This is why I love cycling—reflections of Spoken Sydney

I remember when I was a young boy. Sometimes on a quiet Saturday, when my father wasn’t playing golf, he would take me and my brother to the luxury sports-car showrooms in and around Brisbane.

It was always such an exciting afternoon, having the chance to run around and marvel up close at all the mesmerising pieces of design and technology that bore little resemblance to our family’s beloved Ford Fairlane.

For an 8-year-old, this was real-life science fiction—exciting spaceships with the potential to transport my imagination, just as much as my body.

Even then, deep down, I suspected I’d probably never be able to own any of these amazing custom machines. But I got to touch them, look at them, sometimes even sit in them, and dream.

Which brings me to now. For it was a remarkably similar feeling to the one I had for three delightful hours earlier today, as I meandered my way around Spoken 2025 at Sydney’s Carriageworks.

Spoken is not a small bike show. However, unlike the world’s annual mega shows in Asia and Europe, the pace is a little slower, the space a little more generous, the conversation a little less frenetic.

With graffiti-covered walls and dusty old industrial fixtures, the Carriageworks hall is filled—but certainly not crammed—with some of Australia’s most extraordinary bicycle builds from some our most creative and entrepreneurial minds.

The biggest brands in cycling are here, too. Happily co-existing right alongside the smallest of Aussie start-ups.

Everyone, in every direction, is up for a chat.

There are far too many highlights to single out any in particular. If you’ve been yourself, you’ll likely know what I mean.

But, pleasingly, there are also several wonderful international exhibits, headlined by the sublime hand-built keirin build on display from Maruya Daikoku—an exquisite work of two-wheeled artistry. Okay, that one is worth singling out.

Look to the left. Wander to the right. New marvels await, ready to behold—in every imaginable cycling discipline, material and configuration. A rich weekend feast for the cycling senses.

I’ve literally just left, and I’m buzzing, having been wonderfully reminded of everything I love about this cycling caper.

This was my first visit to Spoken. It won’t be my last.www.spoken.bike