Coming Up This Weekend: EICMA Bici

MILAN, Italy – For two years in a row EICMA Bici took place at the same time and at the same place as EICMA Moto. With Cologne’s IFMA cancelled and after long series of meetings with all the parties involved including exhibitors, the Italian show organizers decided to bring the Bike show back to September. Coming weekend it is opening its doors.

The 67th Milan International Cycle Show, better known as EICMA Bici, takes place from 18 to 21 September 2009. The main reason for switching the Bike show back to September is in the fact that, contrary to the motorcycle show, the bicycle event is much more focus on trade than on consumers. And a show targeting primarily the trade just has to take place in the July – September period.

One thing is sure when looking at the 67th EICMA Bici; the show organizers are scheduling a full-fledged show, not only with regard to the number of exhibitors, but also when taking the side program into account. A part of that side program is focusing on the cycling incentives awarded by the Italian government for the purchasing of new bicycles by consumers that started in April. The scheme proved so popular that the € 8.75 million allocated to spur consumer purchases was spent by 19th May 2009 at 10:30 AM - less than 4 weeks from the start of the promotion and with over 40,000 new bikes purchased.

As so many people made use of the incentives the Italian government decided to allocate another € 5 million targeted at bicycle consumers. In the new scheme the incentive for each bicycle purchase will amount to € 200 per consumer. The start of the new scheme is scheduled for mid-September 2009. Of course this timing coincides with the opening of EICMA Bici. And as the show will be officially opened by Italy’s Minister of the Environment, Ms Stefania Prestigiacomo, it is almost certain that she, in her opening speech, will touch upon the new Incentive Scheme for Bikes.

Next to that, it is expected that the new scheme will also boost the number of visitors of the show. Related to the incentive scheme is also a series of workshops organized during the show that will provide more information for retailers as well as bike companies on the new incentive scheme.
EICMA Bici 2009 side program includes a conference on bike trends while also ‘Pedelata Azzurra’ is back, scheduled to take place Sunday, September 20. ‘Pedelata Azzurra’ is a bicycle tour on a national scale. The tour is 65 kilometres long and starts from the south gate of the Fiera Milano.