Taipei Intl Cycle Show - Part 1

UnGodly hours.. 

Michelle my wife dropped me off at the KLIA last night.
We had dinner and parted ways. 
She's off to St Antonio in Texas, US, on her annual conference while I was headed to Taiwan for the Cycle Taipei 2014 show.
It's an exciting event for me as it's also my first bicycle trade show.
I am featuring this on the Malaysian Foldie e-magazine.
So, there I was, catching the midnight flight to Taoyuan Intl Airport in Taiwan, been there at least twice on transit, but never got off to see what lies beyond.
The flight took about six hours and sleep deprivation is something that I fought all the way..

At the KLIA departure gate early this morning

It's gloomy in downtown Taipei

Tern's Road Warrior, one beefy bike!

Best of the bicycling industry under one big roof!

Beyond the Immigration counter...

I cleared Immigration and Customs without any issues.
The first thing I did was to get onto a bus to the Taipei City Terminal.
It's about 45-minutes ride from Taoyuan Intl Airport and I must say that the journey was smooth. When I arrived at the East gate of the terminal, I had my Easy Card (prepaid card for MRT, bus and retail purchase) topped-up.
Destination: Ximending, a popular pedestrian mall in the heart of Taipei.
Things didn't seem much as the district was still "asleep".
I asked around on how to get there via MRT and was told to take the Bannan Line, which is just one station away from the Taipei City Terminal.
Now, the best part was to search for a motel I booked three months ago.
I asked around and was shown to the South Xining Road and finally located the reception.
A lady who manned the desk told me that I can only get my room after 12 noon.
I agreed, paid up for the five nights I've booked and made my way to the Nangang Exhibition Hall which was at the end of the Banan Line.

Tern's booth at the Taipei Cycle show

Eric Mah giving me a tour of Biologic's latest products for 2014

 The Nangang Exhibition Hall was packed with folks from the bicycling industry.
I made my way to the pre-registered visitor's booth and picked up my pass.
It was amazing to see everything and everyone under one roof.
I located the Tern Bicycles booth, which was an amazing place to hangout and spoke to Eric Mah who is in charge of marketing.
He showed me around and explained to me about Biologic and Tern's new products and I must say that I am amazed with a few new bike gadgets that came out of their stable.
I also got to see the Tern Eclipse S18i up close. 
This is the bike that I came all the way to see and it's just awesome!
By noon, I left Nangang and headed by to Ximending.
My cosy little room at the motel was ready as I was led to it by another lady.
She gave me a bunch of keys and I told her to confirm my taxi ride to the Taoyuan Airport on early Monday morning.
I did explore part of Ximending in the late afternoon and ended up having late lunch at a Ramen shop.
Later, I made my way back to my motel and crashed. I was just too tired to do anything else.
Woke up after four hours of slumber and made myself some instant noodles where I downed it to line my stomach.
I am headed back to Nangang tomorrow noon to join the Tern Social Ride where a bike was prepared for me by the Tern guys! So, stay tuned.. 

The shape of things to come..

Some excitement in the air..
One of the largest consumer trade show in the world for the bicycling industry is taking place in Germany at the end of this month.
Its Eurobike 2012 and some very important announcements will be made at this exhibition.
Buyers, dealers, retailers and manufacturers will convene at the showcase of 'what's new' and 'what's in' during the four-day event.

Tern
Debuting this year is Tern's Swoop.
This addition to the manufacturer's line up is a low-platform bike which is appealing to ladies.
Two versions are available: the two-speed Swoop Duo and D7i.
The Swoop D7i carries a pricetag of between 900 - 1,000 Euros (RM3,83k).

The new Tern Swoop

 Other than that, there are some really new and exciting accessories from Tern and there is another biggie from Biologic as well at the show. Till its showtime at Eurobike at the end of this month, stay tuned!

