The Taipei Bike Show has been running now for a rather incredible 26 years, making it older than even the infamous Eurobike, the Big Daddy of all bike shows, by three years.The importance of Taiwan in the global scheme of all things bicycle is not fully understood by many people outside of the industry, but its essentially the Silicone Valley of the bike world, with Taichung, forty-five minutes south of the bustling capital, being its epicenter.This is the place where it all began with King Liu starting Giant in his garden shed in 1972, a feat that encouraged others to follow suit, and then, suddenly, hey presto, you had a nascent bike industry.Fast forward 32 years and all the movers and shakers now have development centers in Taiwan, with Sram, Specialized, Shimano and Cannondale amongst others all being located within a stones throw of one another.The Taipei Bike Show this year attracted over 8,000 visitors from 107 countries, a 6% increase on the year previous. This year also saw the first ever Japan Pavilion, an area dedicated to Japanese brands and manufacturing, an idea boorowed from the French, who have gathered around their own pavilion for several years.The Taipei Bike Show however is, to those used to tootling around Eurobike or Interbike, a bit of a curious beast, featuring several big name brands but also dozens of Taiwanese OEM companies showing off their wares. Some of the big brands have given up on Taiwan, which has a thriving grey market...
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