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TECH NEWS
Are smart bikes the future? LeEco launches two at CES show
Are smart bikes set to be the hottest thing in the cycling market this year?
Following hot on the heels of the SpeedX Unicorn (which has raised over £325k and counting of funding on Kickstarter) comes the brand new connected bicycle from Chinese company LeEco. Well actually there's two of them, a road bike and a mountain bike.
Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week, the company has announced it will produce a road and mountain bike with integrated 4in touchscreens and a computer running BikeOS, an interface the company has built based on Google’s Android operating system and powered by the latest Snapdragon 410 processor.
This computer allows a host of functions including turn-by-turn navigation and being able to communicate with other LeEco cyclists. ANT+ allows it to be connected to a wide range of sensors from heart rate to power.
There’s an app, of course, which connects to the bike to allow you to easily share rides and analyses ride data.
Also integrated into the bike is a series of automatic lights on the front and sides, along with a horn and security alarm. When the alarm is triggered the bike can automatically alert its owner and track the location via the mobile app.
As for the bike itself, it’s made from T700 carbon fibre with an aerodynamic design and is pictured with a 1x11 SRAM and FSA drivetrain and rim brakes. Claimed weight is 8.4kg (18.5lb).
“CES is the international stage of innovation, and LeEco is here to showcase our open ecosystem of platforms, devices, software, content and applications that are defining the next-generation experience,” said Richard Ren, President of LeEco North America. “Our disruptive business model is focused on creating a truly connected lifestyle for individuals and new opportunities for our partners.”
The smart bike is only going to be available in the US to start with and there is currently no word on pricing, and availability is vaguely scheduled for the second quarter of the year.
What do you think? Is there a big market for smart bikes like this one or the SpeedX Unicorn we report on yesterday?
David worked on the road.cc tech team from 2012-2020. Previously he was editor of Bikemagic.com and before that staff writer at RCUK. He's a seasoned cyclist of all disciplines, from road to mountain biking, touring to cyclo-cross, he only wishes he had time to ride them all. He's mildly competitive, though he'll never admit it, and is a frequent road racer but is too lazy to do really well. He currently resides in the Cotswolds, and you can now find him over on his own YouTube channel David Arthur - Just Ride Bikes.
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16 comments
Beam me up Scotty.
I'd expect my 2016 frame to be still of use to somebody, if not me, 10+ years from now, and probably with only a marginal performance penalty against bikes of the time.
Consumer electronics have designed in obsolescence at around 2 years, and a reliable lifetime of around 3-5 years (excluding military or commercial grade components), particularly when subject to vibration and damp.
The two technologies do not appear to lend themselves to integration. Unless of course you wish to have a strange shaped hole on your bike where an obsolete/failed gadget used to fit.
THIS
Yeah... what utter ****
They were too busy wondering if they could that thery forgot to ask if they should.
With the ever increasing rates of change of standards on bicycles, it's hard enough to keep up with mechanical changes. Trying to keep old bicycles going becomes more and more difficult. Putting consumer electicals onto a bike just means very fast redundancy. Especially with a company using a propriatry system, perhaps a garmin setup would offer a few years of support, but this.
Believe it or not, I have attached a telephone to my handlebars. It can function as a bicycle computer but then be removed and used as a phone again. You should try it.
For turn-by-turn navigation on a 7-hour ride?
Does your phone function as a phone when it's run out of juice?
There's a market for separate gadgets for good reason. There seems to also be a market for untested bikes hardwired to untested gadgets, which stretches sanity, to me.
Why not just buy a tidy bike a stick a garmin(or other brand cycle computer) on it?
And if you do this, in a few years time when you lose/break/want to upgrade your cycle computer you just pick the best deal at the time rather than get boned by a company you're locked into buying from.
Why are they chains halfway off the chainrings? Most definitely NOT pro!
The chain is photoshopped onto one of the pictures, so much that it’s floating away from the derailleur hanger.
Ugly as F***.
This is where I get off the technology bandwagon. But good luck.
8.4kg with what wheelset and costing how much?
I'm focusing on that (rather than the bad idea that is tying yourself to one brand for you frame and accessories) because my steel bike is 8.2kg so this seems pretty heavy to me unless that's with some 2kg entry level wheels rather than the carbon ones in the picture.
Hmmm... as a punter, I'd rather firms making half-decent gadgets just release those as half-decent gadgets so that Garmin might get the kick up the arse that they require.
I'm really not sold on the 'attach average/crap bike to half-decent gadget and sell as a package' model yet.
From the SpeedX Leopard Pro review, it looks as though if they were released separately, as a bike, and as a gizmo/sensors, both products would sink without trace. I don't see how wiring the two together is a USP.
In terms of tech they should get that one right as they're partnered on this as well.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38504598