Biologic
Its no surprise on why Biologic remained at the forefront in producing some of the most interesting bike gadgets for the urban commuter.
And it just gets better with the Biologic seat post pump version 2.0.
I know for a fact that a sample had already arrived on our shores and I hope it gets a good review.

The new seat post pump

 Dahon
Things are a 'little bit quiet' as the company celebrates three decades in manufacturing folding bikes.
An announcement was made to produce a limited quantity of the Da-Bike replicas and that's really exciting.
Some existing bike models from Dahon too will undergo a 'spruce-up'.

Jetstream P8
This is one of my favourite bike and for 2013, disk brakes are added to the front and rear wheels.
Even the colour scheme will change from gun metal to a funky 'euro-styled' appearance.
For the urban commuter, fenders are now standard-fitting on this bike.

The new Jetstream P8

 Dash P18
This is the best-selling bike in the Klang Valley.
WIth more and more beginners jumping into the Dash bandwagon, next year's model will be upgraded with a set of disk brakes. 

Better than ever: the Dash P18

Good bye Eco-7..
The Dahon Eco-7 will be replace by a new model.
Its called 'Vybe' and more will be announced at the show later this month..

The Eco-7 replacement

 
 

First impressions: Biologic Android Bike Mount

Surprise! Surprise!
A couple of weeks back, Joshua Hon, VP of Mobility Holdings asked: "What Android phone are you using Sam?" 
I told Josh that I am using the LG Optimus 2X.
There are really cool and exciting things happening at Biologic Biologic's official website and one of the gadgets they are developing is the Android Bike Mount.
This follows the success of the iphone mount and if you are an Android user, the option is now available for you to mount your phone on your bike handlebar.
That said, you can utilise your sports tracking and workout apps or use the Android phones maps and GPS system while on the go.

Coming to a bikestore near you: The Biologic Android Bike Mount

 May 2012 release
Biologic's Android Bike Mount will be available soon.
Josh told me that it took the Biologic team nearly nine months to develop the product.
Now, what's interesting about the Android mount i s the series of liners that you can use to mount your phone inside the protective and water-proof shell.
Four versions of the liners are available for the Android Mount. They are: Samsung Galaxy S11, Galaxy S, LG Optimus 2X and HTC phones.

Bomb-proof! The Android Bike Mount on hand

  Quality, fit and finish
This product is solid right out of the box.
With the liner properly fitted, my LG Optimus 2X phone sits nicely in its protective shell.
The power switch is operated by pressure, so, you really have to press the shell liner's silicon button really hard.
On the touch screen, no issues, it can scroll and swipe like normal.
One thing I like about this protective shell is the feature where you can rotate the shell to portraite or landscape.
The Android Bike Mount is perfect for short distance commute in any weather condition and the supplied bike mounting foot holds firmly to take the rigours of daily riding.

What to expect for Android fans?
Now that the option to mount your Samsung, LG and HTC phone is available, let's hope that Biologic would consider a ReeCharge mount.
If you have a Biologic Joule II dynamo hub, you can rig the Reecharge to power up your Android phone on the move. 
Another product that I would like to see is the Biologic BikeBrain on the Android OS. Josh told me that it wasn't easy to develop this apps compared to the readily available version for IOS on the iphone. But I do sincerely hope that Biologic would look into this.. 

Biologic Bike Brain Lite

Biologic's Bike Brain Lite is a free application for Iphone 4 users

The Bike Brain's dashboard

You can map your ride on this apps

Biologic, a division on Dahon bikes have come up with some really cool stuff.
One of the most interesting free apps they are offering, is the Bike Brain for iphone 4.
I've downloaded this onto my ipod, but it doesn't work.
You'll need an iphone to make full use of its GPS tracking and mapping capabilities.
Since its free, and if you own an iphone, this apps is worth checking out.
I doubt it very much that I would ever own an iphone 4 because the cost of getting one and maintanining it is simply outrageous and the vendors who sells them are confirmed retards..