Chipps gives the Singletrackworld members his personal takeaways from the massive 2024 Eurobike Show, held recently in Frankfurt.
I reckon it’s coming up on 30 years since my first Eurobike Show and, obviously, much has changed since my first one in 1995. Back then, there was the big Interbike Show in the USA, where all of the world’s bike companies and press gathered to see what was new. Eurobike was where the big European companies would show their wares; however, it usually took place at least two or three weeks before Interbike, so there was always a good chance of seeing something before it launched Stateside.
However, time moves on and Interbike has faded away, leaving Eurobike as the premier bicycle show in the world. The early July timing of it makes no particular sense for model-year brands who might have already launched their 2025 stuff back in April, but it’s still where the bike world gets together, launches new stuff and celebrates history too.
There were plenty of anniversaries going on at this year’s show, including 30 years for DT Swiss, 15 years for the bike arm of SDG saddles, 30 years for Muc Off and, why not, 30 years for me being a full-time bike journalist. It was also at Europe 2014, ten years ago, that we launched grit.cx in both paper and online formats. Talking about being a little too far ahead of the curve. Most bike companies we spoke to at the time were all ‘Why are you riding cyclocross race bikes on these off road trails? We don’t understand…’ And by the time the gravel world had exploded, we’d had to stop printing the magazine as we’d run out of money. Ah well.
There was no mistaking the influence of the new gravel world on the bike industry at the show, though. Between e-bikes (both mountain and utility) and gravel bikes, I reckon they covered perhaps 80% of the bikes being displayed at Eurobike 2024. That’s not to say that trail mountain bikes and hardtails weren’t high in the minds of the bike company execs at the show. The skew was probably due to the fact that many companies still have warehouses of bikes ordered during the early Covid-spike in demand, which were delivered during the post-Covid ‘slump’ (or return to normal levels…) and which has slowed new bike development a little, this decade.
Nevertheless, many bike and component companies were upbeat, especially the ones who’d cleared their warehouses or who hadn’t over-ordered in the first place. The mood was buoyant, though, with many companies looking forward to a summer of bike riding and sales. This is always the irony with the UK… it doesn’t matter what 12 speed, long-travel or electric-assist developments have been going on in the bike world, if there’s a good summer, bikes will sell. If there’s a crap, sideways rain kind of summer, no one is going to be inspired to go shopping for new wheels.
If there were themes to take away from the show apart from ‘Everyone only had ebikes’ or ‘All the new stuff was for gravel and bikepacking bikes’ (which we’ll cover separately on grit.cx) is was this: There were a load of people who were obviously making the time to ride bikes. The bike industry is like any other commercial world: no matter how much fun it looks – whether that be making F1 cars, making rock crushing machines, playing bass guitar for a rock band, building luxury resorts, making pens and watches, or making bikes – there are a lot of meetings, a load of paperwork, there is usually a lot of travel, often across or around the world, and the actual fun bit (which is all that people see) is the 5% of the job that makes it all worthwhile.
This year, more than ever, it seemed that many people who work with bicycles day-to-day, have been trying hard to make sure they actually ride the things. With a little less international travel needed, thanks to Zoom and friends, brand managers have been able to spend more time riding the products they champion, and to test the products they spec. All of that leads to a fitter, happier, more informed bunch of bike company employees, which means better bikes for all, right? Another focus, seemed to be the realisation that, with bikes costing as much as many of our cars, spending some time and investing some money in actually maintaining them makes a lot of sense. Feedback Sports was even showing a home mechanics’ electric workstand that will happily take an ebike up to 50kg, and which offers foot-button up and down travel via a motor. It’s going to be nearly £1300, but for riders with those enviable home workshops (and expensive bikes) I can see takers for it.
