Smart bikes are coming.

[Rob Rides EMTB]

Personally I believe that this is just the start. I spoke with these guys at Eurobike. Many possibilities with connected bikes in one way or another.


Halfords has secured the exclusive rights to sell the Cybic Legend and E-Legend connected bikes in the UK and Ireland.

To be officially launched during CES in Las Vegas next week, the Cybic duo will be the "world's first" Alexa-enabled cycles and offer voice recognition and connected services without the need to be hooked up to a smartphone.

They come with their own touchscreen displays, Wi-Fi connectivity, GPS and even Vodafone SIM card built-in. The latter of which comes with three years' worth of free 3G data.

Halfords to stock world's first Alexa-enabled bike range

 

[nicklej]

In a few years, everything will be totally intergrated on e-bikes, mtb or not.
I think that is a good move but equally I wonder what kind of cyber "interference" might come about due to them bikes being connected to networks. Definitely a space to watch!

 

[bissona]

Love the idea of this, especially with an integrated SIM. Navigation, bike recovery, connectivity back to family / office (with an off button please!), weather, bike-to-bike comms, etc. All makes sense with that sizeable battery down below.

That said, privacy issues need addressing. Still think the upside outweighs the downside.

 

[mark.ai]

Striking appearance - adding pictures to remind me later

Wonder what size battery it has? And where the batteries are stored? Maybe in the seat tube? Maybe also some in the top tube and down tube?

 

[flash]

The issue I have is the same one I have with integrated lights. If the bike battery dies or runs flat you lose lights, navigation and cell connectivity. Sometimes it pays to have separated devices. Anyway, what will this do an Apple watch wont?

Gordon

 

[All Mountain Coaching]

I like the simplicity of biking, these would be a nightmare for me. I can't even bring myself to run a GPS screen or even my phone.

 

[ccrdave]

maybe in a few years time the bike will go for a ride on its own and we wont have to bother!!

 

[R120]

It look like one of those Ali Express specials

 

[More-read-than-ride]

I love all the new tech!
I also agree that it is often not necessary, but it will mostly be helpful.
Upsides:

• Not getting lost or the bike stolen
• Simple diagnostics of any electronics and motor issues

More "out there" upsides:

• Listening to music and emails on the bike without a phone. My future office is the trail! (good or bad )
• Paying mid-route beer (I mean kale extract, of course) with the sim card on the bike.
• Motor support level based on location.
• Finally, the bike will be able to do a health diagnostics and call ambulance in route (ekg etc), which will surely be useful for those post-christmas rides.

All of this without bringing the phone or wallet... that’s at least 200g saved!

Major downside:
It gets harder and harder to convince your significant other that your supposed half hour-ride, turned into 3 hours due to “unspecified technical issues”.

 

[More-read-than-ride]

maybe in a few years time the bike will go for a ride on its own and we wont have to bother!!

good for health insurance puroposes... "Yes sir, I ride the bike 4 hours a day."

 

[MattyB]

Yuck. As an IT Security professional I deeply dislike this concept, which is effectively making your bike yet another attack surface for the bad guys to go at whilst at home or on a ride. The only feature of this I like is the the addition of onboard tracking for physical security purposes, but that doesn't really need a screen for any of the rest of this complexity. Anything else I can quite happily get from my phone or (if I decide to ride with it) a head unit - why pay to have expensive tech integrated into the bike forever? I ride to get away from all that; there is no need to have yet another screen in front of me distracting from the experience.

 

[bissona]

... call ambulance in route (ekg etc),

That alone would be worth the additional tech for me, doubly so if linked to HR monitor / accelerometer stats. Could supply basic medical info, location, etc with the option to cancel the alert (as per the current crop of Garmins). I'm very keen to use eMTBs for exploring, so a small safety net like this would be welcome.

I ride to get away from all that; there is no need to have yet another screen in front of me distracting from the experience.

I feel that, but I spend a lot of time referring to navigation when in far-flung places trying to work out which way to go. A built in screen would be better than my phone mounted on the bars on a quad lock, particularly in terms of accidental damage, and I could always elect to turn it off.

 

[OldBean]

Will they supply a teenager to work it all for the computer numpties like me?
Technology gone tooooooooooooooo far .........but I'm old what do I know!
Just have fun

 

[steve_sordy]

I would be happy if I could lock my bike using a pass code that stopped the motor from working. Unless the thief loaded the bike into a nearby van, he won't be going anywhere far.

It is such a simple concept that I'm astonished that no e-bike does it. So there must be a very good reason for not doing it.

 

[smokey_jo]

Fingerprint sensor to enable the motor shouldn't be too difficult to do should it? every cheap Chinese phone had then now so it can't be that expensive can it either!
I'm surprised that there isn't a way for the bike to pair with your phone and smartwatch/hrm via Bluetooth and track all of your stats for a ride yet too

 

[R120]

Thing is if I have Alexa on my bike, and its listening in the background to me constantly going oh Sh!t, oh F@@k as I ride along, what the hell is it going to do to my Amazon recommended for you section

 

[davez]

@Rob Hancill Looking at "how well" the voice recognition in all major cars work (I rent out cars of all kind of brands for work almost every week), I am quite reluctant. And that is in a quiet environment without wind noise. It might work in a special environment like a lab or a booth at a special setting, but riding on a bike is a different story. Look where we are regarding navigation systems for bikes. For me it is a joke. I just tried out Garmin with Basecamp (again). It takes longer to prepare the navigation than the actual ride. If you do not live in an area with a huge MTB community, tracks for downloading do not exist. And still then the actual navigation is very basic

 

[MattyB]

I would be happy if I could lock my bike using a pass code that stopped the motor from working. Unless the thief loaded the bike into a nearby van, he won't be going anywhere far.

It is such a simple concept that I'm astonished that no e-bike does it. So there must be a very good reason for not doing it.

It is a simple concept, though with the right knowledge and kit can still be beaten. However I agree that fingerprint scanning plus a lightweight lock would effectively scally-proof the bike for short coffee stops.