The NW Bike Show was held at the Expo Center
in North Portland.
– Slideshow Below –
(Photos: Jim Parsons)
in North Portland.
– Slideshow Below –
(Photos: Jim Parsons)
The Northwest Bike Show was held over the weekend out at the Portland Expo Center. Our correspondent Jim “K’Tesh” Parsons was there and shot a bunch of photos of exhibitor booths and attendees (watch his slideshow below).
I didn’t make it out to the event, but have heard from a few folks that it wasn’t quite what they’d hoped for. BikePortland Business Manager Jonathan “J.R.” Reed attended the show on Sunday. He was jazzed about his test-ride of the Nuvinci CVT hub from Fallbrook Technologies. He also liked the $30, DIY Bike Fitting Kit from Beaverton-based CycleTime LLC.
Did you attend the show? If so, chime in with what you saw. If not, watch the slideshow below to see what you missed:
Thanks for reading.
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It was pretty underwhelming. On the upside, I got to ride a Dutch bike for the first time. Jesus those handlebars are high up. Comfy, though.
I biked out to the show on Sunday – beautiful day, of course, great views of the mountains along the way. It did seem a little underwhelming, though I did spend about 1.5 hours meandering around, speaking with folks from Joe Bikes and the Brompton sales guy, and a frame maker from Idaho. Didn’t seem like a very good turnout, and there were some funny inclusions like food vendors…
I did get a bell though, which was one reason I wanted to go!
Underwhelming is an under statement. I feel bad for the exhibitors that paid to be there. I got a free pass so I am not out much. One guy I talked to said he was going to ask for his money back-Ouch! I heard from some of the vendors that they are going to be doing the Pedal Nation show in April and that it will be a much much bigger deal. So I am excited for that.
I manned a booth and we were actually quite busy on both days. I would describe the crowd on Saturday as “non-bikey” (meaning not your daily bike commuter etc.), but definitely interested. There were quite a few of baby boomers, drifting in from the next-door exhibit. I think it was a great chance to pull in people who still see bikes more as sport equipment than a life style.
PS: But yeah, the prices were stiff and I was disappointed to hear that people got discounted booths while I paid full…
Having attended Interbike, I wonder how the public would benefit from a smaller, quasi-imitation of the same. I’m not sure that a bicycle trade show is what the public needs. I think the public needs bike shops that offer friendly, knowledgable service, quality products and a genuine enthusiasm for bicycles. If they get that, it’s worth far more in advertising than booth space at any one-day show.
looked lame to me
I went to the show Saturday. In the back of my mind, where I keep loose change, I was wondering how many bike shows the region can support.
Next is Seattle then Portland and then Portland again? Gotta wonder.
The vendors were all appreciative though. I picked up the usual maps and brochures, as well as a map of Portland so I wouldn’t get lost riding home (again).
I never have been able to get these shows.
They want me to pay admission so a bunch of people can try to sell me something.
I’d be interested if there were no admission.
My wife and I spent $21 to get in ($7 for parking and $7 each to get in). It was very disappointing and definitely not worth it. We left after fifteen minutes. We’ve been to a number of other Portland bike shows, like the constructor’s event last fall, and were always very impressed.
We did have fun at the baby boomer event next door, which was free, although it was somewhat disconcerting to see all the booths for cremations and rest homes (We’re baby boomers).
Bike show, not exactally what I had in mind. I spent 21 bucks for gf and I plus parking. Walked threw bike show in under an hour and had to stretch to make it that long. Didn’t know about baby boomers show, wow FREE my type of show, wow hot dogs, even better. Nice show even though we aren’t baby boomers. Spent a couple hours in baby boomers show. Admission was free but dis buy 80 bucks worth of wine. Lol.
I prefer the handbuilt bike shows exhibiting local craftsmanship. These highly commercial shows have never done well in Portland. Seattle’s show is huge and has been around for many years. The Portland Wheelmen tried to get a show going for a few years, maybe around 10 years ago, but had few vendors and even fewer attendees. I think the local craftsmanship angle works better in Portland these days.
Terrible. Virtually no vendors, the events were pretty lacking…. Huge waste of time. Though the police lecture on Saturday was useful. Not nearly enough non “bikey” vendors. I was mainly out for some good lights, a rack and possible a cheap bike for my husband. None of that was there. If I wanted to blow 2,000 on a bike then uh, yeah, could have done that.
Like a lot of people above I went to the boomer show and actually had fun (not a boomer.) The State Farm pedometer is a lot more accurate than the Kaiser one, for the record.
I am giggling a little at all the complaints about parking though…. considering.