A new consumer show dedicated to all forms of cycling has been announced at the Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) next April.

The Scottish Bike Show will run from 16-17 April and is expected to take up 5,500sqm in Hall 3. The event is being launched by exhibition entrepreneur, Rowan Mackie, who previously worked in business-to-business exhibition sales in Europe and the US and is a cycling enthusiast.

According to Mackie, the event will be the first focused cycling show based in Scotland incorporating national and international brands. He claimed 20 sponsors and exhibitors were on-board so far, headlined by the governing national body Scottish Cycling. Other supporters include the Highland Perthshire Cycling Festival, Singletrack, IMB and Scotlands Outdoors magazine and The Prostate Cancer Charity. 

“We’re not focusing on one pocket of cycling – we’ll be looking at road and mountain biking, BMX, leisure and commuter, electric bikes and kids,” Mackie told EN. He also expected a knock-on effect from Scottish Government initiatives to encourage people to be more physically active by 2020.

Alongside custom-built and shell-scheme stands, the Scottish Bike Show will feature a professional BMX demonstration, test tracks for adults and kids, celebrity speakers and other well-known cycling personalities such as representatives from the Commonwealth Games cycling team. Several product launches are also being planned.

“I don’t think it’s beyond us to get 14,000 or 16,000 people over the two days because of our location, the buzz in the market, the population of Glasgow and the central belt,” Mackie said. “Running the event at the SECC suggests a message of intent – we want to set a strong precedent.”

Mackie suggested the Scottish Bike Show would complement, rather than rival English cycling events such as The Cycle Show, which relocates to The NEC in Birmingham in September 2011, or the London Bike Show at Excel London in January.

He was similarly unconcerned about losing business to the new Johnson Press Outdoor Pursuits show, which will include a cycling components and launches on 2-3 April, but in Edinburgh.

“You’ll always have events with some crossover, but it’s not an inhibitor – no one is touching the Scottish cycling market properly,” Mackie said.