FRANKFURT, Germany (BRAIN) — Organizers of Eurobike, which closed Sunday following its closing weekend consumer festival, said attendance by both consumers and trade visitors was up slightly this year over last.
This year the show tracked 35,080 trade visitors - up 1% from last year. The consumer festival attracted 33,090 fans, up 6% from last year. Here are a few product-related business news highlights. Be sure to check out Eurobike coverage from our colleagues at Velo (at: velo.outsideonline.com/tag/eurobike) and Pinkbike (at: pinkbike.com/news/tags/eurobike-2024/).
First, what would a trade show be without a new clipless pedal design? In the Eurobike area for startups, Austria's Tourelly showed a new design that bears some similarity to the Speedplay in that the spring is in the cleat, not the pedal. It's also similar to the late-great Aerolite pedal (news flash: the Aerolite is still made: aerolitepedals.com) with a round-ish pedal body allowing clip-in no matter how the spindle is rotated. It's light. It's easy to clip in, no matter how the pedal is rotated. Float and spring tension can be varied. It has a two-bolt mountain bike/gravel cleat option, and a three-bolt road cleat option, and either cleat will work on the same pedal, which could be a convenience for some. Tourelly is starting a crowd-funding campaign this fall.
Satori, a component brand from Taiwan's HL Corp., now incorporates a recess into several of its stem model, allowing integration with mounts and accessories from SP Connect, Quad Lock, Fidlock, and Peak Design. Satori calls this the S3 Satori Square System and said more integrations are on the way. The system allows mounting various accessories, including phone cases, without the need for a handlebar or stem clamp. It comes on some adjustable, fixed and suspension stem models and some integrated stem/handlebar models.
There are several crash-detection products on the market, including the ANGI one now sold on some Specialized helmet models and the Aleck system used by Smith. The Quin device, from a UK company, provides more data and its developers claim it's so smart it can distinguish between accidental bumps and real crashes, reducing false positive reports that irritate spouses.
The Quin is smart enough to know when an empty helmet falls off a counter. It does the expected thing of alerting emergency contacts and first responders of a fall, providing location information and more. It also records detailed impact data that could be useful or at least entertaining in post-crash investigations. Its app records ride data (using the mobile phone's GPS and data from the helmet device) and the device can record data like lean angle that could be world-changing to someone.
Last year MIPS made a minority investment in Quin and the two helmet safety brands exhibited next to each other at Eurobike. However the companies are operated separately and currently there are no plans to bundle or integrate their products.
RTi Sports, the German company behind brands including Ergon, Terry saddles, and Ca Go cargo bikes, has launched a new TPU inner tube brand, called Aeron. Our guess is that Aeron's Eurobike booth was the largest show booth ever devoted to an inner tube brand. RTi, which distributed Tubolito TPU tubes until recently, said the Aeron tubes solve some problems encountered by other TPU products. While TPU promises lighter weight, more compact size and puncture resistance than butyl (and less mess than tubeless sealant), they've been prone to slipper valve stems that can leak or even come apart. Aeron said its stems are securely bonded to the tubes, are textured so pumps can grip them, and the valve cores are permanently bonded into the stem. They come in several thicknesses with associated weights and puncture-resistance ratings. There are size options for most adult tires. Since photos of gray inner tubes are unenlightening, we share a photo of the empty Aeron booth.
Why did the Benno booth have an antique fire truck from the Shakopee, Minnesota, fire department? Because it's fun. Benno had some booth workers wearing Shakopee FD T-shirts and the SFD concept bike was an eye-catcher. The truck belongs to a German collector. Benno also showed this wind/rain cover, called the Rainbow Cover. It provides some protection to the rider and any children who happen to be tagging along. And the company said it's not affected by side winds. It uses aluminum tent poles and is quickly removed.
Tern's Orox offroad e-cargo model, which was launched in February, won a Eurobike award. Eurobike award judges said the model "combines the robustness of a mountain bike, the versatility of a trekking bike and the practical benefits of a cargo bike and impresses with well thought-out details and perfect handling." Just before the show, the brand launched the Quick Haul Long, a compact e-cargo bike that offers many of the features of Tern's GSD model at a better price. It has a maximum gross vehicle weight of 419 pounds and can carry two children-plus driver or even two adults (including the driver). Pricing starts at about $3,800. We didn't get the dog's name, a journalistic failure. 
And finally, a quick look at SRAM's interactive display showing the robustness of its Transmission rear derailleur mount. We thought it was an ill-conceived bike storage solution at first.
