Anyone who still doubts the importance of cycling in society could quickly get up to speed with a visit to Areal Böhler. As always, we were right in the thick of it and, given the crowds of visitors on Saturday, had to hold onto our stand to avoid being swept away by the current. But don't worry, we were stable, had fun, and rocked the fair.

Already a few months ago, it was clear that this year's Cyclingworld would go through the roof. Given the Eurobike's development in the years since its move to Frankfurt, numerous exhibitors decided to mark the Düsseldorf fair much more prominently in their 2026 annual calendar and adjust their stand sizes. Parallel to this, the Cyclingworld team created more space, adding the RheinRiff as an extension to the Areal Böhler, which became an endless summer surfing home for some exhibitors.

In the heart of the city center, the Urban Cycling Hub at Gustaf-Gründgens-Platz invited cycling enthusiasts without exhibition visit intentions to stroll along the bike novelties of 2026. In our somewhat spirited announcement of Cyclingworld, we described how important the visibility of cycling is in our eyes to increase the drive for mobility change, so that Düsseldorf does not consciously miss out on contemporary urban development. Therefore, thumbs up for the endeavor to bring the fair into the city; Düsseldorf and its residents can benefit from it as much as the exhibitors.

Our start to the 2026 Cyclingworld began with planning last year. The annual demand to celebrate and honor a home game accordingly requires a lot of preparations. Much of it is then simply forgotten, so that, as is fitting for a proper trade fair, one falls into complete stress attacks shortly beforehand and handles everything off the cuff at the last minute. Ideally, together with the lovely people one works with. (Big probs go out to Cicli Barco, now & again masters of stress resistance)

Stress-free improvisation, as is well known, is not only part of jazz but also of sophisticated trade fair preparation. That's why we are always relatively relaxed and in a good mood up to a certain point. Our aim to show ourselves from our best side at the fair only falters when a thousand good and two thousand less good reasons ensure that planning is planning and reality runs on different tracks. 2027: Check.

So, a bit off the cuff, it started on Thursday evening with a joint ride with Marco from Gravelbike Germany, David and Jonas, the light and bell makers from Knog, and our Spanish friends from Orbea: there was bright light for everyone, plus the option to ride one of the new Orbea Terra and a 52km route with a few small gimmicks. The riders were visibly enjoying themselves upon their return, followed by non-alcoholic beer, Climaid, and a Kärcher session at the Mütze.

By the way: if you're interested in a test ride with an Orbea Terra in the next few days: we will organize some test rides, together with Gravelbike Germany and Orbea. More on Orbea's grouprides.cc account.

On Friday morning, Mütze was something like an early-hub trade fair satellite: the shop and courtyard were well-filled with an international who's who of the alternative bike bubble, boundless cycling enthusiasm at its best, from Japan to Scandinavia. Home games are particularly nice when you have the world as your guest. I would have loved to stay, shake hands, chat, and talk shop, and listen to praise and criticism of our shop, but our exhibition stand unfortunately needed attention much more urgently.

When it comes to a lot of work, it also goes into our bike fleet, which we set up every year for Cyclingworld. Our workshop team gives its all every year to do justice to the home game and to move into the Areal Böhler with a selection of individual custom builds from the seemingly endless Mützen cosmos. Of course, there are also discussions, ideas, plans, and time windows in advance, but in parallel, there are also numerous "I really don't know what's wrong with my bike, but maybe you could take a quick look, because I actually want to..." visits to the Mütze, which derail one or more schedules.

And because that's the way it is, it's in the nature of trade fairs that the setups are only ready at the last minute before the finish line. It's good if this still happens in a positive atmosphere; I imagine you can always tell by the bikes whether the vibe during setup was right or not.

My personal highlight for 2026 is our brand new Cicli Barco Mützen-Valsugana 2.0 in peaceful lilac, built with Campagnolo's Super Record WRL 2x13-speed and a Hunt Carbon wheelset with 50mm deep rims. The frame was delivered the week before the fair thanks to the fabulous support of Andrea, Gianluca, and the entire Barco team, and the assembly went smoothly. The frame now comes with full integration, prepared for all electric groups, and the response at the fair was great; even the color, which is certainly a bit polarizing, received a lot of positive feedback. We are now taking pre-orders for the limited series model in six sizes; custom geometries are of course possible. Before any confusion arises: model 1.0 will still be available, and mechanical groups are also possible here without any problems. Since Gianluca Barco won first place with his cooperation with Dom Mason at the DT Swiss Craft Bike Days, the Italian noble forge has also been much more on the radar in Germany. If you're interested in a very special bike, please contact us; we'll organize the entire process.

In addition to the new Valsugana, we also showcased a silver Barco Marconi, also with Campagnolo Super Record. Andrea from Cicli Barco spared no effort and presented a decent selection, including a Piovan Zero with an INGRID shifting group for gravel roads, a Marconi British Race with a Dura Ace group, and a Lutz frame with a steel-carbon mix, as well as a Marconi made of Columbus Spirit with XCR contact points in blue, also equipped with Dura Ace, which Andrea rode at the Giro Del Basso Reno.

