We’ve spent years following interesting high-tech developments in the e-bike industry, often while the more traditional non-electric cycling industry has...
Slightly tongue in cheek but it’s actually fascinating.
This is e-waste. This could just be a decent bike computer and a light that you could slap on to any bike, but they had to go and make a thing that forces me to replace the handlebars that I picked to match my body and riding style? An expensive electronic thing that i can’t remove from my bike? No thanks.
I mean it’s all e-waste at this point. My bikes are all carbon, which ain’t recyclable, plus the shifting is all electronic, and yeah my eMTB is a ticking timebomb that will be otherwise useless if either the battery or motor quits.
On your other points: Carbon bike frames can be repaired, so even though they aren’t recyclable, they can still last a long time, so they’re not the worst. Electronic shifting feels a bit gimmicky to me, but all the mount points for the shifter and derailleur are standard and they can probably be swapped out for a standard cable shifter in the future without changing other parts on the bike.
It’s pretty gimmicky for sure. The electronic setup on my road bike is pretty finicky too, id rather cables to be honest, but it’s just the way everything is going. It especially sucks when you are at the door all geared up and ready to go, and realize that one of your batteries is dead.
Yes the moment the “article” framed modularity and replaceability as a problem it was clear for me that this is nothing else than product placement… Those things are features I would wish my car would have.
London. It’s a bit wild here at the moment. As poverty goes up, people get more and more desperate.
But at the same time I would rather an integrated handlebar than clipping on my phone anyway. In my time I’ve see so many broken grips for phones and PDAs, I’m really not a fan. Maybe MagSafe can negate that, but who knows.
MagSafe wouldn’t help, it’s just a bunch of magnets, yank and it’s gone. It could keep the phone charged, but that’s about it.
When I used to ride a bicycle, I had a front torch, back light, and a phone in a waterproof “cage-case”, attached to some solid mounts with a “unlock lever, rotate, slide” release mechanism. Quick enough to take them off when parking, not easy enough to randomly grab and run. Still, using an old phone was an extra precaution, also against random accidents (almost got clipped by a bus or van, more times than I’d like to admit 😬).
A trick I learned about mounts, is that they can break from vibration over time, so it’s a good idea to add some rubber under the mount as a shock absorber. As a bonus, it protects the paint. Also, never buy the cheapest one… if you can’t throw it against the floor and keep using it, then it’s not good enough.
This is e-waste. This could just be a decent bike computer and a light that you could slap on to any bike, but they had to go and make a thing that forces me to replace the handlebars that I picked to match my body and riding style? An expensive electronic thing that i can’t remove from my bike? No thanks.
Wait’ll you find out about ebikes!
I mean it’s all e-waste at this point. My bikes are all carbon, which ain’t recyclable, plus the shifting is all electronic, and yeah my eMTB is a ticking timebomb that will be otherwise useless if either the battery or motor quits.
On your other points: Carbon bike frames can be repaired, so even though they aren’t recyclable, they can still last a long time, so they’re not the worst. Electronic shifting feels a bit gimmicky to me, but all the mount points for the shifter and derailleur are standard and they can probably be swapped out for a standard cable shifter in the future without changing other parts on the bike.
It’s pretty gimmicky for sure. The electronic setup on my road bike is pretty finicky too, id rather cables to be honest, but it’s just the way everything is going. It especially sucks when you are at the door all geared up and ready to go, and realize that one of your batteries is dead.
Yes the moment the “article” framed modularity and replaceability as a problem it was clear for me that this is nothing else than product placement… Those things are features I would wish my car would have.
I dunno where you live, but round these parts people are having their phones and PDAs snatched off their bikes.
While riding?.. what parts are those? 😲
I’d be more concerned about leaving an integrated device where it can be vandalized, instead of taking it off the bike when it’s parked.
Yeah, the attack surface of a locked-up bike is much larger than that of a bike being ridden?
If you don’t want your phone stolen off the bike, a removable bike computer still makes more sense, I think.
London. It’s a bit wild here at the moment. As poverty goes up, people get more and more desperate.
But at the same time I would rather an integrated handlebar than clipping on my phone anyway. In my time I’ve see so many broken grips for phones and PDAs, I’m really not a fan. Maybe MagSafe can negate that, but who knows.
https://youtube.com/shorts/MMjdV-LrC7U
Wow… that’s sick. 😲
MagSafe wouldn’t help, it’s just a bunch of magnets, yank and it’s gone. It could keep the phone charged, but that’s about it.
When I used to ride a bicycle, I had a front torch, back light, and a phone in a waterproof “cage-case”, attached to some solid mounts with a “unlock lever, rotate, slide” release mechanism. Quick enough to take them off when parking, not easy enough to randomly grab and run. Still, using an old phone was an extra precaution, also against random accidents (almost got clipped by a bus or van, more times than I’d like to admit 😬).
A trick I learned about mounts, is that they can break from vibration over time, so it’s a good idea to add some rubber under the mount as a shock absorber. As a bonus, it protects the paint. Also, never buy the cheapest one… if you can’t throw it against the floor and keep using it, then it’s not good enough.