While the bike trade would claim that Eurobike wasn’t at a commercially good time of year to be showing off new products (too early for 2026 stuff and too late for 2025 products, which have already been launched) there were still plenty of new things to find within the big, big halls and outdoor areas of the Frankfurt show. I spent three days at the show and felt like I’d barely scratched the surface. To do a fully comprehensive report on the show would take more staff than Singletrackworld has, and more late nights of editing and compiling than I have the energy for these days. Instead, I’ve looked through my photos and notepads and pulled out a selection of great products and bikes that I think you’d enjoy, presented here just for the delight of the singletrackworld.com members.
First on the Anniversary train was DT Swiss, celebrating 30 years of making hubs, wheels and then suspension. As a nod to the Star Ratchet’s Hugi hub origins, there’ll be an anniversary wheelset that apes that classic look (and classic click!), with silver J-bend spokes (remember them?) and that classic high flanged look.
Elsewhere, DT Swiss had new silver foil graphics and some very fancy XRC 1200 and XMC 1200 wheels. The XRC wheels come in around 1300g a set, still with 30mm internal rims and 56T ratchets. The XMC 1200s start at 1520g a set, again on 30mm rims, though with a 56 or 90T ratchet option.
At the 2023 Eurobike, last year, there was much buzz over the Pinion ‘MGU’ – motor and gearbox unit, which combined Pinion’s internal 12 speed bottom bracket mounted gearbox idea with an electric motor into one, neat unit that puts all of your weight, and gubbins, into a single, low position. However, apart from a few lucky product managers and bike journos, not many have had the chance to ride one in the wild. This should be changing, with the Nicolai Saturn 16 MGU being launched at the show, and the imminent arrival of this 2025 Project Box 46 from French company, Moustache, currently in stealth camo. The Moustache ‘Project Box 46’ MGU bike will feature Moustache’s own battery, a 170/160mm suspension design and should be out in early 2025.
I was impressed to see that Haro Bicycles had a whole stand full of pedal power bikes – both road, gravel and mountain, though I was then disappointed to hear that it was mostly as their ebikes were stuck in customs…
The hype-centre of the show was certainly the Amflow bike booth. It had a line of people round the stand, queuing to have a spin on this new bike. What was the cause of this interest? Firstly, DJI, the drone people (who know a lot about making small, powerful motors that also need to be light) has launched its own ebike motor system – with batteries, motors, touch-screen controllers and related apps and gadgets. It appears to beat much of the competition in terms of power to weight and overall system weight. The motor is 2.52kg, offering 105Nm of torque and its 600Wh and 800Wh batteries can be charged from 0% to 75% in 1.5 hours).
However, being a new component company, albeit one with a great reputation – just not in the bike world – makes it hard to win over product managers used to relying on Bosch, Shimano or Fazua. DJI appears to have created its own bike company, Amflow, just to show those doubters a rideable bike that allows everyone to have a look and feel of the new components. If they sell any bikes, I imagine that’ll be a bonus, but I don’t think DJI is seriously pitching its bikes as the best place for the motors and batteries as it’ll benefit better if some big bike companies put in some hefty orders.
Five new bikes, that is, from a revitalised and slightly streamlined Orange Bikes. Now with presses, workshop, welding, marketing and shipping coming out of one building, it’s hoped that things are bright for Orange. Boss, Ashley Ball, was certainly upbeat (though when isn’t he?) claiming that the range of Halifax-built bikes was the best ever. I fact, the stand was awash with those big, ‘stack of coins’ welds that fans love and detractors, well don’t. The range on display was almost completely absent of its Far East hardtails, with only a steel P7 frame on the wall. Even the new Whippet jump bike is a made-in-Halifax number. I hope that this new vigour carries on to the customers too.
The Whippet calls to mind the fantastic Ms-Isle from back in the day, made for Missy Giove’s dual slalom racing efforts, but used for so much more – from dirt jumping to street racing.
