This weekend is the big NEC Cycle Show in Birmingham.
It’s a chance for the UK bike industry to get together for a gossip, drink too much coffee and show off the products they already brought to Eurobike.
Lewis hit the halls to see if there was anything newsworthy amongst all the seen-it-befores!
Words and photos by Lewis Bradley
Adam Brayton’s World Champs Bike
The Kestrel’s Scott Gambler was on display and kitted out with some of Hope’s finest. They did well to clean it after the last weekends national dh race.
Islabikes Creig
The Islabikes Creig Pro series is built especially for young guns and gives them a proper, top quality bike in a smaller package. The bike is kitted out in some of the very best SRAM and Rockshox products and is available in 24 and 26inch versions. It starts at £1,500.
Kaos Seagrave’s Hardline Transition
The guys over at Schwalbe had Kaos’ Transition fresh from Redbull Hardline.
The hot pink was hard to miss for sure and definitely stood out on the Dyfi hillside and in Brummy trade hall.
Identiti Bikes Mettle Series
The guys over at identiti Bikes have reduced the price of the Mettle by £600, making the bike a more attractive package for 2019. The bike was made to be a ‘hard hitting’ Enduro rig with the capabilities of going fast but also fun.
Prices start at £2,999.99 which is pretty good going by today’s standards.
Re-designed bikes at GT
Firstly, the GT Force range has been developed with EWS rider Martin Maes who is in the mix for the overall title this weekend at Finale. The Carbon Pro model along with the other options has been totally redesigned for 2019 with an improved suspension platform, making the bike more active and versatile in all type’s conditions and terrain.
Also, the GT Fury 29er has been developed with the DH team including Wyn Masters. Again, re-designed, an idler system has been introduced to allow the suspension to work and adapt more efficiently on steep terrain and also when pedalling.
Whyte’s all new G-170 29er Enduro bike
Released for the first time at the bike show is the all new Whyte G-170c-rs Enduro rig.
The RS uses the same highly developed frame as the works bike used by the Whyte EWS team this season. They claim that the bike is ‘ready for anything’ and various tyre and rear shock fit options make the bike very versatile. The bike rolls on 29inch wheels and they claim it’s the fastest gravity bike they’ve ever created.
Bell Full 9 Fusion Helmet
As you can see on the top shelf, there were a few pro athlete helmets on show for the public to see such as Charlie Hatton’s Trek helmet and Adam Brayton’s worlds custom helmet. These guys have been key in the process of developing a new helmet for the new year.
The Bell ‘Fusion’ helmet is a cheaper and more affordable veersion that has a composite shell instead of carbon and the ejector magnetic release pads have been swapped to the normal button cheek pads to save on price and weight.
This has drastically reduced the price from £400 to £220 which is great for your average rider looking for the next holiday or uplift ready helmet.
Named Sports Superfood
These guys definitely win best trade stand vehicle of the show, the M-sport vans came a close second. We wish we had one for our pits!
Camelbak Podium Flow Belt
How good does this look?! The new Camelbak Podium Flow Belt has been designed to slim down the Camelbak bumbag.
The new belt has a total capacity of 2.5 litres and has plenty of features including an ‘Integrated tool organization’ area and secure zipped pockets for all your valuables to be safe while riding.
The price is £44.99 which we we reckon is pretty reasonable. Looks great too eh?
Tahnee Seagrave’s World’s Bike
Another custom Transition TR11 that was ridden to 2nd place at the 2018 World DH Champs this year. The frame is oozing in glitter with the deep red making it stand out in the show.
Do you think Tahnee can win World’s one day?
Anvil Tilt Pedals
The new anvil Tilt Pedals stood out on the transition stand as well, the new and improved pedal comes with a wider platform and in various colours for 2019. They’re available for £89.95
Oakley DRT5 helmet
Landing next February, Oakley have also released their new helmets to rival the market.
The helmet comes in a variety of colours and uses a 360° boa that tightens around the whole of your head for maximum comfort along with MIPS for crash protection.
It also has what they’re calling ‘Landing Zone’ to neatly hold your glasses while riding transitions or long climbs, the ‘Sweat Guard’ was also a neat feature that stops sweat dripping into your glasses and restricting your vision.
Marin Bike’s Alpine trail
Marin have a few new bikes for 2019, including the 29’er Alpine Trail that we met earlier in the summer. The alpine trail 8 (above) is £3,000 and comes with some great kit, including a Deity cockpit.
We’re looking forward to getting our hands on one of these in the next couple of weeks.
Stanton’s Switch9’er full suspension and new ‘Startline’ Frame
British-built Stanton are at the Cycle Show in force.
They have all of their new full suspension bikes on show –Â including some fully built up Switch9ers. The new full suspension bikes are completely designed and built at Stanton HQ by hand here in the UK.
Whilst the full suss stole the limelight, the new ‘Startline’ frames are also super interesting. The Startline is a more affordable Stanton frame that uses more affordable chromo tubing to keep costs down. Don’t be fooled though, the geo looks bang-on and the frames have all the modern features you need with boost options and versions for 27.5″ and 29″ wheels.
You can read our interview from the Steel is Real Demo with Stanton’s owner here.
Lastly, Big Dave’s new bike!
We’re only joking, but we would love to see Dave rolling around the pits on a Soul Beach Cruiser if we could!
