Columnist Susan Snyder: As expected, trade show rolls along

Friday, Oct. 5, 2001 | 8:19 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Fridays Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder @vegas.com or 259-4082.

With the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history less than a month old, why would anyone think about buying bicycles?

Then again, why not? It beats fretting over biological warfare. So those who sell bikes, make them and work to make cities safer for cyclists met at the Sands Convention Center this week for the annual Interbike trade show.

Five exhibitors bailed before opening day, said Lance Camiscas, Interbike's director.

"There were two from the Middle East and three from Asia, and they literally could not get out of their countries or get visas," he said.

Five more hadn't made the trip when the five-day show opened Saturday. But 10 no-shows out of more than 1,000 exhibitors is pretty amazing, considering many came from other countries. Italy and Taiwan had entire pavilions.

Even people who don't care about bikes should be glad for a trade show that brings 21,000 people to a city where 15,000 service industry employees have been laid off. A fair number of other events were canceled.

Camiscas said Interbike organizers considered canceling but later decided the show must go on.

"I think the industry needed this show this year more than others," he said.

So they came, bringing anything that could be even remotely related to something with pedals.

There were bikes that looked like they came from 1950, bikes that looked like they came from 2050 and bikes with electric motors. There were bicycle seats with no padding and those with air pockets that could be pumped to poshness for picky pedalers' posteriors.

Many booths included donation jars for the Red Cross or sold specially printed T-shirts, cycling jerseys and water bottles to raise money for victims.

The economic impact was even felt out in Blue Diamond, which hosted Interbike's outdoor demonstration day Saturday. The town baseball diamond was a veritable tent city of people in funny-looking bicycle pants.

Bike shop owners borrowed the newest weird and wheeled contraptions from manufacturers and hit the roads and trails of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area for test rides.

We tried a four-wheeled pedal cart built for four people. Propelling the 170-pound ZEM ("zero emissions vehicle") was akin to pedaling a Volkswagen bus. And at $6,946 it costs almost as much.

Jeanie Leavitt, manager of Blue Diamond's market, says the one-day event boosted sales by about 75 percent. The fee collected for use of the town park covers the public swimming pool's operating costs for an entire summer.

"It's good for the town," Leavitt said. "The people are all friendly and nice. There's just so many of them. Some people complain about it, but it's only one day."

One day of five that might have made a difference in what has been a tough few weeks for Las Vegas' service workers. Maybe a few people kept their jobs a little longer because one of the bigger trade shows didn't leave us in a lurch.

If nothing else, Interbike kept its promise to Las Vegas at a time when many have been broken.

And its multitude of bicycles, scooters and other wheeled wonders showed us life is good. Fun still happens.