Blogpost updated January 2018
The sparrows whistle it off the roofs: The future belongs to the bicycle. For some years now, the bicycle has been experiencing a real boom in Germany. Bicycle fairs are also very popular. Eurobike is the world’s largest bicycle trade fair, ahead of Interbike in Las Vegas and the Taipei Cycle Show in Taiwan. It took place for the first time in 1991 as a pure mountain bike fair and was initiated by some of the manufacturers. The fair has its seat in Friedrichshafen, first from 1991 – 2001 at the old fairground at the Riedlewald and afterwards in the industrial area at the airport Friedrichshafen.
Originally intended purely as a trade visitor fair, it will be extended in 2007 to include a demo day for end consumers. When 2008’s last IFMA (International Bicycle and Motorcycle Exhibition) took place in Cologne, Eurobike became the undisputed No. 1 bicycle trade fair.
With or without consumers?
In 2016 Eurobike took place for the first time on five days. New additions were the two-day Festival Days on the weekend, where consumers could test and inform themselves. These two days were very well received by the public. However, the response from the specialist audience was much more restrained. As a result, the concept, which had just been changed, was up for discussion again immediately after the 2016 trade fair.
With 1,350 exhibitors, Eurobike had quite a respectable number to show at its 25th anniversary edition in 2016, but compared to the previous year the number of exhibitors had dropped by 6.7 percent. The majority of exhibitors said that the 5-day trade fair was simply too long. In addition to international industry giants such as Felt and Trek, national ones such as the Derby Cycle Group from Cloppenburg and Cube from the Bavarian Waldershof also stayed away from Eurobike 2016.
Review: Eurobike 2017
At the 26th edition of Eurobike, the number of trade visitors fell to 42,590 (2016: 42,720). But there were also 22,160 enthusiastic bicycle fans on Eurobike Festival Day. The trade fair in Friedrichshafen was a media spectacle: 1,654 journalists and bloggers from around 40 different countries informed themselves about the events on site.
Eurobike 2018
This year Eurobike will take place from Sunday, 8 July to Tuesday, 10 July 2018 and is aimed exclusively at the specialist public due to its early scheduling.
In-house fairs a new trend?
The duration and the associated higher costs for the exhibitors were not the sole reason for their absence. Manufacturers want to reach dealers exclusively with their own in-house exhibitions. This trend will also be felt at Eurobike. However, Eurobike still has all the trumps in its hand. Which dealer wants to go to four or five in-house exhibitions a year when he can meet the entire industry at Eurobike?
WUM Design at Eurobike
As a stand construction company, us at WUM Design can only support this. Nothing beats the concentrated exchange at a trade fair. This is the only way to ensure a quick and effective overview of the industry. We would be delighted if we could once again design the BMZ trade fair stand at Eurobike, because we know very well how unique the experience at this trade fair is.
Eurobike in Facts
- Industry sector: Bicycles, E-Bikes and Equipment
- First fair: 1991
- Frequency: annually
- Next date: 8 – 10 July 2018
- Trade visitors: 42,590
- Exhibitors: 1.400
- Exhibition area: 100,000 sqm
- Location: Messe Friedrichshafen
- Website of the fairPicture: © Thorsten Kollmeier – WUM Design
