Cycling
Recap of the Toronto Fall Bicycle Show
Today I went back to the CNE; this time for the Toronto Bicycle Show. The show started at 10am, and there was a 250+ meter lineup by 9:45am. Before I could get in line, I had to go stand in a short, second line to buy my entrance ticket. This two line process ended up working quite well because at 10am, the crowd swarmed in to the exhibition hall without delay.
My plan coming to this show was to buy a CycleOps Fluid trainer for cheap. I saw them as soon as I walked in, but decided to ignore them for a bit while I browsed all of the bikes.
As far as the bikes go, the prices were on par with what you’ll find at the local bike shops around Toronto. Some of the entry level bikes were deeply discounted, but the mid-range and higher items were stuck at the expected price. If Adam would have been shopping for his first road bike, for instance, he could have found a nice deal.
I did see a couple of nice bikes on sale though. A friend and I looked at a 58cm $3900 Cervelo P3 Carbon with full Dura-Ace. I saw an Astana BMC Pro Machine SLC01 (my favorite frame) for $5000. What a great price for this bike! I forgot to confirm the components on it, but it also came with Easton Tempest II Carbon tubulars. Unfortunately, it was a 53cm frame. I tried to get a peek at an ’08 Madone at the Trek dealer, but there wasn’t one.
Components and wheels were the normal retail price. Even the discounted wheelsets I found were still much more expensive than you pay online. Saddles were a little cheaper than normal.
In terms of clothing, there were great bargains everywhere. A friend of mine bought a $200+ pair of Shimano shoes for $99. Shorts and jerseys were also cheap. Discovery (and other) jerseys were going for $30. The only problem was that the purchase lines were so long that it dissuaded me from taking advantage of it. Some of the purchase lines contained 100+ people.
As were were leaving, I went back to examine the CycleOps. They were on sale, but I still couldn’t justify the $300-$350 for it. I’ll try to find a used one online instead.
In the end, one out of five people in our group bought something. I expected more. I will certainly go back next year, but only because I might find the SLC01 in size 60 instead of a 53…if I don’t buy it before then!
Discussion
3 comments for “Recap of the Toronto Fall Bicycle Show”
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Hi Steve
My daughter recently came across your blog and wanted to know which software or program templates you use as well if this is a school project and what grade you are in.
Thank you,
Linda Rushton
Hi Linda.
We use WordPress, and our blog is hosted at PressHarbor.com (fantastic support).
Adam and I run this blog simply because we love snowboarding and cycling. We are both out of college, around 28-29 years of age.
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