Spectrum: As every year, the International Trade Fair for Sporting Goods and Sports Fashion (ISPO) took place in the Munich trade fair city until Sunday. With over 2.500 exhibitors and almost 80.000 trade visitors, ISPO is the largest sports trade fair in the world, but the focus of the fair is clearly on winter sports. Nevertheless, we went in search of one or the other product from the bicycle world.
Hall by hall we make our way through ISPO. Skis, snowboards and all kinds of other winter sports accessories as far as the eye can see. But today we have made it our mission to find one or two exhibitors from the bicycle sector among all the skis and snowboards. A look at the digital trade fair catalog helps – there is even a 'Bike' category – but there are only a handful of exhibitors from the Far East who have rather unexciting products in their portfolios. So we set off on a 'old-fashioned' tour of discovery on foot.
Finally, in the rearmost part of Hall A1, we come across something like a bicycle biotope. This is where the finalists and winners of the "ISPO BRANDNEW" start-up competition have their stands - and lo and behold: bicycles! Hooray!
Right under the first stalls is an 'old friend'. Two very committed gentlemen present their so-called "Seatylock". The name may sound familiar to the attentive Velomotion reader, as we reported on it some time ago. Ultimately, this is a saddle whose frame turns out to be a folding lock. Last year's Kickstarter campaign was a huge success and the castle is currently available for pre-order. In any case, we find it very interesting, as does the ISPO jury. If you want to find out more about the saddle lock, you can of course do so on the official website www.seatylock.com do.
We stroll on and the next bike product is already waiting at the stand next door – how was that lucky streak again? Doesn't matter. In any case, we see one thing above all here: wood. wooden handles. For the bike. So far, so unspectacular. But the selection here is not that big and we dare to take a closer look - which should be worthwhile. Velospring is the name of the exhibitor and Klaus Mildenberger, developer and designer of the grips, takes care of it directly. Because there is even more hidden under the pleasingly ergonomic walnut handles: A suspension that is inserted into the handlebars is intended to provide additional comfort. At the stand, the whole thing already feels good. Maybe we should take a closer look at the Velospring grips in the test in the near future. You can find information about the handles here www.velospring- Fahrradgriffe.de
And our hunt for bicycle gimmicks continues. It doesn't take long before we see a two-wheeled vehicle again. A closer look reveals that the rear wheel hub is the attraction here - but what makes it so "exhibit-worthy"? Flipfree is on it - of course that reminds us of the popular flip-flop hubs. If you don't know them: These are single-speed hubs that have a normal sprocket with freewheel mounted on one side and a rigid track sprocket for riding in fixed gear on the other side. Of course, the similarity in the name is no coincidence: The Flipfree hub from Kappstein offers just that function, i.e. riding with or without a freewheel – but the wheel does not have to be turned here. A small lever on the hub allows you to switch from freewheel to fixed gear and vice versa. Information is available at: www.kappstein.de
Now things are happening in rapid succession: the next steel steed is already hanging less than 5 meters away. It hangs on a specially erected wall. The highlight, however, is neither the wall nor the bike, but the wall mount: the small Hamburg company Kraft & Urlich offers wall mounts made of wood for bikes, snowboards and co. at. The developers rely on a modular system with which, for example, a helmet, gloves or other cycling accessories can be stowed away in a space-saving and visually appealing way. Anyone who has now pricked up their ears can look under www.kraft-ulrich.net inform more precisely.
We had almost finished our tour of the small start-up stands when we spotted one last bike: It is standing inconspicuously against the wall and we are looking for the highlight, which is hidden here in the seat post. As with the Seatylock, the lock is the star here – we are at the Interlock stand. The cable lock is hidden in the seat post and can be pulled out flexibly to lock the bike to any object. During the journey, it finally disappears again, well protected, in the support. We don't find any bad ideas either... Info at www.the-interlock.com
With that, our little bike excursion at ISPO came to an end and we plunged back into the world of skis and snowboards ... after all, beautiful sports too.