Creativity On Show at Eurobike

By Phil Latz | 22nd August 2024 |

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Atmospheric city streetscape expo at Eurobike 2024
Tenways is a Dutch bicycle brand, only 2 ½ years old, that created this atmospheric city streetscape through effective use of banners, lighting and trees. Founder Amir Fazel said that he’s already selling in 28 countries across Europe and wants to become a global brand.

Frankfurt, Germany

There was plenty of creativity on show at Eurobike this year, not just in the new products but in some of the displays.

Man posing with bicycle attached to a lock at bike expo.
John Abrahams co-founder of HipLok with the DS1000, the larger of the two angle grinder resistant locks.

Creatives Take on “Dull” Market

Bicycle locks are big business. And only getting bigger with the explosion of high value e-bikes worldwide. But the lock industry has not been seen as “cutting edge” or exciting, compared to other sectors.

HipLok’s co-founder John Abrahams and his partner decided they could use creative design and innovation to break into a securely locked up market.

“My background is in product design and development,” John explained. “At university I met Ben who also studied design. We went our separate ways. I worked in the design industry, he worked in the bike industry, but we would always go riding together and talk about ideas. One of the ideas we came up with was the wearable bike lock.

“That’s where the name HipLok came from. You’d carry the wearable bike lock around your waist, so that you’re not relying on brackets or anything else to attach the lock to the bike. This was 2011, when fixed gear bikes were still trendy.

“We became known as this quirky security designers. We could see the opportunity for a more disruptive brand in a fairly boring sector of the bike industry – no one really gets excited about bike locks.

“Every year since then we’ve launched a new product.”

This year’s new HipLok product is an angle grinder proof lock. Angle grinders, although noisy, can cut through most locks in seconds.

“We were only able to solve angle grinder resistance after the introduction of a new material, made by a company called Tenmat in the UK, called ferro safe,” John recalled.

“The problem is, it’s a very brittle material. So while it has amazing resistance to angle grinder discs, if you hit it with a hammer it breaks like a biscuit!

“For a bike lock it must be able to withstand a number of different tools – bolt cutters, hammers, all sorts of things. So we had to pair this product in a sandwich with hardened steel.

“We’ve come up with a sandwich construction with this ferro safe material top and bottom, fused onto a steel backing which is then welded onto a hardened steel core.

“It’s difficult to make, but it works!

“We design and develop everything from scratch and then all of our products are made in China, but not by traditional bike lock manufacturers.”

For a relatively new start up against century old incumbents, HipLok has stolen a fairly nice share of the pie.

“A couple of years ago we hit a million regular D locks sold. We’ve launched a new product every year and we’ve grown after covid,” he said.

Person sitting in a peddle powered custom vehicle
The love child of an e-bike and a vintage Bugatti was on display at the Kinner booth. Owner Ari Jukka Luomaranta said his custom vehicle could be purchased for €15,00 (A$24,000). Both riders can pedal, but the e-power assistance is linked to the driver’s pedals only. This example is made from fibreglass. Kinner is a reference to bicycles made in the 1950’s from salvaged parts.
Large booth at bicycle expo
This view only shows a small entrance portion of Giant’s booth, which was possibly the largest of all 1,800 plus exhibits at the show. “This is the biggest stand we’ve done at any show,” said Andrew Juskaitis, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Giant Global Group. “We only had a small presence last year but we’re showing all of our brands this year. We want to tell stories.”
A bicycle with ram skull mounted on handle bars
Benno Bikes was founded in 2015 by Benno Baenziger, a fashion designer who previously founded and grew Electra Bicycles before selling to Trek. He’s always had an penchant for catchy displays.
People sitting on tiered seating stand
At first glance this booth seems a bit strange – but there’s a stroke of creative genius. Saddle maker Selle Royal wanted people to sample their latest gel saddle material first-hand, so they simply built tiered seating with plenty of gel mats. With foot weary show visitors always looking for a place to sit down, they had people ‘testing’ their product by the hundreds!
Children bike riding in a supervised area.
Two of most charming sights at Eurobike were these two specially created and supervised riding areas for very little kids and slightly bigger kids. The staff were fantastic and the kids were having a ball. Puky is a leading European kids bike brand.
Kids riding in a supervised area
Above view of a criterium race taking place.
Every year on the first public day, Eurobike hosts a day-long criterium racing series. Part of the course weaves under a pedestrian bridge that links Halls 8 & 12.
Merchandise stand
If you like the show so much you can now get the T-Shirt! Or the Eurobike cycling kit…
Row of small booths at bicycle expo.
Hall 9 had three levels of exhibit halls open this year. This is where most of the smaller exhibitors and national government sponsored pavilions are located. 9.0 and 9.1 are open all five days, but 9.2 closes after the three trade days.
Cafe fitted out with tree trunks within the space.
In general the café’s are better quality and the food is more reasonably priced at Eurobike than at typical Australian expo venues. In total there must be close to 50 different eating options, including some food vans outside. This one created a forest setting.
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