For STEVENS, the new bicycle year 2025 begins with one of the largest bicycle trade fairs in Europe. At Velofollies in cycling-mad Belgium, everything revolved around bicycles on an exhibition area of around 40,000 square metres. No matter whether the area of use is on the road, in the mountains, in the forest, on gravel or in the city. Of course, the topics of e-bikes, e-MTBs and bike accessories as well as tips and information on all aspects of cycling were not to be missed.

Incidentally, the name Velofollies is made up of the Flemish words ‘velo’ (bicycle) and ‘follies’ (gift). The trade fair therefore sees itself as a gift to the cycling world. Isabel Balmer from Paul Lange France emphasised the special atmosphere of the trade fair: ‘Velofollies is a relaxed stroll to get to know big and successful brands. It is not a sales fair, but the emphasis is more on B2B business and end consumers’.

Every year, enthusiastic cyclists come to the STEVENS stand at Velofollies. ‘That's what the trade fair is made for,’ says Diedrich Schroen from the Belgian STEVENS importer Carbonbike. Special attention at the STEVENS stand was therefore also focussed on the UCI World Cup-tested Super Prestige high-end crosser - the workhorse of many successful World Cup teams, and regularly used in the major Belgian and Dutch cross-country racing series during the winter months. These attract tens of thousands of visitors weekend after weekend, and the races have a real folk festival character in the Benelux. The gravel bikes around the Camino attracted just as much interest as the STEVENS Super Prestige. In BeNeLux, these all-purpose dropbar bikes and their ability to travel both fast and with luggage off-road continue to be a real trend topic.

An absolute highlight of the trade fair on Saturday was the visit by Sanne Cant, 15-time Belgian champion (in a row!) and three-time world champion on the STEVENS Super Prestige. She was on hand at the STEVENS stand to sign autographs and give her fans time for photos. Cant is regarded as one of the greats in Belgian cyclo-cross racing and in recent years has done much to encourage more and more women to take up cycling. Now, at the end of the current cyclocross season, she will end her active career at the age of 34.

Marcel Smelt, STEVENS representative for the Netherlands, emphasises that the trade fair is so important that even guests from the Netherlands and France travel here: ‘There's no better place to experience cycling life than in Belgium. Everyone is passionate about the sport and cycling.’

From the extensive STEVENS e-bike portfolio, it was primarily the E-Simeto E-Urban Bike presented last year and the new colours of the custom bikes that met with a lot of positive interest from the numerous visitors and bike dealers from France, Belgium and the Netherlands. A real eye-catcher was of course the Xenith in Lavender Black, which was also the subject of many mobile phone photos.

In the discussions about the current STEVENS model range, the feedback from current STEVENS customers was consistently positive. It was not uncommon to hear about tens of thousands of problem-free kilometres covered in just a few years. Ralf Peintinger, International Sales Manager at STEVENS and now at Velofollies for the 10th time, summarises: ‘We can draw a positive conclusion. The customers were enthusiastic and we were able to talk to important dealers from Belgium and the Netherlands. It was worth taking part and seeing early in the year that the bicycle market can enjoy a loyal customer base despite all the adversity.’

This year's Velofollies welcomed almost 40,000 bike fans and over 300 exhibitors.