Three bike trends at IAA MOBILITY 2021

Cycling is booming. More than 50 bike manufacturers and suppliers to the industry presented their latest products at the IAA MOBILITY. Here are three major trends you definitely won't want to miss!

The IAA MOBILITY in Munich was showcasing solutions for the mobility of the future from September 7 to 12 2021. Bicycles are becoming ever more important. Consumers share this enthusiasm – according to figures from the German Bike Association, the industry's central body, an estimate 2.75 million bicycles were sold across Germany in the first half of 2021.

A number of brands was exhibiting in halls B5 and B6, with the Open Space Extended also providing large test grounds featuring steep turns, obstacles and a variety of surfaces.

Many new products and current trends from the model ranges of the bike manufacturers were on view. We'd like to highlight three major trends:

Cargo bikes with an electric motor offer a great many advantages: they can be used to transport children or shopping, with many models even being able to carry both at the same time. That means cyclists can always get around despite heavy loads, while there are parking spots almost everywhere. The Chike E-Cargo, the Tinker from Riese und Müller and the Convercycle are looking to demonstrate that cargo bikes do not necessarily have to be big and bulky. Tinker and Convercycle, for instance, can be folded down, and the Chike is no larger than a conventional bike despite the compartment for children.

Can a thousand-year-old material really be something new? A couple of bike manufacturers would say yes. And two of them will be at the IAA MOBILITY with their bikes. The Contura Fe-14 and the GX-1200 from vsf stand for craftsmanship and individualism. The steel frame of the GX, for instance, is welded by hand with loving attention to detail. As for the Fe-14, cyclists can choose from 12 different colours for the frame. Carbon has become an established material for many professional riders – steel is a little heavier, but not much so: the GX, for example, weighs 9.3 kg. The advantages of this material come particularly to the fore in gravel, touring and city bikes, because it is robust and absorbs gentle impacts better than carbon or aluminium.

If the Bauhaus students of the 1920s had designed a mountain bike, it would probably have looked something like the Scott Spark RC or the Canyon Exceed CFR Team. Why? The premium bikes are linked by a clear language of form. The few cables disappear under the carbon handlebar into the specially developed headsets. In the Exceed, the seat clamp is concealed in the frame, while in the Spark the entire shocks together with bearing were integrated into the frame of the bicycle. This is intended to make the bikes faster and more rigid than their competitors – an exciting innovation in professional sport, where every second and every gram counts.