We attended the Toronto International Spring Bike Show 2016 this past weekend for the first time. What a nice way to spend a day.
It’s quite different to the Fall Show, known as the end of season blowout. For a start it’s over three days rather than a single day; it’s also in a much larger venue with displays and demos going on as well as all the exhibit booths. When we attended the Fall blowout, it was quite frankly crazy! It was so busy and so crowded and it seemed to be just about the buying. In contrast, the Spring show had much more space and allowed for much more time to chat and discuss products.
Now, I can appreciate that what an attendee sees as relaxed and spacious, an exhibitor might consider to be an underwhelming and under-attended washout. So I hope the whole weekend was considered ‘sufficiently worthwhile’ for the exhibitors as I really enjoyed the chance to engage.
Unfortunately, for all the eye candy on display, I didn’t see a single recumbent bike. I couldn’t even find myself the 650c inner tubes I’d hoped to pick up, the parts and accessories booths all appeared to be 700c only for road gear.
There were some very cargo bikes from local Ontario company Wike; in particular, their new Salamander folding bike/stroller was a very clever and slick piece of engineering.
We also stopped by the booth for the Handcycling Club of Canada, in conjunction with Invacare, and had a good chat about the Overdrive Race & Relay Series event in October, which has a recumbent and handcycle race for the first time at the F1 track.
The last highlight was spending time at the Overdrive booth itself. We were thrilled to hear about the serious interest already shown in the new recumbent race they have added this year. It’s still a while off yet, at October 30, but to hear of the inquiries and interest is a good, encouraging sign that there is the demand from recumbents and handcycles for an event in this region.
Why should the upright road bikes be the only ones to ride the old Mosport track?