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Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

outsideonline.com

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Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#41

Post by stevenwoo »

KGIII wrote: post #18
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #3

I'm not sure who's seriously interested in most of these features, fun factor nonwithstanding. One of bicycles' strengths is simplicity of critical elements, notably the gear switching. How do they make sure that the electronic system doesn't die on the rider when the battery goes flat? How do they deal with increasing slack in the lines? Who really benefits from turn signals? Unless they are mounted on special stalk…

Turn signals... Could it just be a small and lightweight LED panel that flashed a bright arrow pointing in the intended turn direction? With LED, it can be pretty efficient and still be really bright. I would think a blinking bright arrow would be fairly universally understood.

One issue is that now a lot of riders are using blinking lights all the time when riding for visibility reasons (during the day), so the arrow would need to be big enough to differentiate and visible front and back so now we could be talking about something much more obtrusive. If they're on the back, there's a limit to how big one can go (on easy to mount positions) because the rider's legs/feet/butt will strike protruding things from the bicycle.

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#42

Post by soared »

stevenwoo wrote: post #32
sumitgt wrote: post #14

Unlike others on this thread, I love where this is headed. I'd love to have a really smart bike. However, once I have that much tech on a bike, it would be impossible to park it anywhere without the risk of being stolen.

It's already impossible to park a non department store bike of any value anywhere in an urban area of the United States without the risk of it getting stolen. It's probably one of the factors in why some people might not commute for errands even if everything else was favorable - a bike decent enough to warrant a ride is a target for thieves. The bike thief community in San Francisco/Oakland/Santa Cruz has been thriv…

This is plainly not true. In 99% of America (read: not cali, nyc, etc) if you lock your bike up it won't get stolen.

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#43

Post by [deleted] »

krhae wrote: post #21
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #3

I'm not sure who's seriously interested in most of these features, fun factor nonwithstanding. One of bicycles' strengths is simplicity of critical elements, notably the gear switching. How do they make sure that the electronic system doesn't die on the rider when the battery goes flat? How do they deal with increasing slack in the lines? Who really benefits from turn signals? Unless they are mounted on special stalk…

Brake lights would be a great addition, however. During fast stops, especially while commuting, it's nearly impossible to signal.

[deleted]

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#44

Post by davidw »

sumitgt wrote: post #14

Unlike others on this thread, I love where this is headed. I'd love to have a really smart bike. However, once I have that much tech on a bike, it would be impossible to park it anywhere without the risk of being stolen.

I wouldn't ever park my nice bikes anywhere in any case. They're either in the garage or a few feet from me.

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#46

Post by tonymet »

The bike is the most elegant mechanical systems in history, elevating humans from earth's least efficient creatures to it's most efficient.

Electronic shifting and other boondoggles completely undermine the reliability, elegance and simplicity of bikes.

I've fixed my bike while on the side of a mountain a hundred miles from home and ridden home.

What happens when my derailleur firmware crashes?

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#47

Post by mikestew »

rhinoceraptor wrote: post #33
blang wrote: post #4

The grumpy old man in me likes my bike to be as mechanical as possible, I don't want to remember to charge my shifters, power meter, gps, etc. Maybe that's why I still ride a 1989 Trek 1200 with down tube shifters and biopace chain rings.

Even having gears at all can be a bit annoying, with the newer groupsets having a million gears in the cassette and proprietary chains. I really love my fixed gear.

Your fixie still has that greasy, dirty chain to deal with. I'm sticking with my 1886 Columbia Standard high wheeler. Two pedals, two wheels, and a place to sit. That's all you need.

(To be read for comedic purposes only. I don't actually ride that one to work.)

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#48

Post by dasil003 »

hmschreck wrote: post #38
pcl wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Just look at your average bicycle light set, even after I don't know how long we still can't make a set that lasts more than a couple of years. You're probably right about the average bike lights. But the good folks at Light and Motion make some incredible products. USB-rechargeable, bright, easily removable, and pretty durable in my experience. http://www.lightandmotion.com/

Seconding this, they make a rear light so bright my 94 year old grandfather can see it in daylight.

Which I have to say sucks for the rider behind you. If you demand that level of visibility get a high vis vest. Personally I err on the side of assuming every car will try to kill me. It's kept me alive in SF, London, and worse places where most people are scared to bike on roads for good reason (New Mexico).

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#49

Post by mcbain »

reportingsjr wrote: post #11
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #3

I'm not sure who's seriously interested in most of these features, fun factor nonwithstanding. One of bicycles' strengths is simplicity of critical elements, notably the gear switching. How do they make sure that the electronic system doesn't die on the rider when the battery goes flat? How do they deal with increasing slack in the lines? Who really benefits from turn signals? Unless they are mounted on special stalk…

I don't currently have much to add on the simplicity vs tech standpoint, but electronic shifting has been out for a while and there aren't really any problems with it. Someone I know rides every day and said the battery lasts for about 4 months (looks like newer versions are rechargeable as well). There aren't any cables in the shifting mechanism. It is a set of shifters that are wirelessly connected to the derailleu…

FWIW, Shimano Di2 batteries have always been rechargeable.

SRAM's eTap wireless shifting system has a mix of rechargeable batteries on the derailleurs and non-rechargeable CR2032 batteries in the shift/brake levers.

I don't know what Campagnolo does, because I'm not interested in farm machinery. It is probably rechargeable by sending it back to an Italian specialist every two weeks. ;)

Re: Shimano wants to make your bike as smart as your car

#50

Post by jdavis703 »

krhae wrote: post #21
rhn_mk1 wrote: post #3

I'm not sure who's seriously interested in most of these features, fun factor nonwithstanding. One of bicycles' strengths is simplicity of critical elements, notably the gear switching. How do they make sure that the electronic system doesn't die on the rider when the battery goes flat? How do they deal with increasing slack in the lines? Who really benefits from turn signals? Unless they are mounted on special stalk…

Brake lights would be a great addition, however. During fast stops, especially while commuting, it's nearly impossible to signal.

In Copenhagen people raise their hand to indicate a stop. I wish we'd adopt this in the U.S.
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