At the Urban Bike Festival, the trendy Zürich-West district belongs to everyone who enjoys life on a bike in the city. From March 27 to 29, 2020, the public will be offered information, experiences and entertainment about urban cycling culture on Schiffbauplatz, in the Schiffbau building and on Turbinenplatz. Experience has shown that the bike happening attracts over 20,000 interested visitors. With the fifth edition, which this year starts on Friday at 12 noon, the Urban Bike Festival is set to become part of the annual Zurich West "spring get-together".

More exhibitors than ever before

According to the organizer, Bike Days.ch GmbH, the bike industry is rewarding the high number of visitors with a record number of exhibitors and the largest range of test bikes for urban use in Switzerland. With around 70 exhibitors, this is around 10 percent more than last year. Anyone who wants to enjoy life on a bike in the city will find inspiration and information on the latest bike products at the Urban Bike Expo, from cargo, city and gravel bikes to racing bikes, all with or without electric assistance. Handmade and stylish bike bags, visibility solutions, flashing helmets, ingenious accessories and bike tours invite you to browse and make plans. As well as feasting your eyes and talking shop, testing is also the order of the day. This is possible at the numerous test stands, where a wide range of bikes are ready to be tested on the test tracks.

"Crank it up": Swiss cycling e-sports premiere

The Urban Bike Festival will see the Swiss premiere of a live cycling e-sports race with "Crank it up" - an e-sports race in which the athletes meet in one place to race on the indoor trainer. "Crank it up" will be held with festival partners Indian Summer, Wahoo Fitness and Zwift on Saturday evening. Also for spectators, a close-up time trial in the truest sense of the word.

The staging of the Cyclocross World Championships in Dübendorf at the beginning of February proves it: Cyclocross is alive and well in Switzerland. Now in its fifth year, the Urban Bike Festival brings to life the fact that cyclocross is far more than just a field and meadow sport. Here, the athletes race through beach volleyball courts, a moat, up and down stairs and over the Zurich-West viaduct on the Josefwiese. Including the 2020 U23 World Championship runner-up, Kevin Kuhn, from Gibswil in Zurich. The first Swiss World Championship medal winner in 15 years has announced his participation in the Urban Cyclocross. In what is probably the world's most spectacular cyclocross race, he will be up against renowned competitors from Switzerland and abroad.At the Drop and Roll Show on Turbinenplatz, the bike will be staged in several shows with stunts by Fabio Wibmer and the Drop and Roll Crew. With over four million YouTube subscribers, the Austrian mountain and trial bike pro and web video producer is admired in the scene as an "all-rounder". His video Wibmer's Law, for example, has broken the 50 million view mark.

New expert forum

Under the name "Urban Bike Lab", there will be a forum for topics and keynote speeches as well as panels and feedback rounds with top-class experts for the first time. These will take place on Friday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Laboratory 5 for 45 minutes each on the five topics of "Bikes and safety", "Bikes and e-mobility", "Bikes and urban space", "Bikes and sport" and "Bikes and style". The forum is being offered in collaboration with the City of Zurich and is aimed at interested parties from the cycling industry, administration, research, public transport companies, mobility specialists, sharing economists and futurologists, as well as fans and laypeople.

For the first time, the Urban Bike Festival will start on Friday at 12 noon. The afternoon is ideal for active and quality-conscious "silver agers" who want to find out about the various offers at the Expo at their leisure: How does bike sharing from PubliBike work? Which is the right e-bike? How do you get around the city safely by bike? The Expo can be ideally combined with the wide range of bike tests on offer to help you find your own personal bike that makes you feel comfortable and safe in the city. The safety course, which proved to be a magnet for visitors last year, also aims to raise awareness of road safety. Participants in the course are shown how to behave correctly on a bike in urban environments. There is also an e-bike from Flyer to be won. The Safety Parcours was developed in collaboration with the City of Zurich, the Swiss Council for Accident Prevention (bfu) and the Swiss Accident Insurance Fund (suva) as a campaign for safe interaction. At the Züri-Velo-Quiz, SRF3 producer Stefan Flury will provide valuable tips on safety in the saddle in a humorous way - new on the main stage.

Those who fancy cycling will find plenty of opportunities at the Urban Bike Festival: Urban Cyclocross, Cycling E-Sports, City Ride, Gravel Rides, Urban Bike Games, Slow Race, children's running bike races and bike tests. Tinkerers and design enthusiasts are recommended to visit the exhibition and award ceremony of the Bike Lovers Contest with this year's motto "Expect the Unexpected". A visit to the Urban Bike Festival could be worthwhile for the culinary diversity of the street food stalls alone and the daily unplugged concerts with a total of six acts are on top of that.

Fans of nightlife can look forward to the Urban Bike Party in the Labor Bar with an international music act: the German-Australian band "Amistat". Admission to the Urban Bike Festival is free and more information is available via

urbanbikefestival.ch