Excel Bike Show
Discussion
Went yesterday. Nice enough way to spend a couple of hours. I went to look at the Rose and Canyon stuff you can't otherwise see in this country. A few stands selling stuff, Madison have a big shop, High5 selling their race boxes at £5 but apart from that no amazing discounts that I noticed.
I went yesterday on the evening ticket deal which was only £6 and quite frankly it wasn't worth a penny more than that.
Not many stands selling stuff and the ones that were there were brands that most of us will have never heard of. Maddison made a decent effort and I bought a helmet and some bar tape from them, but on closer inspection the helmet looks a bit like a factory second. However, its only when you get really close. I paid £46 and it was meant to be £90, so thats not too bad.
It was good to see Giant, Canyon and Cannondale there. I think you could get a bit of a discount from Tri-UK on the bikes. I was on the Giant stand looking at the Propel Advanced 1 and the Giant rep said there were show discounts from Tri-UK. There were some Willier bikes for £1k.
Planet X weren't there and they had a large stand last year. It says a lot when biggest volume sellers in the UK don't put a stand there.
If you go through to the dive show, there are loads of stands selling stuff that all divers would want and recognise and want to buy. I still don't understand why the bike show can't manage this. My guess is that the market has been hammered by Wiggle and CRC and there just arn't any deals to be had, even if its on a show floor.
Also, slab bang in the middle of the bike show there was a stand for the RSPB (A bird charity!!) I recon Seat also had a bigger stand than any of the bike manufacturers.
It was only an hour on the train for me to go to the show. I know some people who travel from midlands to go to that show and I'm not sure its really worth the journey. I went hoping to pick up a bike work stand and there wasn't even one to buy there. I came home and bought one for £25 on Ebay
Not many stands selling stuff and the ones that were there were brands that most of us will have never heard of. Maddison made a decent effort and I bought a helmet and some bar tape from them, but on closer inspection the helmet looks a bit like a factory second. However, its only when you get really close. I paid £46 and it was meant to be £90, so thats not too bad.
It was good to see Giant, Canyon and Cannondale there. I think you could get a bit of a discount from Tri-UK on the bikes. I was on the Giant stand looking at the Propel Advanced 1 and the Giant rep said there were show discounts from Tri-UK. There were some Willier bikes for £1k.
Planet X weren't there and they had a large stand last year. It says a lot when biggest volume sellers in the UK don't put a stand there.
If you go through to the dive show, there are loads of stands selling stuff that all divers would want and recognise and want to buy. I still don't understand why the bike show can't manage this. My guess is that the market has been hammered by Wiggle and CRC and there just arn't any deals to be had, even if its on a show floor.
Also, slab bang in the middle of the bike show there was a stand for the RSPB (A bird charity!!) I recon Seat also had a bigger stand than any of the bike manufacturers.
It was only an hour on the train for me to go to the show. I know some people who travel from midlands to go to that show and I'm not sure its really worth the journey. I went hoping to pick up a bike work stand and there wasn't even one to buy there. I came home and bought one for £25 on Ebay

Gizmoish said:
Went yesterday. Nice enough way to spend a couple of hours. I went to look at the Rose and Canyon stuff you can't otherwise see in this country. A few stands selling stuff, Madison have a big shop, High5 selling their race boxes at £5 but apart from that no amazing discounts that I noticed.
I've never seen one of those Rose bikes, but looking at their website they seem to make nice looking attractive bikes & it seems hard to find anything written bad about them.The service they provide also looks first class