I’ve got to congratulate Orange, always good with names, but even so, for calling its junior full suspension bike the Satsuma. Bravo! In other clever move, it’s also a 140/130mm mullet bike, only this time with 27.5 and 26in wheels…
There are a million ‘me-too’ component brands. In fact there was a whole hall of Far Eastern companies happy to put your logos on their hubs, rims, pedals and ebike frames if you wanted, so it was good to see some innovation on display on the FUNN booth, where it was showing off a pretty neat kids’ range of components.
FUNN showed the new Speedrun and Hilt Jr grips, specially downsized for smaller hands. Now, we’ve seen thinner diameter bars for small grips before, but there’s usually a big flare out where the bar needs to return to standard diameter to fit brake levers and shifters. FUNN simply gets around this by keeping the bar thin (and more flexible and trimmable in width) and supplying four shims so that your brakes, shifters and droppers will fit on. Clever.
Not stopping there, FUNN also showed a range of ‘mini-me’ Taipan S thermoplastic flat pedals that look like the grown ups’ pedals, only smaller for smaller feet (95mm x 80mm instead of 105x100mm of adult pedals). However, one of the newbie issues with flat pedals is mashing shins and calves with pedal pins on slips and crashes. FUNN has (again, simply) rounded off the ends of the replaceable pins so they remain grippy, but are less fond of flesh.
And, finally from FUNN. Want a bit more height on your bars? Here’s the Upturn! The FUNN Upturn was designed initially for comfort bikes and less flexible riders, (yet still rated and tested for aggressive riding), FUNN has found that taller and more adventurous trail riders are keen to enjoy the delights of these 785mm bars with 40, 55 and a massive 75mm of rise.
ODI has made a grip with D3O (the company, not necessarily the compound) – as the grip uses a new material that claims to do the opposite of ‘normal’ orange D3O, (which hardens under impacts). This grip is designed to absorb impacts by damping the impacts from the bar before they transfer to your hands. The only bit of ‘normal’ D3O is a small corner designed to shrug off bike ‘drops’ and protect you, and the ends of your bars.
If there was a component trend for this year’s show, it would have to be tyre valves! Although there are already tubeless, insert and sealant-friendly valves, it’s not stopped companies from designing ‘even better’ ones. Here are three that I got a close look at:
As the inventor of modern tubeless, Stan’s has a good tubeless pedigree, and its EXO-Core valve is designed to work perfectly with many rim types, coming in four lengths too for rims up to 46mm deep. The clever bit, though, is that it’s designed in a way that no sealant touches the seals of the valve – how many of us have had leaky, or stuck, valves gummed up with latex? We’ll be giving them a try out to see if they live up to the promise.
Muc Off, also 30 this year, showed off its new Big Bore valve that comes in three different sizes, for between 230% and 264% faster air flow. The heart of the valve is a stainless ball valve (similar to your master water or gas main…) – when it’s open, there’s literally a big hole through the valve, all the way into the tyre. But twist the side valve 90% and it’s sealed. If you have a Schrader drilled rim, the hole is even bigger (that’s where the 264% number comes). Surely too good to be true? We’ll find out.
Schwalbe always has a few things hidden in plain sight, and I caught a glimpse of what might be termed a ‘racing ebike mud tyre’ or is it a downhill mudder? We’ll see what it’s best at when we get one in the office. The big hint about it seemed to be a new and much more flexible tyre carcass that helps deform to the ground without bottoming out. There will also be a general simplification of Schwalbe’s complicated system of different tyre carcasses and rubber durometers in general too, so that future tyres will be easy to choose based on tyre flexibility/puncture resistance and grip.
A big focus, though, was also on a tyre valve, but this isn’t designed for MAX AIRFLOW, it’s simply designed to be simple to use – particularly for smaller hands that struggle with the whole ‘press pump head on, lift up lever, pump, pull off without breaking valve head’ thing. Called the Clik Valve, it screw-in replaces a Presta core with what looks like a sealed lid. Pop on the proprietary (*more on that later) valve head, though, and it simply clicks into place with the effort it takes to put the lid back on your Uniball pen. The valve is now open and securely connected. Pump away and pull off to seal. There’s no screwing (or bending) of valve stems or even a need for a valve cap. It is super simple. Currently there’s an adaptor that you can fit to your pump head, or SKS Pumps have a complete replacement. *You can even use a regular Presta pump head, but although the air will go in, the one way valve won’t give you any back pressure, so your gauge won’t work. Replacement presta-compatible valve heads (using the original stem) will be around a fiver, with a conversion kit running around £15-£18.
