Philly Bike Expo cements place in calendar as visitors grow

Wednesday, 20 March 2024 Jonathon Harker

Last weekend saw the Philly Bike Expo 2024 run, staking its claim as the number one show in the US for custom frame builders.

Attendee numbers were back up to pre-Covid levels, with around 4,500 attendee wristbands issued (1,000 more than in 2022), proving the wisdom of the recent scheduling change to spring. Exhibitor levels hit 150 (including 31 custom frame builders). Pre-Covid, 2019 was a high water mark, with 4,000-4,500 visitors and 150-190 exhibitors.

Particularly since the demise of NAHBS in 2020, Philly Bike Expo has become known as the expo for smaller boutique manufacturers, which appear to be more resilient in down economies, so say pundits.

PBE also saw 30-plus seminars and demonstrations as well as 12 ride outs, some accumulating up to 100 people.

PBE Director Bina Bilenky said: “This one was a really, really good show! Changing the date to spring was great, people are so ready for a big, fun bike event in March, everybody was raving about that and insisted we keep the March date.”

Exhibitors reported that Saturday was their best day ever at the PBE, some noting spectacular sales numbers, and frame builders took deposits. “Spring helps with sales. People are wanting to outfit their bikes and clothing for the coming season.”

International manufacturers also showed up in increasing numbers: “It’s not only that we’re getting more quality international brands, but the representatives are high level too, and they say they’ll ‘be back’.”

Show floor trends: Inclusivity, family & crank length tech

Inclusivity and Diversity were picked out as among the key themes and trends from the show. The three People’s Choice awards went to female frame builders. Two of the three had been invited to the expo as part of the PBE x SRAM x Industry Nine Inclusivity Scholarships, and the top spot went to Eliane Trudeau of Memento Cycles, an LBGTQ frame builder from Montreal.

Inclusivity and Diversity has been a theme of PBE since the first year, when founder Stephen Bilenky ran a seminar panel composed of women giving advice on how women can gain greater integration and acceptance in the cycling industry.

CIN is informed that a women’s panel at the show back in 2010 was met with a mixed response and ignored by many, but 14 years later might justifiably be seen as the fruits of that kind of initiative.

Family was also central to the show, as the show director explained: “Marketing to families as a whole is important, and it makes sense. If only one person in a family is cycling, that splinters it. But if you get the whole family involved, you have a happier, healthier family and sell more bikes!”

Dozens of attendees brought their young children, and the expo working in partnership with UK company Frog Bikes provided a range of fun activities including skills and mechanical awareness, and there was the PBE’s ArtBike! Program too, where kids simply produced artwork.

On more familiar ground maybe, there were technical/mechanical trends on the show floor too. Minneapolis frame builder Matt Appleman’s seminar on optimum crank length spoke to a growing awareness that for many cyclists, particularly those under six feet (182cm), or having a shorter upper leg, a 170mm crank is too long for comfort. “Go shorter,” is the advice of many bike fit and training consultants. It was noted that UK company Hope Technology offers its crank with a 155m arm as standard.