Presteigne Show

[Deleted member 4366]

I've been there today and rode as many bikes as I could. They were all good, except some would not have been my choice, as I'm more into comfort than sportiness. My Final conclusion is that they all did about 15mph, although the Haibike with it's Bosch drive got there the quickest; They all climbed the steep hill with quite a bit of pedal effort, although again the Haibike was marginally easier to pedal, and I found the Panasonic crank drives the hardest, so I must've been doing something wrong. I took some advice after the first one, but still found it hard to pedal. They said I was probably pedalling too fast, which I'm not sure whether I was. They all seemed to roll OK with no noticeable drag.

So, lot's of exotica and flashy displays. I now know that I need some of those Rock Shox off the Haibike, some hydraulic brakes, and one of those comfy saddles off the Eezee bikes, which you can't buy, and then my bike will be as good as any of them (nearly).

I think my favourite, although I didn't try it, was The King Carbon from Kudos at £1395, which is a nice looking carbon frame with Rock Shox forks, hydraulic disks and the new 8Fun kit with bottle-type battery grafted on. It really looked nicely put together and weighs only 19.65kg. I think that's the one for me - if only it had mudguards.

 

[funkylyn]

Thats interesting....I was there last year doing the same thing and I found the kalkoff the most difficult to get up the hill and presumed i was either pedalling wrong (too fast) or that the battery wasnt fully charged.
The wisper I tried flew up that hill........
Were there lots of people /stands there ?

 

[NRG]

Sounds like you had a good time d8veh. The Panasonic system takes a while to get the hang of, you have to let the cadence drop a fair bit lower than what feels natural to get the most assist out of it. I get caught out on mine even now and have to remind myself to slow down...

 

[flecc]

Yes, the 39 cadence to ensure maximum power on the Panasonic system is 1.5 seconds per rotation of the pedals. It's all too easy to spin faster to get up a hill since that might seem intuitive, but slowing the pedalling right down brings out the magic.

 

[Icicle19]

Were there lots of people /stands there ?

I attended today, and was very disappointed, lots of 'manufacturers'/dealers e.g. Bionx, Heinzmann, Cytronex, the guys who do the Nano Brompton, and others, had elected not to attend. I'm keen on a tetro-fit kit, but found nothing of interest. It was very poor compared to two years ago (I was unable to attend last year). I understand that last year was a wash-out, so if attendance was poor last year I guess many re-considered whether or not it was worth supporting. I heard a rumour that only 8 bikes turned up for the grand cycle ride yesterday.........Also missing were some of the featured items mentioned on the website - did anyone see the Tesla roadster ? Perhaps it was out on a run when I was there?

Overall, very disappointing indeed, I spent barely an hour there, and most of that was waiting for a lamb BBQ wrap - the cafe was having trouble with their ordering system and didn't seem too well organised. But it tasted good when it finally arrived.

 

[AndyOfTheSouth]

Just back. Excellent show with some interesting new contenders such as Kudos and Ebco. Was particularly impressed by the Storck Radar Multitask. Powerful, with very smooth power delivery. Felt very good quality, as it jolly well should be at its price, of course. Heard good things about the Haibike, but didn't have chance to ride it.

Emotion and Wisper continued to impress. Having the steep hill nearby gave some friends a chance to put them through their paces and they ended up deciding to buy.

A very good feature of the show was the rug/jewellery/sculpture studio which gave non-biking folk something to do, which was pretty useful for our group.

The cafe was well organised, with a well chosen set of savouries/cakes/drinks.

We were lucky with the weather, some showers, but mostly clear.

 

[Cyclezee]

Just a very quick note to say that I throughly enjoyed my very first visit to Presteigne today, met some nice and friendly people, from both the trade and the public.

I rode several bikes that I had not seen or ridden before. To me the most impressive was the Bosch powered Haibike.
It is at the high end of the price range, but in comparison to the top of the range similarly priced Panasonic powered bikes it has the edge in performance, style and build quality.

I managed to get 3rd place in the 10 mile orienteering event and actually rode 16 miles due to getting lost on a couple of occasions. Two local lads on no powered bikes came 1st and 2nd

I'm not entirely sure about the rest of the field, but the civil servant from Edinburgh, who later turned out to be a Nun was very impressive on his electric Brompton with no battery, a therefore, no electrical assistance.

I would also give a mention to the very nice young Spanish lady who I rode part of the route with. She was there to make a video and had never ridden an electric bike before, an excellent effort.

The final event was the Tour de Presteigne which was not a race but five laps of the town centre in fancy dress. There were some truly impressive creations on show.
I started the race, oops, I mean gentle precession, in the middle of the field. But when the Nun on the Brompton took the lead and was clearly 'going for it' on the first lap along with a couple of others, that was it, the 'red mist' descended and I just went for it on my trusty eZee Forza. Apologies to anyone I might have carved up along the way to victory, sorry I mean the finish

Will go next year, you bet I will, but need to learn how to read a map first.

 

[Cyclezee]

A few photos from Presteigne

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30274699@N08/sets/72157626557548101/with/5703627898/

 

[JohnofCambridge]

Good to meet you Aldby and d8veh (even if I did mistake your username for a radio ham call sign!)

Aldby - there will be more competition for you in the parade next year. Not only have I been committed to perform ( no competition for you) but a couple of locals who competed last year are set to re - enter next. The parade was a bit down in numbers this year but the quality was high. I liked the recyclables - but that is another story!!

John

 

[PennyFarthing]

Great photos Aldby! Great write-up folks.

Now I know what all the fuss was about (I didn't have much time so didn't fully read about it beforehand).

How do you pronounce Presteigne???

 

[Cyclezee]

Aldby - there will be more competition for you in the parade next year. Not only have I been committed to perform ( no competition for you) but a couple of locals who competed last year are set to re - enter next.
John

Hi John,

It was nice to meet you. Now you have me worried about next year, but I have cunning plan I will be on a different bike and bring a pair of spectacles Need to work on map reading and the fancy dress, maybe a nurses uniform next time

 

[Cyclezee]

Thanks PennyFarthing,

I wish I had taken more photos and some video, but I was too busy riding and talking to people.
I just love electric bikers, they are great bunch of people, trade and enthusiasts

 

[Kudoscycles]

I was taught by a local that Presteigne is pronounced PRESTEEN,but that was in the pub on Saturday night so it might have been lost in alcoholic translation.

 

[celedep]

Nice to see those kudos bikes, in particular i like that carbon bike. And the price £1395 is just amazing, there were no other carbon bikes in that range. they were all far more expensive, to a degree that I never bothered to ride them because i know i cant afford to pay the price.
And from what i read on the forum this kudos carbon bike was something of a star at the show. So much so that every time I went to try it the damn thing was already out on a trial. So i missed out. Anybody got some feedback how it went?

one thing i did notice and like was the carbon all on show, thats a nice touch. the other more expensive bikes were all painted carbon so you could not see it. Shame, whats the point of painting carbon?

 

[JohnofCambridge]

Hi PennyFarthing,

Think Pristine, with a press in front of the 'tine'.

There is a Welsh equivalent,(Presteigne is on the border) which is written - LLANANDRAS. Don't ask me how to pronouce that though!

John

 

[PennyFarthing]

Ah, I did wonder. LOL re the possible alcoholic loss of translation!

Thanks for replying!

 

[funkylyn]

Hi John,

It was nice to meet you. Now you have me worried about next year, but I have cunning plan I will be on a different bike and bring a pair of spectacles Need to work on map reading and the fancy dress, maybe a nurses uniform next time

Hmmmmm.....John.....nurses outfit........I really musn't miss NEXT year