Shanghai Ready to Welcome Asia's Biggest Cycling Show

SHANGHAI, China, April 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Asia's biggest cycling show, China International Bicycle & Motor Fair or "CHINA CYCLE," in short, is scheduled to begin on May 4, 2005-7, 2005 for its 15th edition in Shanghai New International Expo Center. The show will cover all seven halls of Shanghai New International Expo Center, with a show space of more than 80,000 square meters, or 3,700 booths. 12,0000 Visitors from 80 nations and regions are expected to attend the show. CHINA CYCLE is organized by the China Bicycle Association (CBA) and co-organized by Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd.

Since 2000, CHINA CYCLE has seen impressive growth. This year's edition will have 500 more booths than last year, an increase of 15.6%. An additional hall was recently added to meet the "crazy application" levels. Bicycles and parts are in Hall W1 to Hall W5, while electronic bikes ("e-bikes") are in the Hall E1 and Hall E2.

Companies Tend to Order Bigger Spaces

Although the number of exhibitors remains the same as last year, one and a half halls have been added. Take Hall 1 for example, huge raw spaces constitute 80% of the whole space. Local companies such as Forever and Phoenix booked more than 150 square meters each. International brands such as Giant, Merida and Shimano are also booking huge spaces. In other halls, this is also an important trend. Local companies are more aware of their image than ever before. Participating in the exhibition is part of their marketing strategy. They pay much attention to the design of stands and the cost overweighs that of renting space.

Premium Market Starting to Grow

Despite of the drop of Colnago, this year, two leading American brands Trek and Specialized will participate in the show for the first time, which shows that high-end bikes are ready to explore the Chinese market. On March 10, Trek opened its first retail store in Beijing with the space of 180 square meters. In recent years an important trend has been the bicycle retail store or IBD (or DIY store). Local IBDs can be found in bigger cities such as Shanghai, Beijing, and Guangzhou. Although many international brands do not have their own distribution channels in China, you can easily find some of the most high-end brands such as Trek, Specialized, Colnago and so on at such stores. These IBDs will have its own website and clubs and during holidays, they will ride their bikes to explore the wild surroundings. Unlike the cheap bikes sold in big shopping malls, bikes in those IBDs range from RMB3,000 (EUR300 or USD360) to RMB20,000 (EUR2,000 or USD2,400). The target customers for these IBDs are young people aged 20 to 35 who are willing to spend more on high performance bikes. These young bike fans and local IBD are the active attendees of CHINA CYCLE show.

The Importance of E-bikes

During the show in 2004, everyone talks about e-bikes. In 2005, the e-bike is still a very important trend in the mass market. Most of the e-bike makers will increase their booth size this year. Hall E1 will focus completely on e- bikes and Hall E2 will focus on e-bike parts. The urbanization most cities are undergoing in China means bike are still an important vehicle for many Chinese people. But bikes are not enough for as cities gets bigger and bigger and many people choose to live in the outskirts of the city. Due to environmental problems, local governments plan to have strict control over the moped and motorcycle. In this way, e-bikes have seen a fast growth in recent years. In 2004, China has produced 6,750,000 units of e-bikes, an increase of 69% compared with figures in 2003. Many local bikes manufacturers have set up e-bike sections.

Meanwhile, some foreign companies have also begun to invest in the e-bike business by establishing JV companies.

About Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (SIEC)

Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd. (SIEC) is jointly invested by Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co., Ltd. and the Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Shanghai. The SIEC was founded on July 1st, 1984 with the approval of the Ministry of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation and the People's Government of Shanghai Municipality. The SIEC is a full member of Union des Foires Internationales (UFI). With the total exhibition space of 5.8 million square meters, the SIEC has held 500 international exhibitions of various themes and sizes. It also has successfully held a number of solo exhibitions at national level.

  For more information please contact:

   Mr. Kevin Zhou, Project manager,
   Shanghai International Exhibition Co., Ltd.
   8F, OOCL Plaza, 841 Yan An Zhong Road, Shanghai 200040, China
   Tel:    +86-21-6279-2828 x248
   Fax:    +86-21-6545-5124
   Email:  zhoucy@siec-ccpit.com
   Web:    http://www.siec-ccpit.com/
   MSN:    zhoucy1981@hotmail.com