Tour De Presteigne
I am one of the organisers of Tour De Presteigne and also a director of OnBike so would like to explain the actual position with regards to Tour De Presteigne.
First of all I should say that we have been organising the event for five years. Pete started the event well before OnBike was formed. In fact we set up Onbike as a result of TDP. People kept asking us “what is the best bike for me “because of our extensive knowledge of the electric bike market gained from running TDP and also telling us their complaints/problems with existing suppliers.
We have always promoted the exhibition and events to be open to all even our competition. This is especially difficult as we do not have the manpower to run the event and demonstrate bikes ourselves. OnBike does not have the manpower and resources of some of the larger companies. So effectively we put on an event where our competition sell bikes whilst we organise rides, talks, races, kids bikes, bands, street performers, electric cars, driving lessons, food............. for guests.
Secondly TDP takes an awful lot of organising. There are only 3 main volunteer organisers all of which have full time jobs. It takes months to organise. I personally have been up past 2am every day this week answering emails and sorting out paperwork for the event. I estimate that last year I spent over 6 working weeks helping organise the event and I am sure I do less work than the other organisers. What people don’t realise is the entire background organisation. For example road closers, insurance, invoicing, planning routes, poster, press releases, stewards, parking. When the event takes place I spend a good proportion of my time resolving “petty politics” and problems with and between exhibitors. I could go on and on hear.
So this year we had to either stop the event or down size it. It would be a shame to finish the event as so many people attend and enjoy it. It is the only events of its kind in the UK and every year we get many letters thanking us for our efforts. So we decided to reduce the exhibition to one day (with the Saturday being a 50 mile group ride as last year’s group ride was such a success). We also had to limit the number exhibitors which has been growing every year as has the job of administration. We decided rightly or wrongly to only invite the companies we regularly have contact with and/or work with on other events or promotions. Fortunately we do have a good group of companies that all work well together even though some are in competition with one another.
It is nonsense to say we have excluded all our competition. For Example Ultra motor are exhibiting and taking part in the 50 mile ride and we do not sell their brand.
For a full list please see
Tour de Presteigne - The World's Premier Electric Bike Rally
We have tried for several years to encourage some of the larger companies, which have much greater resources, than ourselves to organise a similar event in another part of the country. We have even offered to help but no one else has taken up the challenge as yet.
In short I think that before people criticise the event they should try organising something similar themselves. It is always so easy to sit on the sidelines and criticise than to get involved. I wish them every success and offer my help.
Tour De Presteigne still has the greatest choice of bikes shown at any event I know of in the UK. It certainly has the greatest number of events for visitors.
We may not get everything right but we are certainly trying and doing the best we can.
Thank you to the thousands that have attended in the past and enjoyed the event.