Trade Show Puts Bicycling’s Best Wheels Forward

Bob Ortiz surveyed the convention hall and shook his head. Spread across an area the size of 13 football fields at the Anaheim Convention Center on Sunday were the bicycling industry’s hippest, most innovative--and most expensive--offerings of shorts, sunglasses, racks and two-wheelers.

It was the opening hours of a three-day trade exposition which one industry insider described as the “super bowl of the cycling trade shows.”

Ortiz, owner of a Bakersfield bike shop, was overwhelmed.

A ‘Can’t Miss’ Event

“If you sell bikes, this is the place to be,” he said. “It has become a ‘can’t miss’ event. What you see here is what people will be buying in six months.”

The Interbike Expos in Anaheim and later this month in Atlantic City, N.J. are emblematic of cycling’s transformation from a cottage industry into a multimillion-dollar business. By Tuesday night, when about 500 exhibitors begin to tear down their glitzy booths and display cases, an estimated 15,000 bike dealers, manufacturers and clothing designers will have witnessed the industry’s future, or at least what’s coming next year to neighborhood bike shops.

It includes things like aerodynamically shaped, three-spoked wheels whose designers predict may revolutionize road racing. For a mere $750 each, the carbon-based wheel can save racers up to 10 minutes for every 100 miles they ride because they are sleeker, proclaimed an engineer with Specialized Bicycle Components, the firm developing the wheel with the DuPont company.

But will weekend cyclists abandon the traditional, 36-spoke wheel and plunk down $1,500 for a set of space-age-looking rims?

“In time, we think so. Nobody thought recreational cyclists would spend $2,000 or $3,000 on a bike, and now they are,” said Jim Merz, chief designer with Specialized. “Performance is a priority today, even among amateur cyclists.”

So is fashion, industry observers say. And 1990 will apparently be the year of neon in cycling wear. There is nothing Ivy League or subtle about the look. Shorts, jerseys and bicycle seats are lime green and orange, striped and dotted.

“The cycling industry is about a year behind other sports fashions in terms of color,” said Sandy Pogue, division manager for New York-based Descente, one of the cycling’s leading outfitters. “Neon has been big in surfing and volleyball for a year or two. It’s just peaking in cycling. Besides, it makes sense safetywise, considering the number of people hit by cars each year.”

Selling bikes is still the bread and butter of any cycle shop. More than 10 million bicycles were sold last year nationwide, with about half of those being mountain bikes, the knobby-tired two-wheelers designed for off-road riding.

But biking accessories, especially clothing, have become so lucrative that even the purists who prefer to talk gears, derailers and tires have begun to take an interest.

“I’d rather deal strictly in bikes,” said Todd Bowen of St. Paul, Minn., a bike salesman since the late 1960s. “But I can’t afford not to know what’s hot in clothing. People are willing to spend as much on their clothes as their equipment. They want to express themselves. They see their neighbor in hot pink cycling shorts so they’ve got to have some, and I’ve got to stock ‘em.”

But does the guy next door have a “banana skin,” a thin Lycra cover for the potassium-packed fruit which is fancied by distance cyclists? J’neane Smith, a seamstress from Pocatello, Ida., hopes every biker will have one. She didn’t have the largest booth at the expo, but her banana skin, which retails for $2 a piece, attracted more attention than most of the exhibits.

“Everybody needs a cover for their banana,” Smith pitched to a Taiwanese bicycle wholesaler. On long rides, cyclists often store snacks and fruits in the pockets of their jerseys. “You don’t want your banana to get squished or bruised when you ride. Besides, they look cool. Don’t you think?”

Cycling experts like Christopher Koch say that the industry has grown vastly more sophisticated in recent years, and the Anaheim expo reflects that maturity. The trade show, which is closed to the public, has drawn buyers from as far away as Italy and Japan.

Koch, executive editor of Bicycle Guide, said that less than a decade ago bicycles were thought of as “toys and sold that way.” He said little attention was given to marketing bikes.

“Most bikes were sold in hardware stores next to lawn movers and rakes,” Koch said. “Now they are considered a serious form of exercise, and adults, once the neglected niche in the market, are the main target.”

Jim Sullivan, a national champion mountain bike rider, agreed. Two years ago, Sullivan, 35, suffered a heart attack, but after surgery he began riding to recover his health. Now, stronger and healthier than ever, Sullivan preaches the value of cycling for his sponsor at trade shows like the one in Anaheim.

“For many, biking is no longer a lazy Sunday afternoon activity,” Sullivan said. “It’s a way to live longer.”