Cycle Show 2013 Preview

The Cycle Show takes place at the NEC, Birmingham later this week, and here are some of the highlights that you can expect…

Brands

Bike brands exhibiting include • Pinarello • Cinellli • De Rosa • Whyte • Trek • Specialized • KHS • Cube • Condor • Bianchi • Ribble • Raleigh • Kinesis • Colnago • Airstreeem • Bianchi • Bottecchia • Bergamont • Rose • Storck • Van Nicholas • Velocite

On the component side of things, big brands like Shimano, Campagnolo, Rotor FSA, Hope and USE will all be showing their products too.

People

Multiple Olympic Gold Medallist Joanna Rowsell will open the show to the public at 9.30am on Saturday 28 September with a Q & A session on the stage with Ned Boulting. The first day is trade and press only, but the weekend is traditionally the busiest time for public attendance.

The Right Honourable Ian Austin MP will open the show’s trade and press day at 9.30am, 26 September 2013. Mr Austin is MP for Dudley North, chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group and a very keen cyclist.  Birmingham has just been awarded significant funds from the Cycle City Ambition Grant, which will greatly contribute to the city’s aim to grow its network of cycle routes.

The opening speech will take place in Hall 11, where the event stage compere Joe Fisher will interview Mr Austin for 5-10 minutes before officially opening the show.

Top mountain bikers Rachel and Dan Atherton will be available on the seminar stage from 2.15pm onwards on Saturday September 28. Fresh from her recent downhill mountain bike world championships victory Rachel will be available for a Q & A and autograph signing session following a tyre seminar from Continental featuring the latest 2014 range and all the different wheel / tyre sizes on the market.

World Transplant Champions Ottilie Quince and Rich Smith from the record breaking GB Transplant Team will be on the stage on Friday the 27th to talk about the trials, tribulations and rewards of cycling and the challenges they overcome on a daily basis.

Team Movistar's Alex Dowsett will be there for a Q&A on Saturday too, and there will be a seminar with some of the UK's leading cycling writers in a Meet the Authors Q&A, with Ned Boulting, Lionel Birnie, Sean Yates, Ellis Bacon and Sean Kelly.

Joe Fisher will interview mountain bike legend Tracy Moseley and up-and-coming cross-country mountain biker Annie Last on the stage on Sunday at 12 noon.

Trek's women's cycling advocate Chris Garrison will conduct daily seminars on women and cycling, covering topics including bike fit and women's clothing.

On Sunday, Nigel Mansell and his UK Youth team will answer questions about the UK pro peloton, racing, advocacy and supporting a charitable cause through the race circuit. Team leader Yanto Barker will be present to answer questions about his time and experience on the race scene.

Saturday 28th will also see a seminar with some of the UK's leading cycling writers in a Q&A. "Meet the Authors" features Ned Boulting, Lionel Birnie, Sean Yates, Ellis Bacon and Sean Kelly.

Loads to do

The Premium Road Bike Track is an interesting new feature at The Cycle Show 2013. This is a 750m crit-style track with an indoor start and finish and you get 25 minutes to test a selection of bikes.

It's free to ride and you can pre-register to be sure of a place, or just show up and try your luck at 10:30am or 1:30pm.

Bikes available for riding include Trek Madone 5.2s, Domane 4.3s, the aforementioned Bianchi Infinito CV, and other bikes from the likes of Fondriest, Rose, Condor, Spin, Cube and Team Carbon.

Other attractions include roller racing, kids’ test tracks, a city bike track, a mountain bike demo track, and a BMX arena. You’ll also be able to watch all the racing from the World Road Race Champs every afternoon on the show's jumbo screen.

And make sure you attend one of the live Trek Precision Fit demonstrations at 10am and 3pm each day of the show, to see how a proper bike fitting is done.

Bikes and gear

Available to see in the UK for the first time are a number of key bikes from forthcoming 2014 lines, ranging from niche British brands to bikes that have graced the pro peloton across the race season.

Bianchi will be the showing with their all-new Infinito CV that our man Dave Arthur is currently testing for road.cc. Mat also got the chance to ride the bike across the Paris-Roubaix cobbles back in April. It includes CounterVail technology within the carbon structure that’s designed to reduce vibration.

The range starts at £3,500 for a Campagnolo Athena-equipped Infinito CV, and tops out at £5,600 for a Campag Super Record model.

Starley are bringing their neat-looking new JKS Stainless frameset. We gave you a sneak peek of this bike a couple of months ago. It’s designed to be fast, comfortable and lightweight, weighing in at 1.3kg – only 200g heavier than Starley’s current carbon models. It has a BB30 bottom bracket, a tapered head tube, and a carbon-fibre fork. There’s enough clearance for mudguards too.

Like all of Starley’s current products, you can have it in any colour and any design because  everything is painted to order at their factory in Cheshire where they have recently opened a new factory showroom. The frameset (frame, forks, headset, seat post and painted in any colour) price is £1,499.

Italy’s Colnago will be displaying their new CX Zero which we first showed you in July. It’s a bike aimed at the endurance market.

Colnago describe the new CX Zero as the bike for 'every rider'. It’s an all-rounder that's good for racing, tackling sportives and epic all-day rides, with a geometry that aims to minimise the saddle-to-bar drop, and a longer than normal wheelbase for extra stability. The CX Zero will also be offered as a disc brake option.

Use voucher code RCC to get £1.50 off your Cycle show ticket!

The Cycle Show 2013 at the NEC, Birmingham is open 9:30am until 5pm from Friday 27 September until Sunday 29 September. You can buy tickets in advance or pay on the door. For all ticketing information go to The Cycle Show’s website. All advance ticket holders will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win a Trek Domane 5.2 bike worth £3,100.