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Cyclists and walkers kick off new season in Utrecht

More than 43,000 sporting and recreational enthusiasts visited the combination of the ‘Fiets en Wandelbeurs’, Bike MOTION Benelux and E-bike Xperience. Which provided a massive offering in (sporting) bicycles, e-bikes, walking and active holidays across three days in the Jaarbeurs, Utrecht.

 

Colin Robaard, Brand Manager Bike MOTION Benelux and E-bike Xperience at the Jaarbeurs, is happy with the outcome: “We brought three differing events and target groups together under one roof. This bundling of effort resulted in the biggest total range in cycling. The innovations and bicycles could be trialled right away on the various test tracks for racing bikes, mountain bikes and e-bikes. This makes us an important link as the consumer goes through the decision making process to the buying process.”

 

Theo Jorna, Director of the Fiets en Wandelbeurs: “The three events interlock very nicely. There is a huge offering in terms of cycling and walking destinations and numerous activities such as a climbing wall, barefoot pathway and bicycle painting. Furthermore, hundreds of volunteers are on hand recounting their own experiences enthusiastically and there are 160 lectures and workshops in three days. All of which invites visitors to come and take a look and be inspired by what they see and hear. It allows them to become acquainted with a complete offering in walking and cycling: from routes, destinations and inspiring lectures to camping and outdoor equipment and the best bikes for recreational and sporting enthusiasts.”

Fiets en Wandelbeurs

The revamped Pilgrims Pavilion proved a major focus of interest and attention, as was the huge variety of walking and cycling holiday destinations in Europe. France put on a good show with its presentation of iconic cycling routes like the Véloscénie and La Loire à Vélo. In the lectures devoted to walking, Walking on the Frisian Islands (Waddenwandelen), the new Water Line trail around historic Dutch coastal defences, and the British National Trails proved popular. Frank van Rijn, the Maas Cycle Route, GPS-workshops and the Pamir Highway were the big draws among the cycling lectures. There was also plenty for children to do: a dedicated cycle track for little ones, bicycle painting for the creative souls, a climbing wall and a Hicle Family Route linking up all the children’s activities. Mountain walkers were well catered for with a brand-new pavilion: Mountain Xperience, with numerous workshops. Naturally there was also a wide range of trekking bikes on display, gleaming machines with the latest hub gears and balanced frames.

Bike MOTION Benelux

Bike MOTION marks the start of the cycling season and a variety of visitors even came to the Jaarbeurs on their own bikes. Bike MOTION gave sporting bikers the chance to feast their eyes on the latest top of the range bikes from the bicycle industry. Countless trial rides were made on one of the many bikes available and tested on the challenging (e-) mountain-bike tracks e-powered by Bosch. This mountain bike track had its very own wood with real trees, a rockery garden, a north shore as well as sand and gravel sections. There was a Benelux product premier for POC with its latest helmets the Ventral Air and Omne Air. Canyon showed the new Inflite CF SL crosser. The brand new SRAM Red eTap AXS group set could be found on bikes including Canyon and Cervélo. Visitors could try out this latest innovation on the test track. In addition to the attention to sporting bicycles and mountain bikes, there were also various ‘Theme’ squares set out including an ‘Exclusief’ square with exclusive brands and high-end bicycles, a ‘Touring Trip’ square, a Craft square and an Urban square. Many visitors ended their exhibition day in the ‘Kwaremont Koerse Kaffee’, where they enjoyed live coursing and a delicious cycling beer.

E-bike Xperience

According to the latest sales figures of the RAI society for manufacturers and importers of bicycles and vehicles, the popularity of e-bikes is continuously increasing. The sales of e-bikes increased in 2018 to 409,400 compared to 294,00 the year before. This means that four out of ten bicycles sold were electric bikes. During E-bike Xperience visitors could seek out the right e-bike for themselves. There were more than 70 e-bike brands standing along the two-kilometre long indoor test track. City bikes, carrier bikes, speed pedelecs and sporting variants were all available for a trial ride. In the theatre, visitors could listen to independent experts from the bicycle industry. This supported visitors in the purchasing phase so that they could find the ideal e-bike.

Note to editors: Photo credits: see name in photo document.

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