Gravel is increasingly off-road, with 32" wheels, Avinox, components that look like works of art, and plenty of young people at the stands. We return from the Misano Bike Festival with one certainty: the passion for cycling is stronger than ever. But the market is still changing, and some questions deserve further exploration.
One thing, coming back from Misano, seems clear to me: the fans still like it touch the bicycles with your own hands.
It may seem trivial in the age of online shopping, digital presentations, and social media, but it isn't at all.
Wandering among the stands you could meet many young people, often with their mountain bikes – almost always muscular enduro bikes – ready for a ride or queuing up to try out some bike.
Alongside them were fans of all ages, their eyes lit up like children at Christmas in front of the presents under the tree.
And then there are teams, groups, friends, people who are preparing a trip or an adventure and are looking for contact, advice, maybe even support.
In short, if a few years ago it seemed that the trade fair model had definitively entered into crisis, at least in Misano this crisis is not visible.
All roses and flowers?
No.
But maybe that's the beauty of it.
Because Misano isn't just about a vibrant industry. It's also about an industry still trying to figure out where to go.
An off-road world that is seeking a new balance
Speaking with companies, industry insiders, and enthusiasts, one senses enthusiasm and a desire to get things done, but also some uncertainty.
Especially in the off-road world.
Once upon a time, everything was relatively simple. There were bikes, there were fairly well-defined categories, and the market moved more uniformly.
Today everything has changed.
Categories overlap, new standards emerge, interpretations of the means of transport change, and above all, the way people want to experience cycling changes.
From Misano, however, some themes emerge with great clarity.
And they will probably be the ones that will accompany us in the coming months.
Gravel: Are we reinventing the old XC?
The first is inevitably the gravel.
It's one of the most obvious trends of the moment, but looking at many of the bikes present at the fair, one thing came to mind spontaneously: some modern gravel bikes are increasingly resembling the MTBs of the '90s.
Tires are now often around two inches wide, a size that until a few years ago we would have easily associated with an XC race.
An understandable choice: more volume means greater ability to tackle real dirt roads and slightly rougher trails.
Then come increasingly off-road-oriented geometries and, in some cases, even suspension forks with a few centimetres of travel.
What do we have in the end?
Almost like an old XC with curved handlebars.
And here comes the doubt that, sometimes, let communication run faster than technical substance.
But stopping at this joke would be a mistake.
Because gravel has captured something very important: a different way of interpreting the bicycle.
Those who choose these means are often not looking for the jump, the rock garden, the segment to file or the absolute performance.
Look for a journey, a path, a new road.
Above all, look for a way to cycle away from traffic.
And that's probably the point.
Gravel is finally finding its own identity. Not necessarily as a rigidly defined technical category, but as way of experiencing the bike.
The media are adapting accordingly.
At least for now.
Because looking at them another question comes spontaneously: Could the next step be the return of the XC front as a means of travel and broadening one's horizons?
We will be back.
32" wheels: they work. But did we need them?
Another topic that is impossible to ignore: the 32 inches.
At Misano, several bicycles were seen assembled with this format. Some wheels were already available, others were still under embargo or at the prototype stage, while the industry is clearly gearing up.
And next season several teams will adopt this solution.
The most immediate question is: will bikes go faster?
Probably yes.
The second question, however, in my opinion is more interesting: will it be good for the market?
Here my response is much less enthusiastic.
Because a new format means redesigning wheels, frames, forks, and components. It means new standards, new spare parts, and new investments.
And all this happens in a sector that still has to coexist with 27,5” and 29”.
Adding another format means increasing costs while, essentially, the cake to be divided remains the same.
Perhaps, from this point of view, we should learn something from the street world.
There, wheel formats have remained essentially the same since the days of Binda. Discs have arrived, frames have evolved enormously, aerodynamics and materials have made giant strides, but some fundamental standards have remained relatively stable.
And while mountain biking, in its various forms, struggles, the road continues to hold up.
So the 32”s work?
Definitely yes.
Will they do any good for the off-road sector at this precise moment in history?
That's a different question.
And it deserves an in-depth analysis all its own.
When a component becomes almost a work of art
There is another aspect that struck me at Misano and that, amidst so much talk about the market, numbers, new standards and sales, we sometimes risk forgetting: the passion with which certain components are still built.
There are companies that make objects that one almost spontaneously defines as small works of mechanical art.
I think of the Damil hubs, the Ursus spokes, the workmanship of the Raicam calipers.
Very different products, but united by something that goes beyond the simple data on the scale or the number reported in the technical sheet.
The most fascinating thing is to stop and listen to those who designed them.
They tell you about a process, the reason for a particular shape, the choice of a material, a solution adopted to solve a problem that perhaps, up until five minutes before, you didn't even know existed.
And that's when you realize how much technique is hidden inside a bicycle.
From the outside it should be a very simple thing: a frame, two wheels and two pedals.
But no.
Behind a hub, a spoke, or a brake caliper, there can be months of design, sophisticated manufacturing, trial and error, materials research, and people constantly wondering how to shave a few grams, increase stiffness, improve reliability, or simply build something better than what has been done before.
And in the MTB world this research becomes, if possible, even more evident.
