Inside China Cycle 2026: Wild Tech, Western Brands, and Factory Realities

Welcome to Velo’s China Cycle coverage, where we share our favorite things we’ve found at the 2026 show. Bikes, components, accessories, and more: if we think it’s cool, you’ll see it. See the rest of our China Cycle coverage.

This video serves as the final piece of our 2026 China Cycle coverage. If you missed the day-to-day reporting, this is your definitive catch-up. I put this edit together to give you a raw look at what it was actually like navigating the massive show in Shanghai—and more importantly, what happens when you step off the show floor.

The footage starts right in the middle of the expo. While my recent column, “I Went to the China Cycle Show. Western Bike Brands Should Be Worried,” covers the high-level industry takeaways, this video gets into the nitty-gritty hardware. These are the specific booths and components that made me stop. You’ll see a surprising footprint from established Western heavyweights rubbing shoulders with domestic innovators pushing high-performance boundaries. I also left in a bit of a warning regarding the pitfalls that still exist in this market, including a brand that pitched me technical details one day only to retract them the next.

After wrapping up at the expo, the camera heads off-site for exclusive factory access. To understand the true scale of the global bike industry, you have to see the manufacturing process firsthand. The second half of the video takes you inside the Bafang facility to see exactly how e-bike motors are built, before hopping a flight to Tianjin for an inside look at the grand opening of the J&G bike factory.