Cycling Weekly September 21, 1991
Eurobike steals a march with Campag launch
Editor Andy Sutcliffe had travelled to southern Germany for a new bike show on the shores of Lake Constance. There was much excitement as Shimano, Campagnolo and Suntour had broken with tradition and used the show to launch their new products weeks earlier than usual.
Eurobike quickly grew into the biggest trade show in the world, and the multiple expo halls at Friedrichshafen still play host to the cycle trade each year.
Campag had streamlined its road groupsets and was now offering just Record, Chorus and Athena, but all three were available with Ergopower shifters – their version of STI. It was so new that Sutcliffe had to go into great detail to explain to the readers what Ergopower was and how it worked.
Up front, the pages were a feast of time trialling as the Best British All-rounder competition drew to a close. Glenn Longland sealed his second title with a 1hr 46min ride at the Southampton Wheelers ‘50’, while the magazine thought Margaret Allen had secured her third title with a 4hr 9min ‘100’. But in the following weeks Mandy Jones would take back the lead position and the title.
Perhaps the best story came from the Leo RC ‘30’, a distance not often promoted. Sue Wright beat Beryl Burton’s 1981 record (the first woman to beat any of Burton’s nine competition records) while Eddie Adkins broke the men’s comp record. But by the time
Adkins got back to the HQ almost everyone had gone home. “Are you the one who broke comp record?” asked a club volunteer as Adkins stared at the leaderboard. “Then you can have a free cake with your cup of tea.”
“That was great,” Adkins told Cycling Weekly. “No one has ever given me free
cake before.”
Spare a thought for Gary Empson, who had ridden a 59.56 earlier in the day to break the comp record, only to hold it for a few minutes before Adkins clocked 59.22.