No no no no stop it.
bakerstreet said:
I went yesterday on the evening ticket deal which was only £6 and quite frankly it wasn't worth a penny more than that.
Not many stands selling stuff and the ones that were there were brands that most of us will have never heard of. Maddison made a decent effort and I bought a helmet and some bar tape from them, but on closer inspection the helmet looks a bit like a factory second. However, its only when you get really close. I paid £46 and it was meant to be £90, so thats not too bad.
It was good to see Giant, Canyon and Cannondale there. I think you could get a bit of a discount from Tri-UK on the bikes. I was on the Giant stand looking at the Propel Advanced 1 and the Giant rep said there were show discounts from Tri-UK. There were some Willier bikes for £1k.
Planet X weren't there and they had a large stand last year. It says a lot when biggest volume sellers in the UK don't put a stand there.
If you go through to the dive show, there are loads of stands selling stuff that all divers would want and recognise and want to buy. I still don't understand why the bike show can't manage this. My guess is that the market has been hammered by Wiggle and CRC and there just arn't any deals to be had, even if its on a show floor.
Also, slab bang in the middle of the bike show there was a stand for the RSPB (A bird charity!!) I recon Seat also had a bigger stand than any of the bike manufacturers.
It was only an hour on the train for me to go to the show. I know some people who travel from midlands to go to that show and I'm not sure its really worth the journey. I went hoping to pick up a bike work stand and there wasn't even one to buy there. I came home and bought one for £25 on Ebay
Thanks, useful info. I recently bought a new bike so was only looking to buy clothing and maybe some a few smaller things. I had contacted planet x and ribble to see if they would be attending but both confirmed they wouldn't, which is a real shame but then I suppose it goes against their low cost operating models (no idea how much excel charges them to display). Not many stands selling stuff and the ones that were there were brands that most of us will have never heard of. Maddison made a decent effort and I bought a helmet and some bar tape from them, but on closer inspection the helmet looks a bit like a factory second. However, its only when you get really close. I paid £46 and it was meant to be £90, so thats not too bad.
It was good to see Giant, Canyon and Cannondale there. I think you could get a bit of a discount from Tri-UK on the bikes. I was on the Giant stand looking at the Propel Advanced 1 and the Giant rep said there were show discounts from Tri-UK. There were some Willier bikes for £1k.
Planet X weren't there and they had a large stand last year. It says a lot when biggest volume sellers in the UK don't put a stand there.
If you go through to the dive show, there are loads of stands selling stuff that all divers would want and recognise and want to buy. I still don't understand why the bike show can't manage this. My guess is that the market has been hammered by Wiggle and CRC and there just arn't any deals to be had, even if its on a show floor.
Also, slab bang in the middle of the bike show there was a stand for the RSPB (A bird charity!!) I recon Seat also had a bigger stand than any of the bike manufacturers.
It was only an hour on the train for me to go to the show. I know some people who travel from midlands to go to that show and I'm not sure its really worth the journey. I went hoping to pick up a bike work stand and there wasn't even one to buy there. I came home and bought one for £25 on Ebay

I do find shows like this have got smaller over the years and I think you are right that the internet prices mean that the shows can't compete so instead they just have manufacturer stands who don't sell to the end consumer. At least you can view stuff at the show but then realistically will probably come home and buy it through wiggle or CRC and have it delivered to your door.
Brew said:
If anyone is going tomorrow would they mind finding out the show discount on a Bike a Box Alan? Phoned the office but they didn't seem to know. Don't want to waste my time going if the discount works out less than the entrance ticket, parking etc.
Thanks in advance.
£418 for black or blue, £438 for other colours.Thanks in advance.
SixtySpeedTwin said:
Glad i read this! Its a bit of a trek from Dorset, i wanted to see the planet x track bikes......
We get the Primera Tri show which is free and has loads of bargains.
Probably saved a wedge and grief from the Mrs......
Really? There is no such thing as a free lunch. My idea of a bargain would be a Castelli or Gore jersey in the normal sizes for £25 in colours that normal people actually want to buy. It doesn't count if its XXXL or S. My guess is the bargains would be no better than what you get online and in some cases worse, you could probably get it cheaper online anyway! We get the Primera Tri show which is free and has loads of bargains.
Probably saved a wedge and grief from the Mrs......
There wasn't a Gore or castelli jersey in sight at the show yesterday. I would have bought one if there was

Things are always in the sale for a reason. Westbrook spent ages trying to flog SRAM equipped Foil 30s. £1995 down to £1695 then down to £1195. Its all because no one wanted to buy one!
However, I still liked my wonder round the show. I e-mailed the Telegraph with my feedback on last year and I shall do the same thing again for this show.
I'd love it f Wiggle could have a massive stand there and bring their full DHB range. I'd like to try some of their new DHB ASV kit

Was umming and erring about this. The video of last years show didn't fill me with confidence. Glad I decided not to based on the reviews.
I will go to the Tri show at Sandown Park in a couple weeks. But that's closer and cheaper and I don't tend to buy at the event, just listen to the various seminars.
To the OP. BBA do rentals for the boxes. Might that not be worth it?
I will go to the Tri show at Sandown Park in a couple weeks. But that's closer and cheaper and I don't tend to buy at the event, just listen to the various seminars.
To the OP. BBA do rentals for the boxes. Might that not be worth it?
On my way home from the show now. Was a good way to spend a few hours this morning but as expected, no real deals to be had. Most things were just marked at the RRP, even Madison who in previous shows have had sale rails full of clothes, didn't have anything like that. Was great to see Sir Chris Hoy q+a plus saw plenty of nice bikes but most out of my price range!
Cookie338 said:
I went today, was a disappointing show other than seeing Manon Carpenter in the flesh. Not enough of the big manufacturers there, and nowhere near enough stuff to even try to buy. Out of all the power meters I could only see Powertap and Rotor with a presence
4iiii were there with their £350 power meters but you could've easily walked past their stand and not realised. It was quite incognito.Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff


