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In Depth Product Reviews
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Withings removed the “beta” designation from healthmate.withings.com. The only real visible change is that you can get a week view of activities and sleep.
Ray you missed VeloCityLight on kickstart. Rear light that displays your speed via ANT+ to get the drivers attention.
If someone can figure out how to make an actual brake light for bikes, then I’m in.
+1 to the brake light. I actually think about that a lot while I’m riding, and this use of ANT+ definitely seems like it could be an important piece. I’m sure it’d be fairly easy to design a small contact in to a lever that was hard-wearing enough to be reliable (the contact being open would mean braking), and if ANT+ could be used to send the signal to the brake light, the wire from the brake lever would only need to go to the cycle computer. That would be amazing. And it only really needs to be on the lever for the rear brake.
Anyway, like I say, I think about it quite a bit. I fully never expect it to happen, and if it does it’ll be a silly price or only on a particular lever that won’t fit my entry-level road bike.
There have been a few dynamo powered brake lights. As the dynamo output varies depending on speed, it is possible to measure when you are slowing down. No need for a separate speed sensor. eg look at the Busch & Muller Braketec.
If you haven’t heard about it, you should look up the SOS triathlon (Survival of the Shawangunks). Not nearly as crazy as those scandinavians, but a pretty nuts race.
Hi Ray,
Ifor, thanks for posting this and for the support. Mark: The VeloCityLight does the brake light 0:55 secs on the video and in other parts.
Cheers
Euan
Euan, the VeloCityLight isn’t really a brake light. Apparently, it glows brighter as you slow down, which is good I suppose, but it isn’t an instantaneous brake light, triggered by the actual brakes. The VeloCityLight would have whatever delays your ANT+ speed measurement is subject to — lots of delay if speed was coming from GPS; less delay, but still present, if speed from a speed/cadence sensor. Imagine if your car, instead of having an instantaneous brake light, used this system to warn drivers behind you of a sudden stop. I don’t think so. That’s why I said “actual brake light” in my previous comment. If someone can figure out how to put a real brake light on a bike, I’ll be lining up to buy it (turn signals would be great while we’re at it …)
I thought the Withings advert was very clever
Not sure I can see the usefulness of a brake light on a bike, but I’d reckon the best way to do it is through an accelerometer inside the light itself, so neither wires nor wireless connections are needed at all; the less stuff you have to install on the bike and connect, the better.
Having been overtaken by cars while going downhill past Fred woohoohoo speed, it is firmly my opinion that motorists don’t care exactly how slow you are, but if they REALLY wanted to, they’d only need to match your speed momentarily and check their speedometer.
I know what you mean, but there are a few times that I’d really feel more comfortable with a brake light — approaching roundabouts and traffic lights is one. Also, worth mentioning that I do nearly all of my riding in and out of a city on busy roads, and I tend to be quite a bit faster than the cars on quite a few sections, so I’ll overtake on the outside and slip in ahead of them (like a motorbike would) and then have to ride at their speed through junctions. At that point, you can feel vulnerable if you have to slow down — if the car behind is focusing on you and not the road ahead, maybe they won’t see that traffic is slowing, and they won’t get any clues from your bike (unless you slowly ease up, which is I guess what we do, which is probably why it always works out OK :)
Also could be useful for those times when you’re drafting someone who hasn’t noticed you on their back wheel (or vice versa), especially now it’s winter over here.
Accelerometers do make the idea far simpler, but I really think it needs to be on the lever itself, so you get that extra split second of lighting-up before you actually start braking — just like you do in a car. It’d mean you could touch the brakes slightly to give that signal before you actually slam the anchors on.
Anyway, just my 2¢. It probably wouldn’t make that much difference in reality, but any extra bit of safety is welcome. And to be fair to car drivers, I’ve always felt pretty safe in traffic, even without a brake light.
You would think that, at least with the high-end electronic groupsets like Shimano Di2, it wouldn’t be very difficult to incorporate a brake-light capability. The wiring is already there; the battery is already there. You just need to add the actual brake light as an option.
For #9, which brake issue?
Trek’s:
link to cpsc.gov
or SRAM’s:
link to sram.com
That’s it – I was referring to the multiple recalls. Though, SRAM’s was probably worse timing-wise given it was the night before the CX WC.
No more Bike Ride Party?
link to m.bikemag.com