The glorious summer weather is part of the recipe for success at this year's testRIDE, where the 1674 registered visitors (2012: around 1200 registered visitors) from Germany and abroad set a new attendance record for the event. But the testRIDE's success matrix is much more complex than just good weather:

This includes 40 exhibitors representing 100 brands and a fleet of over 700 test bikes. The end of September is just the right time for the public to put the bikes that were on display at Eurobike through their paces under the best conditions. Numerous exhibitors raved about the experienced visitors who were well informed and wanted to test a specific model. But it wasn't just the bikes that were new this year - the test tracks in the Rothorn Bike Park were too. The upper sections of the new Styleline and Shoreline trails were opened just in time for the weekend.Attractive supporting program
In addition to the actual test rides, visitors were able to hone their own riding technique in various workshops. On Saturday, the spectacular Pumptrack Challenge competition was on the program for the second time. Out of a total of 42 participants, Steffie Teltscher from Germany and Joel Ducrot from Fribourg came out on top in the women's and men's categories respectively. An integral part of the supporting program was once again the legendary party on Saturday, where the end of the bike season was celebrated as usual.

Dealer Day not a sure-fire success
While the general public enjoyed the latest bikes on Saturday and Sunday, Monday is traditionally reserved for specialist bike dealers. This year, around 200 representatives of the specialist trade took advantage of the testing opportunities in perfect weather, which is a significant increase compared to 2012 (around 130 dealers, with cold weather).

Pro's and con's of the dealer day
Despite all the sunshine, there was also some shade on Dealer Monday. Several exhibitors made no secret of the fact that the effort required for the Dealer Day was very high. In particular, distributors with one or two employees complained that their day-to-day business was suffering too much as a result of this Monday. Distributors with a large number of employees were consistently positive about the Dealer Day. The exhibitors in particular, who used the testRIDE as a starting point for their own side events with specialist retail customers, were enthusiastic about the Lenzerheide get-together.

Satisfied organizer
Andreas Wirth, Bike Product Manager of the Lenzerheide vacation region, is very satisfied: "The testRIDE has become a fixed date in the calendar for exhibitors and visitors alike. I am particularly pleased with the extraordinary acceptance on both sides". Wirth receives confirmation not only from the new visitor record, but also from the positive figures for Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG: Over 900 day tickets were sold at the ticket counters, more than on any other weekend in the 2013 summer season.testRIDE 2014
The next testRIDE will take place on the weekend of September 20-21, 2014. The Dealer Day will take place on Monday, September 22. The organizer is planning to make adjustments to the exhibition grounds - the main entrance is to be moved down to the entrance of the Rothornbahn cable car to give the flow of visitors a more natural flow.www.testride.ch