"Cycling is the new ‘golf’ in Asia," said Jacob von Hacht from STEVENS. Accordingly high now is the interest in technically advanced bikes. "In particular, the Superprestige Disc in camouflage design from cyclocross world champion Mathieu van der Poel stole the show, as well as the Comet SL."

The 28th Taipei International Cycle Show was held March 20-22 and brought together more than 8,000 visitors from 107 countries. For the Asian dealers such as bicycle and component manufacturers, the Taiwanese tradeshow is their most important tradeshow and meeting point. 

A unique meeting-up between STEVENS and its suppliers is quickly becoming a tradition known as the "Early Bird Rides". At 6:30 in the morning – including the last tradeshow of 2015 – they all head out on bikes on the small roads leaving the city and into the mountains where they get a good feel for the life and culture of Taiwan.

"You meet a lot of local athletes who are jogging or cycling.  After a few kilometers of climbing, you can enjoy the views of the landscape and of the overwhelmingly large city of Taipei," says Brand and Marketing Manager Volker Dohrmann.

In addition to the trade-industry visitors and lots of end-users on Sunday, Team Vorarlberg, a continental team from Austria, also paid a visit to the STEVENS delegation from sales, export and marketing.  On Sunday, the team started in the Tour of Taiwan on their STEVENS Xenon bikes. On the first stage, Sprinter Aldo Ilešič gave the team a very good start with his 2nd place finish.