Cycling For Everyone (Cycle Show 2014 at the NEC, Birmingham)

Adam and I travelled to Birmingham on Thursday to attend the first day of the Cycle Show, held this year in Birmingham at the NEC Exhibition Halls. We left home at 7.15 to cycle 12 miles to Leighton Buzzard to catch the train to Birmingham. (My knees were in nearly unbearable agony all day -- walking and standing didn't help -- so we got a taxi when we disembarked from Leighton Buzzard on our journey home.)

I have had mobility issues on my mind all week as I seek treatment for the current knee crisis and find myself looking to the medium and long term changes that may come. I don't want to do "less" but I may need to do things "differently". Whether that means different ways of doing the same things, or doing entirely different things, I don't know. But I am trying to keep an open mind and pay attention to what comes my way, so that when the time comes that I am no longer able to cycle (a) the bikes I do now, (b) the distances I do now, at (c) the frequency I do now, I won't face a dead end and feel bereft and deprived from the activities I have grown to love and indeed rely upon. I want to know there are options, even if I can't at this point predict how my mobility will change or know what options may work for me.

In that mindset, I was surprised and pleased to see so many "weird" bicycles (and tricycles, quad-cycles, etc) featured at the Cycle Show.  There was an "E-Bike Village" area and even an E-Bike Test Area. I lost count at how many manufacturers/brands were displaying e-bikes on their stands. Some specialise in electric-assist vehicles and that's all they do; others are major players who see potential in this market and are introducing electric-assist models alongside their existing road bikes, mountain bikes and city bikes. 

Prices seemed to range from approximately £900 (RooDog E-bikes) to £2,400 (Cube). To be honest, the quality looked decent enough right through all these price points. The very first e-bike model we saw when we arrived at the show was Cube's -- we thought it looked over-engineered and over-priced. Truly, the RooDog models looked like they would do the job just as well and be just as durable and reliable. 

One design feature common to most of the e-bikes is the location of the battery:  as an upper tier built into the rear rack. This is not universal, however, with some brands opting for seat-tube mounted batteries and in at least one case, the new Bosch integrated crankset power unit. 

Cube Bikes from The Netherlands:  the Elly Cruise Hybrid

RooDog E-Bikes from Yorkshire

(C) Adam Bell. 

(C) Adam Bell.

The Chic - £899 including VAT

The Polka Dot City Bike

Dots are obviously a fashion statement for Roodog!

Moustache Bikes from France

Electric mountain and adventure bikes? Oh yes. In titanium, too!

Moustache use Bosch motors as central to their entire design approach to e-bikes.

Batribike based in Lincoln

Smart E-bikes

KTM Bike Industries from Austria, available in the UK from FLI Distribution

(C) Adam Bell.

E-bike Test Ride Area

This was the real eye-opener. I lost count of how many different brands/makes and models were available for test riding -- over 30, definitely. 

We even spotted a couple of folding electric bikes -- 

the UM30 Urban Mover from Claud Butler.

The "DBO Divided By Nothing" folding e-bike had possibly the most unusual design of all.

(C) Adam Bell.

(C) Adam Bell.

In addition, there were at least a dozen makers of vehicles for those with physical limitations/disabilities who would nonetheless like to get out there and enjoy the benefits of cycling, not least of all the sense of inclusion that is made possible by accompanying able-bodied friends and relatives who may or may not serve as a "cycling buddy" on the same vehicle. We saw every conceivable kind of tandem, including several side-by-side configurations, with three wheels or four. Tag-along solutions as well as two-wheeled semi-recumbents were also on display. 

I found the vehicles designed for those with motor control issues such as muscular dystrophy the most intriguing, with harnesses and/or constraints to help secure, stabilise and protect the rider. There was one model that essentially was a wheelchair with a front wheel and handlebars attached to the front to transform the vehicle into a tricycle. 

The Quest88 stand featured vehicles by a number of manufacturers including Hase, many with a recumbent position for the rider. (Quest88 are not a cycling-specific company, rather more of a collective running a variety of mobility-based projects -- doing amazing work throughout the country.)

The Hase Pino, one of the better known models -
a tandem with the captain at the back and a semi-reclined
position for the stoker in the front. 

With such a wide variety of non-traditional "cycling" machines on display, I think the Cycle Show may have missed a trick in not advertising the show widely using mainstream media outlets. Surely there was much here that could be of interest to those who do not cycle because for one reason or another they believe they cannot. There really are very few physical conditions or limitations that truly prevent a person from experiencing the joy of movement out in the open air on a bicycle-like vehicle. The opportunities are wider than ever. What I saw at the Cycle Show this year was hugely reassuring:  Cycling is indeed for everyone.