On-bike cameras in the pro peloton? Brian Cookson hints at innovations in cycling

Although I welcome the camera ideas and other innovations. All I want from Cookson is for a blanket ban for life for riders who cheat with banned substances such as epo. The potential for a prison sentence wouldn't be going too far in my opinion for any rider cheating with banned substances. The idea that you'd let a rider back in to the sport after cheating with drugs these days sends the wrong message. There also needs to be stronger punishment for those that facilitate drug cheats in cycling.

For anyone unsure about the use of cameras on bikes, in terms of aero performance or the quality of shots I'll allow Alex Dowsett to answer via his Twitter:

"@alexdowsett" wrote:

best view in the house I promise pic.twitter.com/jN3X3ewsg7

https://twitter.com/alexdowsett/status/453971332318105600/photo/1

True, but teams often publish the data for, say, a particular rider. That would be a start.

I like the camera idea, but I don't think everyone would take kindly to the Heart Rate/Power Output/etc. figures being made public. Aren't certain teams fidgety about having other teams look at their data? Having it broadcast on live TV might cross a line in some minds.

Not to try and be pointlessly negative. I'm glad Cookson has said all this stuff. It's seems as if the UCI is actually being 'led' now, rather than dragged around stroppily in the mud.

They could all just switch to using these bad boys. I've heard nothing but good things and the quality of the footage seems to be up there with helmet cams

http://www.immortal.co.uk/

I hope this is enacted I'm sure we'd all like the opportunity to see more cycling of all types from the big events and the more viewpoints you have the better.

It wont always be great but to have the option there for when it is. I can imagine it would be useful for determine who caused a crash too.

With the advent of Google glass why can't we have riders eye views.

It gets a big +1 for me.

I also want to see some super-slow-motion HD footage like they have in Tennis and at the World Cup.

Maybe they can have their sponsor logos in the corner of the bike feed

Given that the teams are moving billboards, it is hard to see why a team would be against the idea of getting more coverage.

live pictures would probably have to rely on near-field communication and the rider being close enough to a receiver, eg on a camera bike; anything else would need a more powerful transmitter and that means extra weight. On a climb that should be fairly easy, as it would be on a stage finish where you could have static receivers. on a descent it might be trickier.

live camera footage would vary considerably, I expect, depending on the circumstances and also the rider's style.

assuming you're broadcasting the live image it'd be great (and fairly simple) to be able to get live telemetry too, power output, speed and the like.

when they bin the race radios they can use that little pocket for the transmitter

Although we don't know what's going to happen to the 6.8kg weight limit, the fact is that pro-level bikes often undercut this by some distance, so adding cameras, batteries and transmitters might simply be a case of removing the ballast that was dropped in the seat tube etc.

The idea of a first person view of Nibali descending or Cav sprinting turns me on. As does on-screen telemetry, actually. Show us the heart rates and power outputs of all the guys in the break!

I've seen a film with some on-bike footage from the Tour (Chasing Legends maybe?) so I don't think it would be that hard to sell the teams on it.
Don't think that was live stream though so maybe all the extra gubbins to support that would be a turn off.
As pointed out though a lot of teams add weights anyway to get up to the minimum.

If the UCI get behind cameras, will the make British Cycling reverse their recent rule change, banning cameras from helmets, bikes and body harnesses. Even in test runs on MTB courses and of course in road racing?

Unfortunate example of Chris Froome at the top of the article. I'd rather see the road and riders, rather than his stem

Could be a good idea though, weight issues are negligible since most bikes can easily be under the UCI weight limit, so a camera and related kit could probably be easily accommodated. I bet there would have to be discussions about location, making sure the power meter display isn't visible etc.

Would there be issues with picture quality? F1 cars are (for the most part) flat on the track, in bike racing, there can be quite a lot of lateral movement when out of the saddle. Is camera technology sufficiently advanced to mitigate this?

Would be amazing to have a bar mounted camera showing the view/speed of an alpine descent!

On bike microphones and camera's would be awesome.

I'd also like to see speed data and hill gradient used more often as well.

I seem to remember from F1 that they all had to accommodate the camera, and if the broadcaster didn't want a camera in that space then a weight would be put in the slot. It would probably be fairly easy to do something similar on bikes.

The camera itself wouldn't weigh a lot, but if you wanted it to be part of the live footage, batteries and radio transmitters would start to mount up very quickly.

Fantastic idea. If F1 can integrate cameras despite the aero compromises then the 200 grams(?) or so can surely easily be accommodated on a roadbike, especially if the minimum bike weight limit is also being looked at and if TV revenue is a factor.

Team Sky got where they are today by focussing on tiny gains, wouldn't a camera be a tiny loss? If every competitor in a race had a camera there would be no disadvantage but even if only the water bearer had the camera that competitor could be 0.0001% less effective. I love the idea but it would be a bigger sell to the teams.