From my experience, bike mfgs will come in town at the request of their local bike shops for bike demos. I know Trek came in a couple times last year for the Trek Store. We tried to get as many factory reps / companies as we could to come in for our MTB 101 last year (I wanted our participants to be able to demo a variety of bikes -- style, geometry, brand), but the only company willing was Giant. And, we tried! Special bike events seem to draw the factory reps out such as the Midwest Mtn Bike Fest and big races (like the 24 Hours of 9 Mile up in Wisconsin). I am hoping that we will be blessed by ALL the companies (OK, probably delusions on grandeur on my part) when we host the Midwest Mtn Bike Fest next year at Scott County Park. It's a win win for everyone... people get to check out all sorts of bikes testing them off-road, and the bike companies get to market their awesome products and promote their local bike shops who sell their bikes. Pretty cool.