Because those components must be light but at the same time be able to withstand stress, impacts, mud, water and uses that seem almost incompatible with the exasperated pursuit of performance.
It's a side of our sector that particularly fascinates me.
Because it proves that the bike world still has a desire and a passion that often goes beyond the simple number.
Not everything can be told in watts, grams, millimeters, or percentages.
Sometimes all it takes is picking up a component, looking at how it was made, and talking to the person who designed it to understand that there's something more behind it.
Clothing: When Italy Continues to Lead the Way
The same goes for another area in which we continue to have very little to learn: technical clothing and footwear.
I attended several presentations and one thing seemed clear to me: very few people can do the same thing we do with cycling shoes and clothing.
Santini presents new lines developed in partnership with Polartec. Northwave continues to work on soles and fastening systems. Several other brands are doing the same.
Here too, it would be wrong to reduce everything to aesthetics.
Technology is increasingly entering clothing and can concretely improve the rider's life: thermoregulation, moisture management, fit, protection and comfort.
The same goes for glasses.
The French company Julbo, for example, has presented a new line that, thanks to its own production technologies, is able to offer an image quality that few can boast.
They are apparently simple products that, when described by those who develop them, reveal a surprising level of research.
And it is perhaps one of the most beautiful aspects of a fair like Misano: not just seeing the finished product, but being able to meet the people behind that product and understand why they decided to make it that way.
E-bikes: Avinox Arrives After the Storm
On the electricity front, which has probably been the most vibrant sector in recent years—and which has also borne a significant burden of the post-Covid crisis—the situation now appears more stable.
There are no revolutions comparable to those seen a few seasons ago.
E-bikes have found their niche and the public has also become more mature.
However, part of the price for excess inventory and the difficulties of recent years remains to be paid.
This is why we travel more carefully today.
In this scenario, however, there is a name that continually recurs: Avinox.
I won't deny that, even though I'm not a big e-bike user, when I was walking around the stands, one of the first things I looked at to understand how a brand would approach next season was the engine.
With Avinox, today, you play it.
Without, in my opinion, the risk of having to chase.
But even here the issue is more complex.
What if we were preparing a new bubble?
Speaking with some long-time importers, there is a sense of something reminiscent of a situation we have already seen.
A light bubble scent.
As if the mistakes made in the post-Covid era hadn't served their purpose at all.
Lots of pre-orders, huge interest, high expectations.
But the market, in the end, is essentially made up of the same bikers.
The fact that so many people want an e-bike with Avinox It does not automatically mean that the overall number of bicycles sold will increase.
It could simply mean that a significant portion of sales will shift towards products equipped with that system.
And the difference is huge.
This is also a topic we will return to more carefully.
Young people are here. The question is what we are offering them.
Then there is perhaps the theme that made me reflect the most.
Young people.
As I said at the beginning, they were there in Misano.
Motivated, excited kids running from one stand to another, looking at components, testing bikes, talking about setups.
And this, personally, makes me enormously happy.
But then, speaking with a marketing manager, I asked a very simple question:
"What is your target audience?"
Answer:
«Age 40 and up.»
And the young people?
The problem is equally simple: many of these bikes cannot be afforded.
And so we risk leaving them out.
We are building an increasingly exclusive market, in which everyone is looking for the so-called high-spending.
Commercially it makes sense.
But cycling, in all its forms, is also passion, effort, curiosity, and belonging.
The manager who can afford an €8.000 bike—whether e-bike or road bike—is certainly an important client.
But the boy is the one who looks for the stylish jersey, the socks that match the stem, the helmet with the same color as the brake bolts.
It's the one that grinds out miles, jumps, trails and components.
And that's what brings lifeblood, culture and enthusiasm to the entire system.
High-spending works great in glossy presentations.
But the future of a movement also needs those who today spend their afternoons staring at a brake caliper they can't yet afford.
Maybe we should remember that.
And this too deserves a dedicated space.
From Misano we return above all with questions
In the end I return from Misano having met friends.
Like "Il Ciocca," who lives five minutes from my house but who, paradoxically, I've seen practically only in Misano over the last two years, outside the 3T stand. And he continues to promote special and social projects that deserve much more attention.
And then many other kids, companies and above all enthusiasts.
We're returning home with contacts, plans for the winter season, ideas, inspiration, and plenty of material to try out, which you'll find here on 365 MTB in the coming months.
But we also return with an awareness.
The changes taking place in the cycling world have not yet found their stability.
And perhaps the most curious thing is that the wheel – literally and metaphorically – keeps turning.
We start from A, go through B and C and, a few years later, we return to A again.
Gravel is perhaps the best example of this.
It began as a sort of "soft" road bike, designed for the road rider who wants to tackle some gravel. Later came wider tires, more capable geometry, more technical routes, and even suspension.
And slowly it starts to look more and more like an XC.
Will the next step really be the return of the XC front as a means of travel and broadening one's horizons?
Maybe.
For now, we won't be returning from Misano with a verdict.
We're back with some questions.
And it is from these questions that we will start in the next in-depth articles of 365 MTB.
In the meantime, there's one thing we can do: pedal and have fun.
Because in the end It's not the medium that creates the experience. It's how we choose to experience it.
