The twelfth annual Eurobike Awards, which run alongside the leading international bicycle industry trade-show, have been confirmed. Although, the award winners will not be unveiled until 31 August – to coincide with the 2016 Eurobike show.
The panel of judges for the Eurobike Award included German triathlete Thomas Hellriegel, Lotte Kraus, an expert in ergonomics, and Marcus Schro?der, a renowned bicycle tester. Contributing further expertise were panel members Kevin Quan, founder of the Canadian design studio KQS, the Italian cycle trade journalist Marcella Crisanti and Rik De Bruin, owner of a Dutch bicycle business that has been family-run for 60 years. Chairing and providing support for the Eurobike Award judges’ meeting was the German Designer Club (DDC).
For the first time in its history, the expert panel’s decision-making process was simplified by a digital pre-selection stage, during which a twelve-strong panel undertook an initial selection from the Award entrants. This left 270 new products on the short list for a Eurobike Award. The expert judges examined, tested and evaluated these submissions for the competition on 9-10 August in Friedrichshafen, Germany.
As in past years, the judges ‘did not have an easy time deciding which new products are setting fresh benchmarks in categories such as innovation, quality and function’. “The other members of the panel of judges were extremely competent,” said Marcus Schro?der at the end of the task.
“The work of the panel was thoroughly challenging. Yet at the same time, I’m very impressed by how much potential there is for innovations in very different product segments,” added the Canadian panel member Kevin Quan. At the end of the process, the panel members finally reached agreement on 51 products which in their view represent yardsticks of innovation and design in the bike market.
Among the winners are 12 products that the expert panel not only regards as outstandingly made but also have the potential to redefine the state of the art within the industry. Consequently, these products have been allocated a Gold Award, which distinguishes them as the cre?me de la cre?me. One company will additionally be able to celebrate a Green Award, which is presented to particularly sustainable product developments.
The companies that will be able to embellish their new products with a Eurobike or Gold Award in the future will, however, remain a secret among the experts for a number of days… On 31 August, the first day of the Eurobike show, the curtain will go up on the award winners when all the victorious products are presented in the West Foyer of Messe Friedrichshafen.
Eurobike 2016 will take place from Wednesday 31 August to Saturday 3 September, from 09:00 to 18:00 CET, and on Sunday 4 September, from 09:00 to 17:00. Eurobike 2016 Business Days (Wednesday to Friday) are exclusively open to trade visitors and accredited journalists. Eurobike 2016 Festival Days (Saturday and Sunday) are open to the general public.
The dates for next year’s 26th edition of Eurobike have also been set: 30 August to 3 September 2017.
