I went to Eurobike every year from 2018 to 2024. I skipped 2025 and 2026, and by 2025 the word from the people I trust was already that the show was not what it used to be. This year the organiser's own closing report puts the numbers at around 800 exhibitors, 15,130 trade visitors and 8,970 festival visitors, down from 1,500 exhibitors and 31,270 trade visitors a year earlier (Eurobike 2026 press release, Cycling Industry News). Bosch, Giant and Pinarello did not have a stand. That is not a dip, that is a different show.
How it got here
The collapse did not start in June. In October 2025 the German industry associations ZIV and Zukunft Fahrrad ended their cooperation with the organiser Fairnamic, and Bosch eBike Systems followed them out (Pinkbike). The complaints were old ones: too many non-bike e-mobility exhibitors, a venue that suited scooters more than dealers, and a festival format that brought crowds but not orders. Add a market that was still digesting two years of overstock, and half the exhibitor list stayed home.
The part the headlines miss
Here is the uncomfortable bit for anyone, including me, who called it a failure: some of the exhibitors who did show up were happy. Canyon's founder said the show far exceeded expectations, and Chinese suppliers reported finding OEM partners they had not met before (Show Daily). The organiser's own figure that 71 percent of visitors held senior positions, up from 58 percent, points the same way. Fewer people, but the ones who came had budget. The show failed as a spectacle. It did not necessarily fail as a place to do business, if you had organised your business before you arrived.
2027: two shows, one market
Next year the choice gets harder. ZIV and Koelnmesse announced "towards tomorrow: European Bike Show" for 6 to 8 September 2027 in Cologne, strictly B2B, with the major dealer associations already on board (ZIV). Fairnamic first moved Eurobike 2027 to September and announced a pause for 2028, then reversed in early September: Eurobike 2027 will run 30 June to 2 July in Frankfurt, and stays annual (Escape Collective). So a small brand or distributor now has to pick between a June show with the Eurobike name and a September show with the German industry behind it. Very few can afford both.
How I would decide
- Follow your dealers, not the brand of the show. Ask the twenty dealers you most want to sign in 2027 which show they are attending. Their answer is your answer.
- Treat the show as a project with a start date in April. Book meetings six weeks out. At a show with 15,000 trade visitors, walk-up traffic will not fill your calendar.
- Price the alternative. A week of dealer visits in the Netherlands and Germany costs less than a stand and produces the same number of serious conversations. For some brands that is the better buy in 2027.
- Do not skip both. The consolidation happening right now (see the Accell story) is opening dealer slots across Europe. The brands that show up somewhere will fill them.
The show is not dead. Being there is just no longer enough on its own.