James Reid invested in quite a large stand to promote global sales of Reid Cycles
Frankfurt, Germany
After two missed years due to Covid, a large contingent from Down Under made the most of their first opportunity to return to the world’s leading bike show.
This year’s show was the largest ever – more than 1,500 exhibitors spread throughout seven huge halls plus outdoor exhibit areas. So it was very easy not to see people we knew were attending and many of these visitors slipped through our net, but here are some that we captured on camera.
Andrew Baldyga (right) from Magura Australia with Steffen Raven, Outside Sales Manager for Magura NetherlandsPreviously Sydney-based Bicycles Online co-founder James van Rooyen is now living near San Diego, California where he’s overseeing the rapid growth of their USA division.Scott Birdsall from Queensland-based BZ Optics was flying solo in their booth at Eurobike after his colleague Kevin Barr had to unfortunately cancel his trip at the last minute due to non-covid related health issues.
As well as many who were visiting, there were at least four Aussie or Kiwi exhibitors that we saw, either there in their own right or partnering with a distributor.
The largest of these was Reid Cycles which has come a long way from their $199 bargain basement bikes beginnings.
These days Reid’s range starts at close to double that price and goes right up into the thousands across new road, gravel and e-bike ranges.
“This is our first time exhibiting at Eurobike,” founder James Reid said. “We’re meeting existing customers and getting interest from new customers.
“Our UK office was started in 2014 by Rob Akam who previously worked with us in Australia, but wanted to move to the UK. He originally started in the UK on his own, but now there are about 10 in the team. The UK office manages our distribution which is into 31 countries.
Melbourne-based Thijs Van Der Heijden (left) from E-stralian pictured with Benedikt Jagomast, who is Riese & Muller’s International Sales manager for a range of countries Australia, New Zealand.
Tom Sherlock from Genacs has been mainly importing and retailing via mail order in recent years but is about to open a new shop in Melbourne.
Pre-covid Knog had its own stand at Eurobike each year, but this year, Travis Rich was working at a Knog display that was part of their German distributor’s booth.
Dan Necklen from New Zealand-based Kids Ride Shotgun says, “We want to get kids off screens and onto bikes!” He has a three step strategy for getting kids started young. First their ‘Shred Till Bed’ book, next their well established Shotgun seat and then their new balance bike that uniquely features a rear disc brake to get young kids used to braking before they tackle a bike that also has pedals.
“This year we’ll do 220,000 bikes globally of which about 180,000 bikes will be managed through the UK office. Most of our international distributors stay with us once they start. I think the secrets to our success have been persistence, giving excellent service, reading the market and being prepared to try different things. We also have a specialist bike designer now so our bikes are better spec’d.”
James was being assisted on the Reid Cycles stand by a team including Rob Akam from the UK and David Hannay, Reid’s Marketing Director who is based in Australia.
Lug & Carrie co-founders Daniel (centre) and Ben Carr chat to Turkish cargobike entrepreneur Özgür Ulucan, based in Berlin. Daniel and Ben first attended Eurobike a few years ago to explore their idea for a bike leasing business, which is now thriving.
A former junior in Australian BMX, Adam Browne (right), now co-founder and director of Advanced Bikes UK, with Advanced founder and CEO Helge von Fugler.
Former Sydney resident Rod Judd (second from right) is now the director of membership – industry engagement for US cycling advocacy organisation People for Bikes. He’s pictured with People for Bikes colleagues and World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry president and CEO, Robbert de Kock (right).Bike industry freelancer Kev Ford, based in Melbourne, with MET business development manager Jo McAlleer.
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Did we overlook anyone else from Australia or New Zealand who was exhibiting at Eurobike? If so, please let us know and we’ll mention them in our next newsletter.
