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London Bike Show 2015 preview - another roundup of what you can expect to see

Futuristic Canyon road bike, Bowman, Indy Fab, Parlee, Beacon, Edco, FFWD and much more at the show

The 2015 London Bike Show heads to ExCeL London on 12-15th February and to give you a taster of what you can expect to see if you're going, without giving it all away of course, here is a preview of some of the bikes and products that will be on display. If you missed the first preview article you can read it here.

If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you can book them in advance and save at www.thelondonbikeshow.co.uk

Canyon

German brand Canyon will be showing their futuristic MRSC concept, a full suspension road bike packed with sensors that can adjust the damping based on the road conditions. There are disc brakes too, and on-board computers and sensors and a SIM card can connect the bike to the cloud, as well as that it’s GPS-enabled and features accelerometers that can detect a serious crash and alert the emergency services, amongst many of the features this tech-laden bike is offering. 

Back to normal bikes, and Nairo Quintana's Pink Giro Ultimate CF SLX will be on display, alongside Alex Dowsett’s Movistar Speedmax (plans to showcase his Hour record bike have been put on hold for obvious reasons). Dowsett will be doing a Q&A at the show along with a signing event.

Bespoke Cycling

London-based Bespoke Cycling will be bringing along some of their exotic and lustworthy road bikes for you to drool over, from the likes of Independent Fabrication, Colnago, Parlee, Moots, Passoni, Cannondale, Trek and more. They haven’t confirmed what actual bikes they’re going to bring yet, but something along the lines of the Independent Fabrication Club Racer Custom pictured above, or the Parlee Altum below, would certainly make for a stand worth visiting.

Selle San Marco DiMA saddle selector

Most saddle companies now offer a fitting service, Selle San Marco are no different, and they will be showing their new DiMA Selector App. The app uses a series of questions to determine the right saddle from their range is most suitable for you and the type of riding you do. From age, sensitivity to pressure, body type, saddle to bar drop and many other factors, the perfect saddle is chosen for you. The company will have a large range of saddles on display for you to check out.

FFWD’s new F4R Special Silver Edition carbon wheels

Wheel brand FFWD will be displaying a limited edition version of the F4R wheelset. It’s a combination of a DT Swiss 180 front and rear hub with carbon ceramic bearings, designed exclusively for FFWD, and laced to 45mm deep section carbon fibre tubular wheels. That guarantees they’re light, a claimed 1,145g in case you’re wondering.

Edco wheels to launch at the show

Swiss cycling company Edco, who have been around since 1902, will be launching into the UK market at the London Bike Show. Edco's wheel range starts from £550 and rises to £2,150, and includes carbon fibre clinchers and tubular wheels. The flagship wheelset, and their lightest, is the SuperSport Neggia Light 24mm tubular. It weighs just 999g. Because Edco are coming into the UK via the same people that look after Continental tyres, each wheelset will be supplied with a pair of Conti tyres.

Beacon Bikes

Ribble Valley-based Beacon will once again be showing their range of bikes at the London Bike Show. They have a tempting offer for anyone visiting their stand, they’re offering a free road frame, model upgrade or free pair of training wheels with all bike orders placed at the show.

Weldtite marks 75th birthday with rebranded lubes and cleaners

It’s 75 years since Weldtite, a UK-based manufacturer of lubes and cleaners, launched and to mark the occasion they’ll be launching their rebranded TF2 Lubricants and Dirtwash Cleaners (their two best sellers) at the show.

They’ll also be showing their new Pure Eco Cleaners and Lubricants and they’ll be handing out free samples of cleaner, disc rotor wipes, chain wax and lubes.

Fat-E-Bikes

Fat-E-Bikes will be showing two custom made e-bikes, including this ‘Black and White’ show special above. The company specialises in electrified fat bikes and each bike is custom built specifically to a customers requirements.

Big Bobble Hats

In the market for a new wooly hat? Be sure to make a beeline for Big Bobble Hats who will be showing many cycling themed hats, available to buy at the show.

What might these themes be? Well there’ll be a world champion's rainbow stripes one, a Belgian flavoured hat and more besides. 

Locksit, a helmet lock that doubles as a front light

A helmet lock that doubles as a front light, that's the new UK designed Locksit, an innovative product that will be launching at the show.

A retractable cable can be threaded through the helmet vents and secured to your bicycle, and doubles up as a front light when you’re cycling. Interested? So are we, which is why it's on our list to have a look at when we attend the show.

Brainy Bike Lights

There has been a huge number of innovative new cycling safety accessories and lights in the last couple of years, as cycling as a form of transport has become very popular.

Brainy Bike Lights will be demonstrating their light which displays an illuminated bike symbol on both the front and rear lights. The inventors claim their evidence demonstrates a “quicker and more accurate identification” of cyclists using this light, helping them to stand out in urban light clutter both during the day and at night by speeding up reaction times in drivers. It’s an interesting concept, and they claim to have evidence that backs up their claims, we’ll be definitely taking a closer look at the show.

Action Camera

On the Action Camera stand you'll be able to check out the latest sports cameras, accessories and mounts, ideal for any budding filmmakers wanting to film their cycling adventures.

Kerbi puncture repair app

There are few things as annoying as getting a puncture, so here’s an interesting solution. Kerbi is an app that, should you puncture, allows you to hail a repair provider which will alert other willing cyclists to come to your assistance.

It’s clearly aimed at those cyclists for who changing an inner tube is a daunting prospect, and relies on the goodwill and generosity of other cyclists to help them out. Once the repair has been made secure payment is made via the app, using Stripe. Interested? The app will be free to download from the iTunes app store in March, and you can take a closer look at the show. No word on an Android version yet.