The colleagues from the CNC forge INGRID from Fossombrone, northeast of Siena, not only contributed a shifting group, but also came along themselves and presented their CNC treasures. Their drive and shifting parts impress with their clear, linear design, close to a Lego brick, special color schemes, and impressive surface textures, giving the parts for which the term bikeporn was invented a very special look. In its combination of technical design and creative implementation, it is very independent and very smart.

For years, a focus of our Cyclingworld builds has been bikes based on frames from our friends at Ritchey. This year, with the Septimer, we had a bike in our portfolio that drew some astonished glances: a Ritchey made of carbon. Primarily designed as an all-road bike with tire clearance up to 48mm, it holds another surprise: as a Breakaway, it can be easily disassembled, halved, and thus fits, including the wheels, into a case that neither needs to be checked as oversized luggage nor is only combi-compatible. The perfect solution for cycling-loving digital nomads and globetrotters. Photo to follow.

In addition, our stand visitors were able to enjoy more Ritcheys: an Outback Aurora, a Montebello with an Allygn Diamond Rack, a Ritchey Singlespeed/Track frame build Garden City, and a RoadLogic. Njegoslav and Jeff from the Ritchey crew also brought some new carbon parts from the Superlogic series, which will certainly pimp numerous bikes as high-quality replacement parts from now on.

We also built up the two frames from Brother Cycles in Kent, which were on display at our stand, with Ritchey components. For the first time in Europe "in real life", the new color of the Mehteh, Blue Lagoon, presented a very chic, distinctive image in combination with the bronze decals – very successful. We also built a Brother Kepler with Ritchey's Kyote handlebars and silver parts, which, with its limited Brooks Blue Lug-B17, polished silver Shimano Cues group, and many small details, makes for a handsome bike for tours into the surrounding area. Whether off-road over gravel passages or through the city, whether with a small bike-packing setup or equipped with a front rack, with this build we have created a versatile bike for all readers of the Heritage Post who have no problem combining disc brake technology with classic looks and a relaxed riding position.

Another prototype that, due to its black finish, only caught the eye at second glance, was the new edition of the Pelago Sibbo. Until now, the bike had only been seen at Eurobike, and only one prototype was available. Here, steel frames with fender and rack mounting points, a carbon fork, Shimano GRX 2x12-speed, and 45mm tire clearance come together to create an all-road bike that will be available in six sizes. The two larger sizes, 62cm and 65cm, will certainly make many tall people happy who are looking for an absolute workhorse for all uses.

Our dropbar range was rounded off by an U.P.PER. CONCE.PT (UDH) from Open with SRAM Force, and we also had our eternal bestseller from Genesis, the Croix de Fer 50, at the stand to show that not all custom bikes have to be custom built.

It got truly extraordinary with a really stylish cargo bike, the Omnium in the titanium version, a special Mützen custom build with SRAM shifting group, various Hope Tech parts, a foldable carbon loading platform, and a handmade carbon wheelset. This eye-catcher was much admired, but the biggest "aha!" moment came for everyone who lifted it. Few believed that a complete cargo bike with a loading platform could be so light. There's no more stylish way to transport your goods by bike. BTW: Thanks to Jorrit for the collaboration and the courier service.

We would have loved to show even more bikes from the Mützen universe, but space is limited. However, many of our partners were present with their own stands, whether Orbea, Cannondale, Veloheld, or Muli with their cargo bike from Cologne, or the Belgian folding bike innovators from Ahooga.

But Mütze is not just about bikes, Mütze is also about everything around them. Like last year, we again hosted Sean and Hannes with the Ciclovation range. The creative and high-quality handlebar tapes once again delighted numerous visitors, and Sean also brought an expanded range of handlebar end plugs, color-matching bottle cages, and many other parts.

In addition, two of our clothing brands were represented at our stand and showcased their products. Charley Tysler from IRIS gave an insight into the summer collection 2026 of our friend Iris Slappendel and was present on Saturday morning at the Women's Road Cycling outing with partners IRIS, Hunt, and Ergon. We were very pleased about Charley's first visit to Düsseldorf and are sure that we will meet again soon. Alex from Hunt Wheels helped us with a refreshment station, thanks for that.

John Wedlake from Albion Cycling has been a regular visitor to our Mütze over the past two years, and like Hunt, Brooks, ClimAid, and Chimpanzee, Albion are also partners in our Crossing Borders ride. Therefore, we were delighted to welcome Albion to our stand. On Friday and Saturday, John was accompanied by his colleagues Jack Leddington and Graeme Raeburn, who not only brought their repair studio to give damaged cycling clothing a second life on Friday and Saturday, but also showcased a selection of their jerseys, jackets, and bibs.

As in real life, at the fair you also appreciate great neighbors. With Cyclite and their extensive bag assortment on one side, KASK with helmets and Koo glasses on the other side, and Wahoo, we are in an environment of brands that are all part of the Mützen assortment and that we sell with enthusiasm.

