant, Trek and other
> majors were not present. Also there was almost no representation for
> electric bikes and kick-scooters - two other areas that interest me
> greatly and that clearly do come under the rubric "Deux Roues".
>
> The range of cycles being shown was small, with a heavy emphasis on the
> "sexier" road and mountain bike sectors. There was practically nothing
> responding in an innovative way to my quest for a high-end, feature rich
> comfort bike capable of handling steep elevations. There were some
> fantastically gorgeous carbon-framed racing bikes that had me gawping on
> a design level (Italians, unsurprisingly), but that was not what I had
> come for.
>
> Exhibitors were uncommunicative and not very well-informed. For example,
> at the Cannondale stand, they had to rootle around in their Catalogue
> before they could find a bike that answered to my specs, and they were
> not able to detail me the advantages of the various features of a model
> that nevertheless cost 1300 Euros - where you'd damn well expect to know
> what you were paying for. The geezer at Brompton was to deep into his
> sandwich to answer any of my questions willingly. Pity, because in its
> way the Brompton T6 was the most interesting piece I saw.
>
> Shimano, whom I wanted to query about the Nexus shifter, hub dynamo
> lights and the high-end hydraulic disc-brakes which equiped the
> Cannondale Street 800 that I had enquired about, shoved a brochure into
> my hands and left me to get on with my own research.
>
> Today, I find myself more confused than ever, whereas the whole point of
> this fair for me was to shed light on some of my questions. I do not
> trust most of what I was told, because what little information I
> received was overly angled towards selling rather than informing
> objectively. I do not feel that I completely wasted a day. I got some
> references that I will follow up on the terrain. But this Fair was not
> nearly as fun and instructive as it could have been.
>
>
> Elisa Francesca Roselli
> Ile de France
>
>

09-29-2003, 10:21 AM

Well the International Cycle Show in London was good on Saturday :-)

Had a great day there - lots of bikes to see, lots of components, road bikes,
cross bikes, MTBs, recumbents... the anniversary edition De Rosa is *beautiful*
and the Colnago C50 is good too. Graeme Obree there signing copies of his
book... Josie Dew there.. Lots of talks on various aspects of cycling. Cycling
policeman there, cycling paramedics...

It cost husband, son & I £20 to get in (reduced price as CTC members).

Cheers, helen s

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
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Mail sent to it is dumped
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by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

09-29-2003, 05:44 PM

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>
wrote:

> Quick write-up for anyone here who may have felt a moment's
> twinge of regret at not being able to attend this event: you didn't
> miss anything.

I made a snap decision to visit on Sunday morning - it was raining, and I
was riding in that direction, so decided to stop by. I was redirected from
the main gate to door K, where there was guarded bike parking and free
entry for cyclists. I didn't have to queue.

I wasn't disappointed, but my expectations were low. The Alex Singer stand
quirkily juxtaposed Mavic Ksyriums and brazed-on Mafac centre-pulls. Miguel
Indurain's time trial bike was there, with a Veloce single-pivot brake on
the rear. Highlight of the show was a beautiful chromed steel oversized
track handlebar from Deda Elementi.

Did you see the Nexus dyno-hub demonstrator wheel on the Shimano stand?

James Thomson

09-29-2003, 05:52 PM

"trg" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ].std.com> wrote:

> I wanted to see what Specialities TA had, but I can visit
> them since they are just down the road in Clamart.

I don't think TA had a stand at the show. If they did, I didn't see it.

Do they welcome casual visitors at the factory?

La Maison du Vélo ordered a number of more-or-less obscure TA bits for me
last autumn. They received the parts promptly, but wouldn't sell them to me
until they received an invoice from TA. I was still waiting for the invoice
when La Maison du Vélo closed its doors permanently in January.

James Thomson

10-01-2003, 02:15 AM

James Thomson wrote:

> Did you see the Nexus dyno-hub demonstrator wheel on the Shimano stand?

Yes, but I wasn't overly impressed. It was very flickery, and when I asked the
vendor if there was any possibility of accumulating energy so that the light
would stay on when the wheel was not turning, he said no. Which strikes me as a
very poor arrangement because if ever there is a moment when you need to see
and be seen, it's when you're pulling out at an intersection where there is
often an obligatory stop. Aren't dynamo lights illegal in the UK for precisely
that reason?

In the catalogue they gave me, there is mention of a double headlight system
with one dynamo and one battery powered light. That is fail safe but twice the
weight. I'd just pick the battery light and make sure to keep it charged.

Elisa Francesca Roselli
Ile de France

10-01-2003, 03:05 AM

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
>
>> Did you see the Nexus dyno-hub demonstrator wheel on the Shimano stand?
>
> Yes, but I wasn't overly impressed. It was very flickery, and when I
> asked the vendor if there was any possibility of accumulating energy so
> that the light would stay on when the wheel was not turning, he said
> no. Which strikes me as a very poor arrangement because if ever there
> is a moment when you need to see and be seen, it's when you're pulling
> out at an intersection where there is often an obligatory stop.

The Lumotec Oval Plus light has a small LED that lights up when you stop.
It, and the Shimano Nexus dyno hub are described here:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

10-01-2003, 03:14 AM

>Aren't dynamo lights illegal in the UK for precisely
>that reason?

Dynamo lights aren't illegal in the UK.

Cheers, helen s

~~~~~~~~~~
This is sent from a redundant email
Mail sent to it is dumped
My correct one can be gleaned from
h*$el***$$n*$d$ot$**s**i$$m*$m$**on**$s$@*$$a**$*o l*$*.*$$c$om*$
by getting rid of the overdependence on money and fame
~~~~~~~~~~

10-01-2003, 07:27 AM

> > Did you see the Nexus dyno-hub demonstrator wheel on
> > the Shimano stand?

"Elisa Francesca Roselli" wrote:

> Yes, but I wasn't overly impressed. It was very flickery,

Hub dynamos all flicker at very low speeds. They generate alternating
current at a frequency determined by the small number of poles and their
low (relative to a rim dynamo) rate of rotation. The flickering isn't
perceptible above walking pace.

> and when I asked the vendor if there was any possibility
> of accumulating energy so that the light would stay on
> when the wheel was not turning, he said no.

He was mistaken - a number of Lumotec models incorporate capacitor-driven
LED lamps that light up below a critical speed.

> Which strikes me as a very poor arrangement because if ever
> there is a moment when you need to see and be seen, it's
> when you're pulling out at an intersection where there is often
> an obligatory stop. Aren't dynamo lights illegal in the UK for precisely
> that reason?

Dynamos are not illegal in the UK.

James Thomson