Belgium’s biggest bike show: Belofollies, my new favorite consumer show

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If you’re a gear geek and love the technology surrounding the cycling world, then you’re probably familiar with Eurobike, the annual bike industry show held in Europe. This event is billed as the world’s biggest bike show, and judging by the sore feet from the miles of walking this event forces participants to see in it’s entirety, it certainly lives up to that honor.

But bigger isn’t always best. As of last week, Belofollies, Belgium’s national consumer bike show, has become the bike geek event I attend every year. As with most cycling, Belgians know the right way to do it.

The event name “Velofollies” sums up the show very well. Vero, well, I don’t need to explain that. folly It means madness in French. And it was definitely a “bike crazy” event. It was (thankfully) more compact than Eurobike, there were fewer random brands and weird products (junk), and there was something exciting on display at every turn.

More than 40,000 participants packed the Kortrijk venue over the three days. It was surprisingly crowded on Friday. Either Belgians don’t work or go to school on Fridays (as far as I know, they do), or my boss’s phone was red-hot that morning with calls from people saying they weren’t feeling well.

This event in the heart of cycling is more than just a showcase of new products. Instead, you’ll have the chance to meet, greet, harass and quiz sports icons every day. A large stage was set up in the center of the venue, and the event was held with interviews with current and former pros. This year, the audience especially listened to the words of Boonen, Bettini, Museu, Gilbert and GVA. When the star riders are not on stage, the small professional He Conti His Team or the continental level Belgian Road His Team or Gravel Team use this location as the perfect platform to announce their 2024 rider roster. will be used. It will be a lively and bright show.

In this article, we’ve compiled some of the best road and gravel bikes out there. We’ll be publishing some in-depth video summaries later this week. One focuses on road and gravel gear, and the other is an additional video about the show’s commuter/urban and cargo scenes. Of course, this being Belgium, it took up a good portion of what was on display.

Now, let’s continue talking about technology.

Also read: First Look: Moots Vamoots 33 Titanium Allroader

italian beauty

Many big brands were attending the show, but sandwiched between Bianchi, Colnago and Scott, there were many brands that were either avoided or didn’t have the financial means to do so at a big show like Eurobike. They were small manufacturers and frame builders. own booth. One such brand was Drali.

Dorari is from Milan, Italy. It is a family run business that started in 1910, when founder Carlo Dorari started manufacturing frames at the age of his 13 years. By 1925, frame manufacturing had gone from a passion project to a legitimate business.

This is a drop bar bike with a small but complete lineup. Steel, carbon, gravel and road bikes are all made in Italy and luxuriously finished. Ametista took pride in the stands. The tube-to-tube carbon frame didn’t look groundbreaking, but the finish and paint were so perfect and luxurious that you wanted to rub your oily fingers over the surface to see how well it was finished. I did.

Sharing the Drali stand was BAC, a small rack manufacturer based in Milan. The current equipment lineup consists essentially of two sophisticated pannier racks. But what was on display was a new bikepacking system. Instead of the Velcro ties that strap bags together, BAC has developed a very ingenious clamping system that allows you to quickly and securely attach heaps of luggage and accessories. These products had just been patented on the Thursday before the show. The products on display were 3D printed pre-production samples, but they already looked very safe and well-made. BAC said the product will be available on its site by May. We will keep an eye on these.

van Reijssel on the rise

French sporting giant Decathlon was a major brand with an extensive display. This year, his in-house brand Van Rysel sponsored his AG2R team, proudly showing off the bikes, helmets, shoes and sunglasses the team uses throughout the year.

Decathlon has its Van Rysel development headquarters in Lille, so it’s no surprise that it supplies the local continental team Van Rysel-Roubaix Lille Métropole and is its title sponsor. And their hot pink team bikes look more attractive than the ones used by AG2R.

However, it wasn’t the team bikes that were attracting the attention of fans in the stands. In its place was their prototype ultra-long distance gravel bike. Van Rysel has always been known for introducing advanced bikes, and this year they brought not only bikes, but also all the kit and caboodles for the future of ultra-long gravel riding.

The main bikes on display were ones they’ve categorized to be as environmentally friendly as possible, with lugs made from aerospace-grade recycled carbon and bonded to recycled aluminum tubing, and dynamo , lights, and storage were all integrated to keep it stylish. And aero.

In addition to the bicycles, all of the clothing on display in the project was also developed, with the standout item appearing at first glance to be a simple, lightweight and packable windproof jacket. In fact, the jacket was developed to automatically inflate using the rider’s body heat, creating a warm-down style outerwear. All of them are very original and show that Decathlon is not just focused on cheap, mass-produced products for the mass market.

custom goods

Spanish brand BH drove a fairly large articulated truck to the show, occupying a surprisingly large area of ​​the expo for a brand that isn’t usually well-loved. Among the bikes in the company’s entire lineup was the custom-painted Ultralight 9.0, which attracted more than its fair share of attention.

Australian brand Bossi had their Benelux distributors show off some amazing samples that at first glance could be mistaken for carbon bikes. The Strada SS is a triple-butted titanium road bike, but what set it apart from many of the Ti frames on display at the show were the cast lugs and head tube, as well as the incredibly smooth welds. All internally wired and visually pleasing.

I’m going to piss off a lot of people here and claim that another bike brand from Spain made a custom bike for the greatest sprinter of all time on the MMR stand. No, not Cavendish, but three-time world champion Oscar Freire. MMR Adrenaline’s chrome gleamed in his paint, attracting many onlookers and reminding them of the days when the Spanish champion once fought the likes of Zabel.

city ​​fun

Ultima is another brand you probably haven’t heard of yet. I know I didn’t. This French manufacturer based in Lyon is relatively new to the cycling scene, but has quickly secured a following for his recycled carbon injection molded frames.

These town bikes boast a number of innovations, but the one the founder was most proud of when I spoke to him was that the bikes were produced entirely in Europe, from frame to bike. It was the fact that we secured the label. Hydraulic brake housing. I don’t think it’s an easy task. I’ll explain the bike in more detail in a future video as the pictures don’t do it justice.

Specter Bikes was a bike brand I had never come across before. But hey, they had one of the most futuristic looking electric bikes on display? It’s not cheap at $8,900, but the carbon-framed town bike is certainly packed with technology. Just looking at the cockpit, it looked like it was designed by the people at Sony PlayStation, not the bike brand. Again, we’ll talk more about this bike in a future video.

That’s all for today’s summary. Stay tuned for a video or two coming up.

cheers,

– Dave