Flying High At Interbike 2014

Having just come back to Perth from Germany and spending a few days with our families before heading off again, we wondered how our bodies were going to cope with all the time zone changes. This time, we were off to Interbike, the massive annual cycling industry convention in Las Vegas.

After checking in to our accommodation at the new Delano Hotel (part of Mandalay Bay), we went to the event centre to check out the status of our booth. It was substantially bigger than what we had at Eurobike, which allowed us to have four ‘half bikes’ for our display and more room for folks to check out a Fly6 without feeling hemmed in. The booth was not set up yet, so we went back to catch up with work and did that until the show started a few days later.

What we noticed about Interbike when comparing it to Eurobike was two main things: size and vibe. Eurobike by comparison was around 4-5 times bigger and had a totally different atmosphere. Interbike seemed much more ‘business like’ whereas, at Eurobike, it seemed more fun, relaxed and well, European!

Needless to say that when the doors opened on Day 1, we were flat out from the start. Loads of people who supported us on Kickstarter popped in to say hi and wished us well. We had quite a few media appointments set up so a steady stream of editors, writers, bloggers, etc. spent some time with us talking about Fly6.

On the first morning, we also had Craig Hummer and the Universal Sports Network media crew make camp in our booth for an interview with me. Talk about a deer in the spotlights! Craig thought Fly6 was a fantastic concept, and I think it showed during the interview (EDIT – watch the video here).

Kingsley & I had very few quiet moments. When we had the time, we took off to visit another booth leaving our very helpful and capable hostess, McCall, to man (or woman) the booth. Arriving back 10 minutes later, McCall showed us the award Outside Magazine had bestowed upon Fly6 – the highly coveted Gear of the Show Award.

We were stunned to say the least! This award was one of five given out for Interbike by Outside Magazine amongst nearly 1,300 exhibitors. Getting this award for the accessory category was very humbling and very exciting.

Source: Outside Magazine

Day 2 was more of the same – meetings booked all day and often media lining up to slot in their meeting with us…it was crazy! Every now and then, people would shout and wave through the crowd “Kickstarter!!” or “I’ve got a Fly6….Thanks!!” which was a great encouragement.

Sometime during the day, Bart Miller from Cycle Strong popped into the booth and did an impromptu interview with me about Fly6. I had not met Bart before, but man, was he enthusiastic! He loved Fly6 for its ability to help train cyclists by recording their ride and analysing the results in the same way a video of your golf swing is a great tool for improving your swing!

Bart Miller Interbike 2014 interview from fly6 on Vimeo.

Day 3 was also open to the public so with most, but not all of our interviews, meetings and appointments done, we got to interact with everyday cyclists. What we found was that everybody had their story to tell how they wished they had a Fly6 through some altercation with a motorist – they all loved the concept of Fly6 and many already had one! The night before, we had a quick look at the statistics and found that we had sold Fly6s into 46 states in the US and over 28 countries – it is clear the Fly6 is in demand!

We also had another impromptu interview with Court Rye from Electric Bike Review. Next time, we expect the interview to be filmed with his Fly6! Check it out here.

The show was a huge success for us with loads of distributors interested in stocking our next model of Fly6 and loads of media interest. The public was so excited about Fly6; it was reassuring for us that we have developed a great product that really solves a problem so many cyclists have. Everybody supported our mission to get motorists aware there ‘might’ be a camera on the back of a bike making the motorists give us cyclists more space and care.

Now for the long haul flight back to Perth where we hope to take stock of the two big bike shows we have attended and get on with business! I certainly hope that we don’t have to get on another long haul flight for a while…