When the hall doors opened for the first time for visitors to Cyclingworld 2026 on Friday evening at 6 p.m., we still had a bit to take care of at our stand. Friday usually starts relaxed, but our slight delay during the day took its toll, and the good mood only arrived a little late out of sheer desperation. Also thanks to the musical accompaniment in the form of DJ Martin Schneider, who provided a relaxed, groovy start to the fair. For us, it could have been a bit louder; sometimes the musical vibe helps immensely to lift the spirits. My tip: Martin's Mixcloud channel, where you can listen to the complete set. We danced through the Mütze on Tuesday when we listened to the set again.

There was plenty of good cheer opposite us at our friend Schorsch's and his CYCLE4WATER crew, where non-alcoholic beer from the Dortmund Bergmann Brewery flowed endlessly from the tap for donations, and we are happy to be able to contribute a little bit to this whole construct as supporters.

From Friday lunchtime, Felix from Gravelbike Magazine helped set up our stand. In the evening, he, together with Tom and other colleagues, presented the magazine's new subscription model at our stand. He also moderated the Africa Talk on Saturday afternoon in the Blogger Lounge, where, among others, Schorsch talked about his journey to Kenya as an ambassador for the WELLFAIR Foundation. Here I briefly come to the missed opportunities: I would have loved to ride our shared Giro Del Basso Reno with our neighbors from KASK and Andrea from Cicli Barco on Saturday afternoon. The ride was, as usual, relaxed, and our guests were again happy to visit Jannis from the Bulle bakery, where provisions, coffee, and delicious drinks from our friends at ClimAid refilled their calorie reserves.

Originally, I would have loved to clone myself to be able to visit the Blogger Lounge at the same time, but in the end, nothing worked out, and the sheer number of visitors who swarmed our booth in an endless stream from Saturday morning onwards left me no room for distraction. In fact, I have to admit that I found little time to visit our partners and colleagues in other halls. A quick chat here, a minute there, a hot shot at the Porsche in the RheinRiff – pretty meager for someone who would have actually liked to write something substantial about the fair.

As is well known, I love spending Saturday evening of the fair in front of Rigatoni & Riesling, for the second time this year. A little bit of a bad conscience always plagues me then, after all, I'm responsible for the place being so full. And when after 7.5 hours at the fair you crave pasta, a cold drink, pleasant conversations and a great community, in March you're more likely to think indoors than outdoors. However, I can't say that we didn't have fun outside; our #stayoutsideforlonger group around Schorsch and the CYCLE4WATER and Wellfair supporters radiated so much warmth that the rustic temperatures outside eventually didn't matter. Even without alcohol, things get really strange when Carsten with C from Iserlohn is introduced to Carsten with C from Iserlohn. BTW: This year I didn't even have a red wristband, but no one noticed later, eventually we were allowed in and could sit down. Cheers.

On Sunday morning, a full broadside awaited us again: a sold-out classic bike ride led by Volker, and half an hour later, the gravel ride with Albion, Orbea, and Ritchey. I simply snuck into the organization team for that one, just to play boss for a moment and stir up at least one of the two groups.

Our small travel group, led by Andi and Felix, had a lot of fun, also considering that our imported obstacles, like the original Sauerland tree, were perfectly placed. A big thank you to the fellow rider who thanked me at the end because it was important to him. We don't need to "fish for compliments" because we often hear that we do good things, but it's still nice when someone recognizes and enumerates everything that goes into organizing such a tour. And that we certainly have plenty to do during the fair anyway.

In this context, we cannot thank all our supporters of the weekend enough who were there with helping hands, advice, and action in the run-up, during setup, during the rides, and during dismantling. Without you, none of this would work. With you, it not only works but becomes something special. Thank you.

And then, every year, we have to thank the Cyclingworld team again. For a great fair and for putting Düsseldorf on an international map of cities that are important for cycling. The bicycle industry is far from being a place of eternal bliss; there are numerous issues that need to be discussed. One has to ask whether the current form of technical competition really benefits consumers or whether problems and solutions are sometimes failed to be defined and communicated. Higher, faster, further should not be the goal; if we want to inspire people to cycle, other parameters are often required. Cyclingworld shows that people can be wonderfully engaged in a positively charged environment; there is great interest. It is up to all of us to ask ourselves what we want to communicate. Less is sometimes more.

We look forward to 2027.

Your Mütze

Kerstin's pictures from the booth

Kerstin's tour

Women in Cycling

Joel's Pre-Open Orbea Ride Gallery | (C) Joel Kaumanns / Klub Karacho

Women's Cycling Movement Road Bike

Joel's Giro Del Basso Reno | (C) Joel Kaumanns / Klub Karacho

Kerstin's Giro Del Basso Reno

Classic Ride

Joel Gravel, Grit & Moss | (C) Joel Kaumanns / Klub Karacho

Kerstin Gravel, Grit & Moss