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I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
I love all things tech but this seems like tech for tech sake.
If there were 15 variables to adjust then I could see the value – but with just two it seems overkill. You can get the pressure almost 100% accurate using a normal shock pump. Sag is something you need to test out in the field.
What would be cool is if to ANT+ enable the shock and send back compression values to a headunit.
A shock pump and 5 minutes of reading the user manual gets the job done, and won’t cost $$$$$ like this tool likely will – plus the required Garmin computer or fancy smart phone.
It is a tool that not geared to the 10 year veterans, but for those getting into full suspension bikes for the first time that do not have a pump this is a great tool.
because the tool walks the user, not the shop thru the tool. I see it being used more that people reading the manual. customer just do not read them, and if you have most of the time they are not written for the novice.
I would also say that 50% of the bikes that we sell, the customer dose not by a shock pump.
Most do not even know that the bike could ride better if they tune the suspension after we set it in the shop.
I hope we see this sooner than later. it nothing more than a pump with electronics. I do not see why they could not right a program to run on windows with an ant+ stick to reduce the customer cost.
PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Bring this to market. PLEASE!
About sag: Having a motorcycle background, sag is adjusted once with full gear. Not in every new field/track. What change is the rebound according to it’s user riding style, the track, etc.
I think/guess that the same applies to MTB.
As for the gadget.
It’s cool for new users !
I remember myself searching/reading/trying to adjust my forks/suspension time after time on my motorcycle.
As the user get’s more experienced probably she/he will not needed anymore.
But for a start, having a point to begin with, it should be great !
I think this is a great use of available technology, I know with 4 MTB bikes in the family and often we’ve got friends coming out for a ride on our bikes this would save tons of pre-ride time, not to mention arguments on what gets adjusted first! I’m in.
The usefulness, or the desire to have this product will depend on a couple of factors: 1) how much the bike unit costs, and 2) whether you already own a Garmin 800 or an Android phone. No one is going to spend $400+ just to be able to get their bike to tell them how much more/less pressure it needs. The operations manual or a bike shop can do that for a lot less.
Ray, can this also help set compression on shocks with such a setting?
And how does it actually sense the motion? In car racing circles, we put linear position sensors parallel to the shock, but I see no such device here. Is it acting purely by sensing pressure changes, or does the unit itself have an accelerometer in the “pump” that is sensing movement?
If it can do rebound, sag, and compression, I could see this being a very useful tool. I learned fairly early how to get my fork fairly dialed in, but it really seems like rear shock setup is much more of a mystery. I think it’s largely due to the enhanced feel we can get in our hands over our butts, so tuning the “butt dyno” just takes a lot longer.
If the “pump” is indeed only attached for sag setting purposes and otherwise is just sensing motion, Fox should consider ANT+ linear position sensors to log data while riding so further enhancements can be made to suspension setup on a per-course basis. Ride a course as you would (or close) in a race, download data, let software tell you what the optimum setup will be. That kind of thing is what’s done on race cars, though one obvious difference is they have more test iterations available and it does take a few iterations to truly dial a suspension in for a given course. But even one pre-ride dataset can help, and if you can get more then you can get even better. Build a database of settings for a set of courses and you’ll start to understand what certain suspension designs like better in terms of settings for various element types.