From Show Floor to Factory Door: Inside China’s Biggest Bike Innovation

Indexed: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]This right here is a Konago. And I saw more Kago in China than I've ever seen in the US. I'm back in Portland now where we're going to take a look at what I saw at the 2026 China Cycle Show, but also what I saw at some of the factories making the bikes that US consumers are buying. Let's get into it.

[00:00:31]Right now I'm standing in front of the Seikka booth. And Seikka is one of those Chinese brands that has become a little bit well known in America. And the bike that I'm actually standing in front of is a time trial bike that they co-developed with our record holder Victoria Busussy. And what's really interesting about this bike is that she had this theory that if you reduced the head tube, if you shortened it and you made more room above the tire in the fork, that you would actually reduce the frontal area. Turns out she was right and they helped make that a reality. Uh it's really interesting just to see the speed of innovation here. Right now I'm standing in front of the Laget A1 and this is a bike that I first brought to you when I saw it at the Taiwan show.

[00:01:15]But what's different is that because it's won an award at this show, it's sitting all alone, just the frame set on a wall, and I was able to pick it up and handle it and touch it and move it. And when you have that access to it, it is shocking just how narrow some of the pieces are. Everything about it, all the little details are just like it is crazy when you see it up close like that. What is less unexpected though is that when you pick it up, it is quite heavy.

[00:01:44]Obviously, this is not a Chinese brand, but what I find really interesting is that this is the steel Novo, and this is Konago's uh nod to their heritage. It has a combination of 3D printing and traditional steel tubing to create a modern steel bike that is just seamless.

[00:02:03]There's no cables anywhere. Everything looks beautiful. And I haven't even seen it in person anywhere else in the world.

[00:02:10]And it just goes to show how important the Chinese domestic market is to heritage brands like Konago. All right, I got to break in here. What I'm about to show you is a segment that I filmed at the show about a brand that I met at the show. And at the time I was given the information and I took notes, but it turned out that information was completely wrong. I'm going to leave it in here so that you can see a little bit because I think it's worth showing this bigger picture concept. QuickBrow is one of the more well-known brands in the US.

[00:02:40]However, they don't actually sell direct to consumer, and that means they're not as cheap as they could be. To fix that, they're coming out with a new subbrand called Assisting Force. And the first bike they're launching is a gravel bike called the AF01 SSL. It's a,000 g frame. It holds up to 50 mm tires. This meant as an all-around bike. Price for the chassis is $1,400. I think what happened is that when I walked up, they didn't know who I was, but they would have given that information to whatever other consumer did walk up. And it just points to this bigger problem that is worth mentioning as we look at all these great things coming out of China. You don't really know who you're dealing with all the time. And it's really worth sticking to the bigger brands that are more well-known and really looking into it.

[00:03:26]It's definitely a problem as things grow. Standing in front of another Kago, but this time it's not the bike that I want to highlight. It's actually the saddle. This is a Pro Logo saddle that the brand is calling the very first arrow saddle. Now, if that seems crazy to you, it's actually not the aerodynamics that is the primary benefit of this saddle. The arrow benefits are just a side effect of being able to bring the rails up closer to the base.

[00:03:50]And you can think of that like shrinking the stack height on a pair of shoes. And the advantage here is that according to Pro Logo, it creates a more reactive riding experience. What I'm standing with right now is something from Elite Wheels. This is a brand that's been in business for about 10 years and they are showing something brand new at the show and this is a 65 mm deep wheel. Every part of it is one piece, the spokes, everything all molded together. Now, of course, that does mean it is non-repable should something happen. On the other hand, the pricing is not final, but you can expect it to be around $2,000 for the set. And that gets you a 25 millimeter internal width, 65 millimeter depth. As I already said, it is a sealed rim bed, and it is hooked. So, I haven't actually changed booths. I'm still at the Elite booth, but instead of wheels, I'm standing in front of an Evolve bike.

[00:04:44]And Evolve is a sister brand to Elite.

[00:04:46]And what's unique about this bike is that the whole bike is 4.9 kg. They have it on the scale right here to demonstrate it. Now, that is not the lightest bike you can get. The frame set itself is $650 g. But what is interesting is that the frame set pricing is $2,500. The wheels not yet finalized, but around $2,000. And when you add Dura Ace and the side brake cranks that are on here, you're looking at about $8,500. Again, for a $4.9 kg bike, that is incredible. And that is kind of what we are seeing from Chinese brands. Better, lighter, cheaper, faster to innovate. What I'm holding right here is a shammy. And you might not think too much about the technology that goes into it, but trust me, there's a lot. Back at the Taiwan show, I reported on how the next innovation in shammy design was 3D printing. And there was a company that was picking up where Elastic Interface had left off and bringing new options to market. Well, now Elastic Interface is back. And this is their next generation shammy. And what it does is it completely gets rid of foam in the finished product. And that means less ability to absorb water and that means more comfort over long-distance rides.

[00:05:58]One of the brands I knew I wanted to report on while I was here at the China Cycer Show was In Color. They're becoming well known in the US. And this time, what's different is that I'm not reporting on a road bike. Instead, this is a time trial bike. And you can't maybe see it, but I am drawing a crowd because this bike is crazy looking. It reminds me a little bit of the Lotus track bike, but this is actually a time trial bike. And unlike the other time trial bike I reported on, it's not meant for a specific athlete or professional use only. This is really to make, as I'm told, regular people as fast as they can be. Now, unfortunately, that's about all the information I have right now because it's a prototype. It's not expected to come to market until late this summer.

[00:06:43]There's no wait, there's no price.

[00:06:45]There's just a crazy looking bike here.

[00:06:48]So, we've already seen all the cool things that I could find at the show.

[00:06:51]But now, we're going to check out where things are made. And because that's a big part of the story of China is that it's not only selling all kinds of interesting things, it's also manufacturing it. And the first place we're going to check out is a company called Buffang. They make ebike motors of all kinds, but we're going to see all the details about what they actually make.

[00:07:14]One of the more interesting things we've seen on this tour is this room where they test the sound of their motors.

[00:07:20]They tell us that when the door is closed, it's no more than 25 dB in here.

[00:07:24]And it is crazy how it screws with your sense of being just to be in this room.

[00:07:35]So, now we've come through all of the product testing and I'm actually at the first spot where they're showing me production. And what they're doing here is they're winding the copper onto the mid drive motors. And what I'm struck by is that it's actually much smaller than I would have expected.

[00:08:03]So that's it. We finished up all the things. We saw all the stuff. And uh now we're going to get out of here. We're actually going to ride some bikes. And then tomorrow we're going to see another factory. I'm being rushed, but I'm standing in front of a new company called J&G Technologies. I've flown across the country and this is a joint venture between two major bike companies. I'm expecting huge scale of manufacturing, much bigger than Buffang, but we're going to find out what we see today. Okay, now this is the kind of stuff you expect to see in China. What is happening behind me is that they're taking the individual strands and they are actually weaving it into what you normally see at a company like Envy when they bring in a roll of pre prag carbon.

[00:08:45]This is the big stuff.

[00:09:04]A big part of this factory has been completely off limits because there's big brands involved and I'm not allowed to show them on camera. But now I'm finally in a spot that I can film. And this is what you expect to see when you talk about a bicycle factory in China.

[00:09:16]This is carbon fiber production coming into the world and bringing you a new carbon fiber bike at your local retailer.

[00:09:27]Heat.

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