February 16, 2013 (Montreal, QC) – Friday saw the Montreal Bike Show open its doors for the 11th annual consumer bike show – also known as the Salon du Vélo de Montréal (Expodium). Among the exhibitors this year are well-known Cannondale dealer GTH, Louis Garneau Sports, Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC), Momentum Solutions Vélo, the Grands Prix Cycliste Quebec et Montreal (GPCQM) promoting their newly-launched cyclosportive rides this September while Garneau’s the GranFondo Garneau Cascade scheduled for August 11 was also getting hyped at the show.

“We don’t have exact numbers yet, but I think that the main attendance on Friday was up about 10% over 2012,” said show organizer Jan Dubé. “The main attraction on Friday, Feb. 15 was a speech about motivation by Pierre Lavoie of Ironman and charity ride fame; Saturday’s talk was entitled ‘Velos et Volcans.’ And this year’s bike show seems very popular with triathletes.”

“This is the third year that we’ve been at the Salon,” said Remi Larose of MEC. “Show attendees are asking a lot of questions about both our Ghost bikes and our house brand, MEC. They are often surprised to find that we make MEC bikes ourselves, it’s not a rebranding. And sales are brisk this year with six bikes sold by Saturday afternoon compared to only one sale over three days in 2012.”

Over at the Momentum booth – the Montreal boutique that became the first Marin Bikes concept store worldwide, things were also busy. “Most of the interest is in road bikes and we’re getting a lot of questions about our new Stelvio models,” said Yannick Guimond of Momentum. “People are impressed with the weight, the finish, and the price. But no, we have not made any sales here nor have we tried to make any. We prefer to send customers to our boutique where they can be properly fitted for a bike.”

The bike show continues through Sunday when it is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more info click HERE.