Next setback for Eurobike: Shimano cancels participation in 2026
Eurobike's status crumbles: After Bosch, Riese & MĂĽller, and ZIV, Shimano also cancels, focusing on its own events.
A look beyond Eurobike 2025.
(Image: Steffen Herget / heise Medien)
The Eurobike bicycle trade fair has to cope with another prominent cancellation: the Japanese component manufacturer Shimano will not be part of the trade fair in 2026. The company announced this on Friday. This further erodes Eurobike's status as the leading trade fair for the bicycle industry. As early as November 2025, the industry association ZIV, the significant Zukunft Fahrrad e.V. and Bosch eBike Systems had broken with Eurobike and canceled for 2026.
According to the announcement, Shimano wants to address sales partners, dealers, and customers more directly in the future and invest in its own formats. In addition, rising exhibition costs and "changing visitor flows" contributed to the decision.
The news hits the trade fair organizers in the middle of a restructuring phase. Just on Thursday, the trade fair had announced that the 2026 edition would take place on a significantly smaller scale. However, nothing was yet known about the Shimano cancellation. In the west of the Frankfurt exhibition grounds, only three instead of the previous five halls are to be used for the 34th edition. It had already been announced that the trade fair would be shortened by one day. It will now take place from June 24 to 27, 2026.
The newly appointed managing director of the organizer Fairnamic, Philipp Ferger, had emphasized to dpa the day before the Shimano cancellation that the organizers and the bicycle associations ZIV and Zukunft Fahrrad e.V. had moved closer to each other again. Discussions had shown that there was a common interest in a strong, future-proof Eurobike.
Riese & MĂĽller and Bosch also cancel
The cancellation by Bosch and the associations ZIV and Zukunft Fahrrad was preceded by a dispute over the future direction of Germany's largest bicycle trade fair. The associations criticized a lack of ordering opportunities, high stand rental fees, and the trade fair's lack of political relevance. "The industry expects fundamental changes as a prerequisite and a clear signal for a successful future for Eurobike," explained Claus Fleischer, CEO of Bosch eBike Systems, the reason for the cancellation.
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A little later, Riese & MĂĽller, a German premium manufacturer of e-bikes and cargo bikes, also announced that it would not be part of the 2026 trade fair. Similar to Shimano, Riese & MĂĽller no longer sees the trade fair as the right format for the company and is instead turning directly to specialist dealers, customers, and sales partners: it is organizing its "Campus Days" at its site in MĂĽhltal near Darmstadt -- at the same time as Eurobike.
The numbers of trade visitors and the public at the trade fair had been declining recently. Even in 2025, major international bicycle and component manufacturers as well as Europe's largest dealer network, Zweirad-Einkaufs-Genossenschaft (ZEG), were missing. Nevertheless, Eurobike attracted 61,690 guests last year, including 31,270 trade visitors and 1500 exhibitors.
(rbr)
