Eurobike 2007
By Uli
USED finally returned to their headquasters in good ol' Quakenbrück after a week on Lake Constance at the Eurobike. We met a lot of cool people and spread the USED word around! Enjoy this fast and furious review of the biggest Bike Show on earth.
Rocking the USED booth was Gary Fisher. Gary Fisher..? Gary Fisher..! Yes, that Gary Fisher. The former racing cyclist and Mister Mountainbike himself, was there talking to Bob about the power of USED, bicycles in general and him meeting Jerry Garcia in the late sixties. A bike like our URBAN COWBOY would have probably been unthinkable if Gary Fisher hadn't designed his first mountainbikes back in the 70s. It must have been a twist of fate that Gary has been barred from bicycle racing for having long hair in 1968. He had to look for a new adrenalin kick and so he began converting old Schwinn cruisers to the first mountainbikes in history. Gary and his pals Joe Breeze, Tim Ritchey and Charles Kelly raced down American hills and invented the so called "repack races". Later these guys took the Schwinn cruisers frame geometry and made stronger forks and frames for it. Later Gary's concept of the open triangle frame revolutionised the bike market. He also worked on special gear-shifts with the guys from Shimano and even at 56 years old he's one of the snazziest dressers in the business.
Nowadays Gary Fisher runs his own company called Gary Fisher Bikes and remains a "bike builder" on the one hand and a "cycle revolutionary" on the other hand. Along with John Burke from Trek Bicycle Corp. he's fighting for a world on two wheels. Their project is called "one world, two wheels" and it will appeal to you if liked the USED-philosophy. Read the article.
Picture: Michael Morrow, Bob Giddens, Gary Fisher (left to right)
Special guests on the USED booth this year were Nutcase and Bandee.
Nutcase the helmet company is the brainchild of Michael Murrow from Portland, Oregon - he was at the Eurobike with his european distributors Michael and David Cervenka. Michael Murrow the mastermind of these skating- and cycling helmets that are popular in America, has found the ultimate crossover helmet that works for kitesurfers, inline skaters, bikers, snowboarders and so on. The graphics are ultra cool and consumers at the Eurobike were buying them up on the last day. Michael Morrow used to work as artwork designer in the music business. From 1991 to 2000 he was graphics designer at NIKE. He was the man in charge of the design for the USA track & field clothing for the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. 2000 Michael founded the "Morrow Creative Group" an Agency specializing in creativity and design for sport, fashion and entertainment.
This year his helmets has been introduced to the european market for the first time and won the bronze Eurobike award in the category "bicycle equipment". Congratulation! More information about Nutcase can be found at nutcasehelmets.com and nutcase-helmets.eu
Another innovation is the berlin based brand bandee:, presented by Jens Lischke at the exhibition. This product is a great alternative to baggy trouser pockets and handbags for your mobile phone and iPod - no more trying to find your phone when it starts to ring, you can dance with it, ride with it, sleep with it - if you are that way inclined! One sash, four pockets, locked for theft, modern unisex design ... and you've got everything on you! Get one for each day of the week, get one for good moods, bad moods, weddings and funerals. Visit their website: bandee.de
Finally we get to the USED-news. We intensived the plans to put out a limited edition of our BiGBOY-bikes designed by Starshot. So far there are only five airbrushed unicums around that we introduced at the Eurobike. As the reponse has been very good we will put out a strictly limited edition! Preorders can be mailed with immediate effect! Delivery date will be in March 2008. Are you looking for more information about Starshot? Check this: starshot.de
Also we have a strictly limited edition of Starshot's retro cycling uniforms in the style of the 50s in stock! They are made of cotton and polyester, embroidered with the new logo of Cactus10 and can be purchased in our web-shop.
Picture: Olivier, kay, Georg (left to right)
As you probably know, USED isn't into partying. We are too busy ;>) and other companys are much better in partying anyway (take a look at the picture above!). By the way, any similarity to our good friends from Spanninga is merely coincidental and anyway: They are just holding beer for other people ....!
We'd like to thank anybody else that dropped by our stand. Thank you for being interested in our products and for thinking USED. We look forward to working with you in the future!