Bogotá's 2018 Bike Products Fair

Shiny bikes galore at the Feria de la Bicicleta in the Plaza de los Artesanos.

Check out this year's bike products fair, going on this weekend, Sept. 29 and 30th, in the Plaza de los Artesanos near Simon Bolivar Park. Admision is free. 

You'll find a big variety of cool, colorful bikes, packs, accesories, and other products, many of them hand-made here in Bogota, as well as these products.

For urban cyclists, carrying packs on the bike is a chronic problem: Backpacks can be

Kanguroos.

unconfortable and leave a sweaty patch on your back; rear saddlebags are popular, but in a big city like Bogotá you risk having someone steal your belongings behind your back each time you wait for a light to change; I like low-rider front racks, which are stable and allow you to watch your packs, but these are almost unknown in Colombia; and almost every saddlepack creates the awkward necessity of lugging a bulky bag around at your destination.

So, I was instantly impressed by MeVoyenBici's light, simple, elegant hangers, which enable you to hang your backpack securely from your handlebars, keeping it in sight, at hand and relatively protected from road splatter. They now have hooks for folding bikes and are working on designs for other bikes, including mountain bikes.

Hanging a pack onto bike handlebars
with a Kangaroo.

 A very different solution to the pack problem also caught my eye. Bike Kontrol, whose tiny workshop is at Carrera 25 No. 24B-45 in the Samper Mendoza neighborhood, was offering these 'packs' manufactured from plastic water or gasoline containers. They are definitely waterproof!

Demonstrating a Bike Kontrol rigid pack.

 And if you want to stay warm and dry while pedaling your load, check out Coverrain's rain tarps. But how will they perform in a strong sidewind?

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours