Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 256 posts

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#81

Post by sleepydog »

AWildC182 wrote: post #62
FullNameAndy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question and ADominic answered it well. The C2 is an amazing rower, I have one too. We don't target the hard core rower. And a huge part of our high intensity experience is the electronically controlled resistance that adds up to 100+ lbs of resistance. Our rower automatically adjusts the resistance depending on the workout and your goals.

Why vary resistance? Most athletes learn to handle one resistance setting, the National Team standard being IIRC DF120, though anything between 100 and 120 is fine. Changing it tends to throw people for a loop.

I rowed in college and have countless hours on concept 2 rowers. Outside of very specific drills I picked one weight setting and stuck with it. If I wanted to vary the difficulty I just rowed faster.

I don't think varying the weight is good for your form and it could be dangerous for your back if your form is bad. After all, you can't vary the resistance of water in a real boat (I suppose you could pour gelatin in a lake). Intensity could be varied just by changing the stroke rate.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#82

Post by FullNameAndy »

cycomanic wrote: post #63

Great idea! I used to be a competitive rower. When I was working at a gym during my studies I was actually talking with the managers of running some rowing classes (similar to spinning). I think the main challenge with rowing machines (and the reason why we didn't do rowing classes), is that for beginners there is essentially only hard or off, i.e. it is difficult to adjust to different exhaustion levels. That leads…

Thanks for the feedback! So far customers are happy and we haven't had many issues. Its a big challenge for sure, but someone had to try and do something different :)

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#83

Post by FullNameAndy »

sebasmurphy wrote: post #76
AWildC182 wrote: post #13

Long time high level rower here. Why make a new rowing machine when Concept 2 is the calibration standard all athletes use and has a relatively open USB interface? For those not in the know, rowing machines all have different calibrations. C2 is the standard because they're very consistent across machines and are by far the best made allowing for many thousands of hours of use without failures. Most experienced rower…

C2 is really an engineering masterpiece. Simple, works forever, cheap replaceable parts, anyone can do the maintenance after watching a YouTube vid. Also super cool that you can upgrade the display/head unit w/o having to get a new rower. It's also significantly cheaper than this machine and has exceptionally high re-sale value.

You are 100% right, the C2 is a tank. I have one too. But the C2 might not be right for everyone. I think we might be able to get more butts on rowers if we can make the experience more enjoyable for those who aren't motivated by the C2 and its current content.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#84

Post by FullNameAndy »

naewonawonga wrote: post #64
FullNameAndy wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question and ADominic answered it well. The C2 is an amazing rower, I have one too. We don't target the hard core rower. And a huge part of our high intensity experience is the electronically controlled resistance that adds up to 100+ lbs of resistance. Our rower automatically adjusts the resistance depending on the workout and your goals.

>> We don't target the hard core rower. Your marketing material suggests that one of the strengths of the platform is that it allows one to compete against professional athletes and Olympians. Which is it?

I've always wanted to see what it is like racing against some of the best athletes like Olympic boxers or MMA champions, but it doesn't mean I'm a hard core rower :)

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#85

Post by FullNameAndy »

newbie578 wrote: post #71

I'm not part of the target demographic, but I will say this looks compelling to me. If Peloton can do it for cycling, I do not see the reason you cannot do it for rowing. Although a pain point kind of seems obvious, Peloton is successful because cycling by itself is "approachable". Anyone can hop on a bike and just start cycling, doesn't matter on your gender, weight, or conditioning. While rowing, eh.. You said it y…

Great point. I feel things are changing. Thanks to CrossFit, Orange Theory, F45, etc. rowing is becoming more popular. 5 years ago there weren't many rowing studio like there are spinning classes. Now you have chains like RowHouse with 300 locations.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#86

Post by FullNameAndy »

dumbfoundded wrote: post #68
FullNameAndy wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are 100% right. We try our best to create an experience that is as similar to rowing on water as possible, but of course it won't be the same. But most people who purchase our rower aren't looking for a realistic experience, they want an amazing workout that's fun more than anything.

With variable electronic resistance and a rotating handle it should be possible, it should be possible in theory. It's definitely not something everyone is going for. I think you could improve form a lot just by helping people make sure their getting full extension and going through the motions in the correct order.

That makes sense. Maybe at some point we can use the camera on the screen to analyze the users form. Thanks for the feedback.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#87

Post by Rooster61 »

C2 owner here, and an ADHD sufferer as well. I've always utterly hated working out throughout my life as sitting on a machine or out running without a goal other than "work out to maintain health" bores me out of my mind. I keep it bearable right now by catching up on TV (the little bit of time I have to actually watch anything these days), but gamification I think would get me even more into it.

I'd probably be interested in this product if it were able to be tied into my machine. That said, I don't think I'd actually be interested in the part that seems to be your impetus to make your own hardware platform (the variable resistance/strength training).

I primarily use my machine for cardio, and to keep weight off, and to that end I do indeed follow an interval training approach. However, I don't play with the resistance. I simply increase my strokes per minute for certain intervals throughout the workout. I think its a bit too much of a sacrifice to throw out the quality and results of a proven platform just to implement that one set of functionality (which I personally would probably not even use).

I'd rather see the capital raised put into making the software and user experience the best it possibly could be rather than being split between the software and an actual rowing machine.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#88

Post by FullNameAndy »

slingnow wrote: post #60
FullNameAndy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a young fitness company i'll take the comparison to Peloton as a compliment. I see what you mean and to your point branding and differentiating will become a higher priority when we can afford to do so.

They're not comparing your company to Peloton -- they're comparing your website, which appears to be "influenced" by the Peloton site. The color scheme is pretty much identical. I don't think it's meant as a compliment as anyone could hijack some CSS from a competing website.

Makes sense. We do plan on revamping out website in the near future and will keep this in mind.

Re: Launch HN: Aviron (YC W21) – High-Intensity Peloton for Rowing

#90

Post by FullNameAndy »

the_arun wrote: post #53

I feel like how to tap this energy from these exercises as electricity & store them in batteries.

Some fitness equipment do this already. I'd love to see it happen with our rower, but I feel the screen is a bit too hungry.
Post reply on HN