4 Things We Learned From Eurobike 2024

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Welcome to Velo’s Eurobike coverage, where we share our favorite things we’ve found at the 2024 show. Bikes, components, accessories, and more: if we think it’s cool, you’ll see it. See the rest of our coverage here.

Eurobike is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, single bicycle show in the world. Folks from all over the world come to do business or simply nerd out about the latest and greatest gear. It also offers a fantastic perspective on how the bicycle industry is doing.

Below are the trends and insights we learned from attending Eurobike 2024. Some of this insight comes from simply seeing the new bikes, gear, and accessories out there. But some of this insight also comes from talking with industry leaders and decision-makers out there too.

What did we learn? Among other things, don’t be surprised if your next bicycle purchase comes with the option to lease it.

Your next bike might be a lease, not a purchase

Mobility steals the show, as has been the case at Eurobike for years. More and more of these car-replacing bicycles have electric assist at a minimum and like a slew of new features integrated into the bikes. Those features raise the purchase price of a new bike that someone intends to use for day-to-day commuting.

What’s the solution? Some are starting to look into bicycle leasing.

The idea of leasing makes an undeniably expensive cargo bike purchase much more palatable. Most leasing options offer some type of maintenance schedule built in to ensure the bike functions well for the leasee, and the bicycle maintains its value once the lease is up.

And considering how newly-instated tariffs on Chinese-made e-bikes will assuredly raise the price of a new e-bike, a creative lease will make it much easier for someone to get into a new bicycle.

For the time being, leasing is being targeted toward the micromobility crowd and not toward the road and MTB crowd. The commuter crowd may not be as mechanically savvy, but they rely on their bicycles to get them where they need to day in and day out. A lease ensures a new (or new-ish) bicycle with scheduled maintenance, similar to how it would work in the auto industry.

How you feel about leasing becoming an option likely depends on whether you’re a “buy my car outright with financing” type, a “leasing a new car every few years brings peace of mind” type, or a “cash only!” kind of person. But offering another option to get someone into a new e-bike can be a good thing, so long as it is creatively done.

Now, what options are there for leasing a bike in North America? Lease a Bike (yes, the sponsor for Visma-Lease a Bike) is one of the first options available, though its service works through your employer to offer an option for leasing. But there are options outside of North America that work similarly to what leasing a car is like. Don’t be surprised to see it come to your local bike shop soon enough.

There is more choice for drivetrains now than there have been in years

Move over Shimano and SRAM, because you have competition.

Classified and TRP partnered together on a new groupset for drop bar bikes. Bosch got together with TRP for groups for e-bikes with Bosch motors. Pinion–the company best known for manufacturing mid-drive gearboxes–has an electronic shifting option with… you guessed it… TRP. That’s not including the ever-improving options from Chinese manufacturers L-Twoo and Wheeltop.

Not all of these group sets have made it to the complete bike market, where these smaller drivetrain manufacturers can really make money. However, we’re starting to see more and more complete bikes being spec’d with Microsoft or Tektro mechanical drivetrains rather than the likes of Shimano Cues.

Why are we seeing this shift? I think a large part of it is because these drivetrains are actually pretty darn good. They allow product planners to hit performance targets while staying under a target price point. Some of these new group sets might lack the overall polish of even an entry-level Shimano drivetrain, but they’re serviceable and uncomplicated.

Classified and TRP’s new Vistar group isn’t aiming for the entry-level, however; they’re going straight for Shimano Ultegra and SRAM Force. Does that mean your next bike will have this groupset? I doubt it, at least for now. But keep an eye out, because your next bike might not just be an option of Shimano or SRAM.

Smaller brands are hurting more than the big ones are

I wrote in the wrap-ups for both Taipei Cycle Show and the Sea Otter Classic this year that the bicycle industry isn’t all doom and gloom. That’s still the case today. Thank heavens.

There may not have been the flood of new product releases that there may have been in years past, but the vast majority of companies I spoke to at Eurobike feel positive about the outlook of the industry. Many are confident that they can maintain the growth (and not the levels of growth) from the pandemic bike boom, and a few have noted that they’re even gearing up to start hiring soon enough, too.

Two of the smaller bike brands I talked to are still feeling the effects of having too much supply in the market, particularly if they work directly with bike shops. Most independent bike shops have plenty of inventory and see little need to bring on the latest and greatest stuff without obvious demand.

Again, it’s not perfect. Some people I spoke to felt like some of the bike shops and distributors they spoke may have talked a big game, but they’re likely doing so out of pride. And while the industry and media days felt as well-attended as in years past, businesses aren’t eager to take on more inventory.

Is bike packing slowing down?

“Bikepacking definitely isn’t dead. But I think most of the people who bought a bike for bike packing are likely happy with not loading up their bikes whenever possible.”

Are you still feeling a sense of wanderlust that is best satiated by loading up your bike to go camping? If so, you’re not alone. But you’re definitely not part of one of the fastest-growing segments in cycling anymore.

Eurobike had a number of companies and manufacturers showing off bike packing and touring gear. But most of that gear wasn’t especially new. Even the updates were more new colors or minor revisions than outright expansion into the industry.

Bikepacking, touring, whatever you want to call it, it’s here to stay. People’s sense of adventure isn’t going to go away, and neither will innovations around new gear. But it feels like more people are getting their sense of adventure by a big day on the gravel bike or mountain bike without loading up the bike for multiple days.

So what’s on the upswing? From what folks in the industry mention, it feels like road bikes are up. Eurobike is not usually a hotbed for new road bikes and tech. However, I had several people tell me they were surprised by all the new road bikes they saw at Eurobike.

What kinds of road bikes were on display? Just about every permutation you can think of, honestly, but the majority of them felt at least somewhat focused on all-road riding. Bigger tire clearance and the ability to confidently ride these bikes off-road for brief periods are in, and it seems like that’s enough for people.