SRAM’s booth is always busy. There are many, many shiny things there – electric gears, the latest suspension and some top innovations. There’s also a great coffee machine, so it was definitely the booth to head to first thing.
In between the new suspension bits and pieces, which Benji and Hannah have been covering during the spring as each launch unfolded, there was also the ‘S-1000’ series, which features a few interesting bits. Aimed mostly as an OEM group, so unlikely for sale aftermarket for a while, the big thing is in the 10-52T cassette – given that it will fit onto a regular Shimano Hyperglide cassette body, something I always thought was impossible. However, due to the fact that the smallest four cogs are effectively a single unit, and SRAM’s Transmission is meant for a wider 55mm chainline, there’s _just_ enough room to get it all to fit. The rest of the S-1000 includes a chainset and a ‘cheaper than GX’ electric AXS Eagle shifter. These will be appearing on production bikes any day now (and I think Specialized already has bikes with it on.) But it’s all good for home tinkerers and those on a budget, even though you may have to initially find it on a complete bike.
One corner of the SRAM booth was taken up with a special kind of transmission innovation… The mighty World Bicycle Relief Buffalo Bike now has a Mark2! WBR has been championed by SRAM, and other partners, since its inception in 2010. Since then, over 800,000 sturdy, fixable bikes have been sent out around the world to those whose lives they have the biggest chance to improve. Along with the bikes, full support is given in finding and training bike mechanics to support the WBR bikes in order to keep them on the road and making a difference. However, in some places, a single speed bike isn’t always ideal, even though it’s the simplest, so work has been going on to make a geared version of the Buffalo bike.
They didn’t get carried away. Everything needed to be easily serviceable in the most basic of conditions and with simple tools. The new bike now features two speeds! Again, in order to keep things simple and solid (at the expense of a little weight) the bike features two chains and two chainrings and sprockets. The hub has a kickback mechanism that determines which of the two transmissions is powered by the pedals, so there’s not derailing of chains and everything is kept simple and strong. These new Buffalo bikes will get a price increase, to around $165, but the extended gearing will make them vastly more useable by more people and in more places. Top work, WBR!
Park Tool has made a six-sided die shape that has impressions of fork top caps in. You know those Fox or Rockshox air cap covers that have been tweaked on so tight, you need a spanner to remove them? And then you scratch the anodising? This tool removes them easily and without scratching. Ace! I also loved their workshop scissors and the new bottle opener that looks like Park’s pedal spanner.
And there we are, a brief trip around some of the 500 photos I appear to have shot at this year’s Eurobike. There are more that’ll be appearing in a grit.cx roundup of the more skinny tyre, utility and bikepacking aspects of the show (Don’t discount them as that’s where a large amount of development effort is going right now…)
The show was busy and it was upbeat. There weren’t any empty spaces of unsold show booths or companies that went bust the day before the show, so that’s a good sign. There was free beer at many booths once the show had officially closed (and some even before then) with a lot of good natured chat going on as the bike world got sort of back on track with Eurobike after a couple of Covid-affected years and a move from it’s previous home in Friedrichshafen to the new urban centre of Frankfurt.
The best bit about attending shows like this, though, held in windowless show halls within a short walk of moderately expensive hotels, is that when you get home, to your own non-shiny bike and ride back on your old familiar trails – perhaps without the aid of the latest gears or wheels or tyre valves – you appreciate it more. Everything on display at the show will potentially just become ‘old bikes’ and ‘old gears’ in a decade or so, but the simple joy of turning pedals and actually getting somewhere will never get old.
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