Brodco Daylight Secure Max garden strongroom

From Brodco is the Daylight Secure Max garden strongroom, a walk-in bike store designed to be an impenetrable fortress for your bikes.

Most models weigh over a ton, so it’s certainly not going anywhere, and there’s now a Kevlar roof option for increased security.

Wall mounted racks provides lots of capacity for storing a number of bikes.

Solowheel electric unicycle

The odd looking Solowheel, an electric powered unicycle, will be on display and promises to turn a few heads.

Despite its looks, it’s claimed to be easy to learn to ride, and can transport its user up to 10 miles at a speed of 10mph, and it’s compact enough to carry on the bus or train.

Batribike to launch two new electric bikes

Lincolnshire-based electric bicycle specialists Batribike will be showing their new Francis-Barnett vintage style electric bikes at the show.

The bike, built in the UK, features a front hub motor generating 250W with five levels of pedalling assistance, running through a Shimano Nexus 7-speed gear hub. The bike will be available to buy in May.

Also brand new is the Batribike Storm, a full-suspension electric mountain bike using a 250W rear hub motor and a Samsung battery mounted on the down tube. A handlebar mounted LCD display provides easy access to the five levels of pedal assist and allows you to monitor the battery status. It features a Shimano 24-speed groupset with Quick Shift, lockable suspension, puncture resistant tyres and disc brakes. A standard feature is the fitting of a Datatag Stealth Pro security system.

Showers Pass to reveal new Double Century RTX jacket

Showers Pass will be using the London Bike Show to launch the new Double Century RTX, a lightweight and packable jacket made from an Artex 2.5DC fabric.

It’s a waterproof fabric with fully taped seams and a 2-way front zipper with a storm flap and chin guard, and plenty of vents and a chest pocket. It has 360 degree 3M Scotchlite reflective details along with a rear light loop. It will cost £125 and comes in men and women’s sizes and colours.

Bowman Cycles

Finally, the London Bike Show will be the first public showing of the new aluminium frames from Bowman Cycles. They'll have the Palace, which scored very highly in the road.cc Bike of the Year Awards, as well as the latest Pilgrims disc-equipped road frameset, which we saw a prototype of last year.

See you at the show.

David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes

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12 comments

Avatar
Cyclosis | 9 years ago
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Dear goodness that's a bad photoshop job on the bobble hat.

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markovich replied to Cyclosis | 9 years ago
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Cyclosis wrote:

Dear goodness that's a bad photoshop job on the bobble hat.

God, yes, a shocker

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Tinternet_tim | 9 years ago
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Thanks for the comments on possible discounts. Appreciated.

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darrenleroy | 9 years ago
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Given aluminium has allegedly made great strides in the last decade away from the jarring, harsh rides of old, it would make an interesting feature to put a keen rider on a three similar bikes in titanium, steel and aluminium to see if he could tell the difference.

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rjfrussell replied to darrenleroy | 9 years ago
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you'd need to blindfold him, or wrap the bike in tape or something. very strongly feel that confirmation bias plays a huge part in bike and bike gear reviews.

esp head to head review where, for the sake of the argument, bike A weighs 500g less than bike B- or wheels A weigh 100g less than wheels B:

"while B is great, we really noticed the increased responsiveness with A, especially when accelerating and climbing..."

Really? I mean really? And not because you knew of the weight differential before you started?

Wine tasting is very interesting. Blind tastings produce hugely different results from those where people know what- and the cost of what- they are drinking.

And to take an extreme example, serve room temperature decent white and red burgundy to 10 keen but not expert wine drinkers and I bet at least 3 of them will fail to tell red from white. Don't believe me- try it!

To have any real credibility, all bike reviews should be done on bikes without prior knowledge of what is being tested and with all identifying markers being scrubbed.

I would be amazed if we did not get very different results.

This is NOT a criticism of the the reviewers- it is just a comment on human nature.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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How big is the headtube and toptube slope on that Parlee?

I've got lots of seatpost showing and my stem is slammed...  21

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DeanF316 | 9 years ago
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Do Kerbi also do an app for people that getting on of bed is too much of a changelle without help from others.

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notfastenough | 9 years ago
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Loving the look of that blue Parlee.

I do think Beacon bikes look cool, but I've asked them a couple of times about the origins of the frames. Each time they say "no no, it's not an open mould, it's our own design", but then are resolutely silent when asked for further details. A shame really.

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Velo_Dom replied to notfastenough | 9 years ago
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Hi Not Fast Enough

The beacon brand was originally Onix. If you research the Onix brand you may be closer to your answer, as the Beacon frames are to my knowledge rebranded Onix ones. That being said Beacon bikes look incredible and I would love to own one. Similarly if you are able to make the voyage to their shop in the Ribble Valley the service is first class and "Spike" truly is the best/ most knowledgable mechanic in the business.

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Tinternet_tim | 9 years ago
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Looks like lots to view, think I'll be making the trip from the midlands.
Anyone know of discount codes to use for reduced entry price (from websites / magazines etc?)

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jollygoodvelo replied to Tinternet_tim | 9 years ago
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Tinternet_tim wrote:

Looks like lots to view, think I'll be making the trip from the midlands.
Anyone know of discount codes to use for reduced entry price (from websites / magazines etc?)

If you're a British Cycling member you can get £1.50 off the online price - which is itself about a fiver cheaper than on the door.

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cjwebb replied to Tinternet_tim | 9 years ago
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Tinternet_tim wrote:

Looks like lots to view, think I'll be making the trip from the midlands.
Anyone know of discount codes to use for reduced entry price (from websites / magazines etc?)

"BR10" gave £2.00 off when I got my ticket, plus another 30p for tweeting, if you're desperate!

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