Taipei Intl Cycle Show - Part 3

It's a wrap!

Today was my third day at the Taipei Cycle show and it was truly a humbling experience.
Most of the manufacturers were at the show with the exception of certain "big boys" in the bicycle manufacturing business.
But to me, all the important people in the folding bike circle was at the show. So, it's definitely worth the trip.
I spent the earlier part of the day cruising around mid-town Taipei and actually ended up at the Nangang exhibition hall around 2pm.
That was my plan right from the start as I've covered quite a bit of what I wanted to do at the show.

The Ximending district

MRT, my daily commute to Nangang Exhibition Hall

Networking: Meeting a fellow foldie and publisher..

I am a fan of Kris Gomeze's Bicycle United magazine, Thailand's first bi-lingual cycling magazine that also has an e-magazine edition.
Her work inspired me to publish The Malaysian Foldie and I must say that meeting up with Kris, even though its a brief moment, was really enlightening.
We shared our thoughts on folding bikes and for me, it's a learning curve.
The print-edition of Bicycle United is growing fast and its also a real good read. 
The digest-sized magazine retails at 80baht in Thailand.

Cool beans from Biologic

I was shown the new Biologic speed and cadence sensor that retails at USD$45.95 (RM150 excluding tax and freight). 
This new product can be linked to your smartphone (Android 4.3 and above) and the IOS for iphones.
What I find neat, is the fact that the sensor can be used on smaller folding bikes with a longer chainstay.

How it works..

An actual working model of the sensor

Biologic Pango Helmets for charity..

More than 150 white pango folding helmets were sold for charity.
These went for NT799 (RM85) with proceeds going to World Bicycle Relief. Truly a noble deed by Mobility Holdings! 

Going for a good cause: The white pangos

Coming your way soon: Tern's new bikes..

K2 Asia had announced their new bikes for 2014 and Tern bicycle enthusiasts can look forward to the Verge P9, P20 and Eclipse P18.
These are headed to Malaysia on a March/April release.

The Eclipse P18, folded on the bottom left, is expected soon in Malaysia

Friendly faces at the Tern boot at the 2014 Cycle Taipei show..

Signing off..

Well, there you have it, three days of live-feed from the Cycle Taipei show.
I will be on my break tomorrow till Sunday before I catch my early morning flight to Kuala Lumpur on Monday.
There's much to do when I hit KL and I am missing my wife who is in Texas, US, right now and my two kidz..
I will write about my travel in Taipei on another post. Till then, thanks for following me.. 

Taipei Intl Cycle Show - Part 2

Day two...

I caught up with my much-needed sleep and wandered around Ximending for some breakfast. 
Found a decent makan place and ordered a bowl of oyster mee-suah. Which was very decent and the gravy was blasted with garlic.
Made my way to the Nangang exhibition hall and took as many photos as I could.
The mandatory stops were at the Schwalbe booth.
This year, the tire company launched their Durano plus tire and I saw a 20" tire on display at their booth.
Later, I made my way to the Pacific Cycle booth and met Fei Lee of GW Cycles.
We chat a bit and I learned that he has been in Taipei since last Friday.
He will be leaving tomorrow afternoon for KL.
Lee also showed me a prototype Pacific Reach. 
Then, some bigwig from the company said the bike cannot be shown in postings and blogs as its not a production model.
Its also strange to learn that Lee has yet to sell any Pacific Reach in KL.
Another exciting new product was the Birdy Classic. 
This is based on its original Riese & Muller design and it's already catching up fast in KL.

GW Cycle's Lee at the Taipei Cycle show

At the Pacific Cycles booth

A Pacific Reach rigged for touring

While I was doing my rounds, I bumped into Mr Khoo from Funsportz, the guy in charge of GoPro cameras.

He was with his own entourage, we chat a bit, but the people whom he was leading seemed pretty stuck-up.

From the main exhibition area, I moved to the sixth floor where Dahon had launched their new product: the Dahon Clinch.

This is their flagship bike using a 10-speed SRAM Red drivetrain and is incorporated with some new technology for better handling.

The Clinch is previewed for the first time at the Taipei Cycle show.

I think this is an exciting new bike and it's got all the bells and whistles to flaunt.

At the reception, I also bumped into Henry Hon, one of the brothers who founded Dahon Bicycles. 

The Dahon Clinch

A sporty looking Dahon Visc

An orange Dahon Speed

A black/green Dahon Jetstream P8

Tern's trolley rack wins award..

The trolley rack that came standard with Tern Link D7i has won a design award at the Taipei Cycle show! 

Congrats to Josh and team Tern on this well-deserved award.

Well, that's all the time I have.. I am getting ready for the Tern social ride that is taking place later today at 5:30pm. 

More to come..

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..