While the North American Handmade Bike Show gets underway this weekend (with BikeRadar in attendance), the doors to Europe's biggest exhibition of artisan bike craft - Bespoked - will open in a month at the London Olympic velodrome.
Phil Taylor, founder of the Bespoked Handmade Bike Show, said the three-day extravaganza between 11-13 April will be attended by international legends of the bike building industry, including the titular founder of Chris King components and his sidekick, Jay CyCip, the principal framebuilder at Cielo, a sister brand to Chris King.
King leads a legion of American brands at the London show, including Moots, Mosaic, Winter Bicycles, Alchemy, Strawberry Bicycles and Independent Fabrications.
Also exhibiting will be Mike Burrows, the designer of Chris Boardman's iconic Olympic-medal-winning Lotus 108, and English builders such as Enigma, Donhau, 18Bikes and Feather Cycles.
International builders include Festka (Czech Republic), Baum (Australia), Blacksmith (Holland) and Cyfac (France).
The show will be one of the first opportunities the public will have to step inside the Lee Valley VeloPark in East London since it was closed after the 2012 Olympics and Taylor said the show had blocked off some track sessions to give visitors a chance to have a go on the boards.
The main attraction however will be the bikes from scores of international designers vying for top honours in nine categories, including best road bike, best new framebuilder, most innovative product, best alternative material and – the top award – best in show.
Taylor, who has moved the show from Bristol to the London velodrome said preparations for the show were going well.
"The London velodrome is the perfect venue for the show and lots of the designers I've spoken to are burning the midnight oil to get their beautiful bikes ready for the show," Taylor said. "I'm really pleased with the turnout of great international builders alongside the depth of talent among the UK builders. It's a sure sign that the quality of the show is a match for anything on that side of the pond. At the moment, all the sign point to the fourth edition of the show being the biggest yet."
For a full exhibitor list and to buy tickets, visit www.bespoked.cc.