The Taipei Bike Show
March 20, 2009
By: thenhbushman
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Category: Taiwan, Technology
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Photos by MJ Klein & Hui-chen
On Wednesday of this week, Hui-chen and I went up to Taipei for the bicycle show. Our company produces (among other things) bike parts and we like to see new things at this yearly trade show.
Before I get to the bike show itself, I wanted to show you one of the new glass shelters on the THSR platform. Here in Hsinchu, we are famous for a lot of wind and quite frankly, the elevated track platform can get terribly windy. They now have shelters from the wind and that makes for a much more pleasant experience when taking the high-speed rail.
Buildings are popping of all over what was once rather remote farm land. The area near the THSR stations are being developed at an alarming rate.
Anyway, we took the THSR to Banciao station and then the Taipei MRT to Nangang station. From there we took a shuttle bus to the show.
The previous photo says that the bus runs every 10 minutes but we stood there longer than 10 minutes.
Finally we arrived at the show….
Where we met our friend and fellow blogger, David Reid.
This is a cool steel lugged track bike. The finish was so beautiful that without brakes I would be deathly afraid to ride it!
This is Kevin Kao, the man who sold me my new recumbent trike, the Artifice.
This bike is one of Kevin’s newest products. It’s a sports bike with a robust down tube.
This year, it seemed that electric bikes and folding bikes were the newest things. In fact, I even saw a folding electric bike! The one above is a good example of electric assist bikes that are coming out.
This bike was tricked out with lots of interesting features like machined studs along the “gastank,” and airhorn and a way laid back seating arrangement.
Some suppliers were selling products at the show. Hui-chen and I bought a few accessories for our bike that featured built-in air pumps. Hui-chen is shown checking out a soft bike saddle cover that can be pumped up with the built-in pump.
Here are a few shots of some of the more interesting bikes:
These guys were outside near the testing area. They were promoting a new kind of seat that, well, “relax” a certain part of the male anatomy. The guys beckoned me over to their booth but I declined to try the seat out.
I did try this cool folding bike. The guy at the booth claimed this bike can hold rider weight up to 150 KG. Other than the small tires (which I could get used to) this bike was very good, actually.
This is the folding bike I rode.
However, I did not ride this contraption. Every year someone brings out one of these things….
Some more cool looking bikes:
I like the shape of the top tube on this one.
Another nice electric.
Bamboo frame.
This is David Reid checking out the bamboo construction.
When I first saw this, I thought it said “green tea” but it says “Green Tech” and this is another example of a bamboo frame bicycle.
Our last photo is of a Cambodian bicycle company. They had a very nice looking booth and some good looking products.
The show is still open. If you have a chance I highly recommend you take a visit!
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March 20th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I really like the bamboo frames. I wonder how they hold up vs T6xxx Aluminum.
thenhbushman
reply on March 20th, 2009 10:44 am:
Colby, i wouldn’t try to get any air time with them. i also wonder about the bamboo frames and i have no idea how they hold up over time.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Nice report and photos MJ.
cfimagess last blog post..Five For Friday – Blue Sky @ Bitan
thenhbushman
reply on March 20th, 2009 10:44 am:
thanks Craig. after while it was just a big blur…. so many booths and suppliers there.
March 20th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Thanks for the post! I was unable to get to the show this year so this was nice to see.
thenhbushman
reply on March 20th, 2009 10:45 am:
you would have loved it as there were tons of electric assist bicycles there this year.
March 20th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
MJ, great pictures and reporting. Those glass rooms at the train stations would be great for back home in Australia. In some places waiting on platforms in winter with wind howling and freezing conditions these would be a good idea.
I didn’t know any of the bike brand names and did some searching. I liked the look of the CKT bikes and frames and their website is hard to navigate though. I have been looking at their road and mountain bikes.
I looked at the Optimist website and it is really good and I also like some of their frames and bikes. I am now checking prices compared to better known brands such as Cannondale or GT.
Thanks for sharing MJ.
Bruntys last blog post..Singing, Swimming, A Party, A Wedding, Isaan Thailand.
thenhbushman
reply on March 20th, 2009 12:42 pm:
Brunty, i know you are a bike guy. you would have enjoyed the show for sure! glad you found some of the information useful. we might get one of those folding bikes. take care.
March 20th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Looks like a great show! Wish I made it up!
Todds last blog post..Daily Photo – Universal Serial Bus
thenhbushman
reply on March 22nd, 2009 5:36 pm:
Todd, it was fun and i saw some cool new technology like the Baoch bike lights. wow, they are super-bright and i want some!
March 22nd, 2009 at 9:12 pm
a Ducati cruiser bicycle, nice
thenhbushman
reply on March 23rd, 2009 11:10 am:
Dennis, thanks for the ID. i didn’t see the nameplate on it.
March 23rd, 2009 at 8:54 am
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March 24th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Some real cool stuff at the bike show. Wish I could have gone.
I know from personal experience how windy Hsinchu can be, so the shelters are a great idea especially in a high open platform like that.
andress last blog post..week 12, 2009
thenhbushman
reply on March 24th, 2009 4:20 am:
Andres, the shelters are an afterthought, but i’m glad they were put in because as you said, it gets very windy here. the Bike Show was very cool. you would have enjoyed it i’m sure.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:24 am
Looks like a pretty nice bike show. I’ve seen some electricassisted bikes for sale here… but they don’t look like something that I would want (may help going up the hills going into the Highlands).
I had a Trek 820 mountain bike for about 10 years which had a steel frame. Then last April I bought a Trek 3700 mountain bike which has an aluminum frame which I really like. I paid about USD $370 (or about for NT $12,500).
One thing that you wrote about that looked “interesting” is the saddle cover that could be pumped up with the built-in pump. Could make things a bit more comfortable on longer rides
Riding should be starting soon for me here. The snow is finally all melted (hate riding thru puddles from melted snow) but temps have been a bit cool the past week (not even reaching 40 degrees or under 5c) and windy (windchills have been around 20 degrees or -5c). They are calling for the temps to get into the low 50′s (about 11c) by this weekend with less wind.
thenhbushman
reply on March 25th, 2009 11:35 am:
Mike, we haven’t installed the saddle cover yet. i bought a pump-up lumbar support cushion and it works great. i put it on the trike. we’ll see how it works when i can finally give it a ride, hopefully later this week. thanks.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
“Testicles Relaxing” might be the finest example of frank, Engrish advertising I’ve ever seen. How did stop laughing long enough to take the photo?
And did you say anything to the guys in the booth about going for a more euphemistic slogan? I once walked by a sign hung by a Taipei salon advertising “Man’s Haircut–$400, Women’s Haircut–NT$800, Blow Job–NT$200.” I just didn’t have the heart to tell the owner that “blow job” might be better phrased as “blow dry.”
Truett Blacks last blog post..Cultural Differences, Part One: Relationships East and West
thenhbushman
reply on March 26th, 2009 10:10 pm:
Truett, the shock and disbelief that they actually printed a banner with that phrase kept me stunned and i didn’t laugh. but the worst part was the guys waving me over to try the seat out. i politely declined!
March 26th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Well, if you had tried it out and bought one I’m sure it would have been a jewel in the family crown!
Perhaps that should be the product name: Jewels in the Crown
Truett Blacks last blog post..Cultural Differences, Part One: Relationships East and West
thenhbushman
reply on March 27th, 2009 10:41 am:
Truett, hahaha! yup, sounds like a good name!
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