Core Bike is a trade only show that traditionally takes place in January and is attended by the most important and influential Brands and distributors of bikes, components and apparel in the UK. They use the show to showcase their new products and try to persuade dealers to buy stock.
I say normally takes place in January, of course the global pandemic has affected the show the last two years but this year it was moved to March to avoid the winter restrictions and today saw the first live in person show. UKgravelCO went along to see what’s new, meet up with old friends and try to make new ones so we can bring you more products to review.
The show covers all genres of cycling but of course we sort out the more gravelly side.
The first thing to say is that colour is back this year, a lot of gravel bikes seem to come in earthy muted colours or black traditionally but throughout the show colour was everywhere, on frames, components and clothing. I think personally that’s great
Bikes and frames are also getting the colour treatment and non more so than the All-City range. Some great paint jobs including some that are unique to each frameset.
The frameset above is the All-City Nature Cross singlespeed. room for a gravel tyre and works with an eccentric bottom bracket for chain tension. You cab run it with gears too with the correct rear mech hanger.
SKS had a cool gadget that might be interesting for the bike packers and long distance riders. This power bank fits to the stem (or bars with the correct mount) has two sockets for charging cables but you can fix your phone to it directly too using an adaptor. It’ll also do wireless charging
SKS also have a range of bike packing bags and a new full coverage mudguard with various widths for even the widest gravel tyre.
A good piece of news is that Ritchey now has a UK importer and they will be stocking nearly all of their components including framesets, not everything is in stock yet but your local bike shop will be able to get hold of things such as the awesome venturemax bar soon. Also look out for a review of the Ritchey Outback frame later in the year.
One of the most unique bikes at the show was this Chapter 3 special edition from Vielo. The paint work is done by hand with a lot of sanding back and each one of the limited run is unique. If you have to ask how much, then you probably can’t afford it. We also saw a beautiful new frameset from Vielo with an amazingly detailed paint finish but it’s embargoed until the Sea Otter show so I can’t post the pictures but suffice to say you’d probably want one!
There was a lot of embargoed stuff on show, from Cannondale and Fizik to name just a few, some great new stuff on its way. Again I can’t show you yet.
Ortlieb are a brand known for quality, I have a seat bag of theirs that must be 10 years old and it’s still like new. their latest bike bags seem to have the same quality and have a few unique touches that I hope to be able to review soon and show you in more detail.
The same distributor that brings in Ortlieb also import Salsa bikes and as well as the Cutthroat, this Warbird was a standout in their display. There was rumours of a Stormchaser single speed too but that was locked away in a bedroom as it was the personal bike of one of the guys at Lyon Cycle.
Surly had a great display including the new Ghost Grappler which I’m hoping to review soon. Surly is distributed by Ison-distribution who also bring in All-City bikes seen at the start of this article but they also had this little gem below.
All in all an interesting show, with some new ideas, some left of field and some practical. Check back for reviews of some of the above items soon and I’ll leave you with some more shots from the show
Many thanks to Dan Phillips for wielding the lenses find him here
UK GRAVEL COLLECTIVE 