Video: On-bike footage from the 2014 Shimano Supercrit

Shimano Australia have recently uploaded some on-bike footage from this year’s Shimano Supercrit in Melbourne. However, the race was also notable for an experiment in live-streaming on-bike pictures while the race was in progress.

The footage below comes from the bikes of Team Giant-Shimano's Koen de Kort (handlebar) and Avanti Racing Team's Pat Shaw (saddle rail) during the Shimano Supercrit on Sunday December 14. The race was won by Scott Sunderland, riding for the Budget Forklifts team.

Separately to this, CyclingTips.com teamed up with Tom Reynolds and Andy Richardson in a bid to see whether it was possible to offer a live stream of footage during the race. With UCI president, Brian Cookson, having deemed on-bike pictures ‘the way to go’ earlier this year, this largely successful experiment may prove of great significance.

Both Reynolds and Richardson have a background in motorsport where in-car footage is considered a vital broadcast tool. While the pair didn’t expect their experiment to go perfectly, it does seem to have been a very useful exercise. Reynolds outlines how they set about their task in an article on CyclingTips.com.

“Having decided that an on-bike camera streaming live was a good idea in theory, we realised early on that hacking existing technology would be the go. As avid drone enthusiasts — I made last year’s SuperCrit video, while Andy recently built a six-rotor drone on his day off — we wondered whether it would be possible to hack existing drone tech into a workable solution. Of course it turned out to be far more complex and difficult than originally thought.”

The setup used was geared towards criterium racing and they already have a new system in the pipeline with multiple digital receivers and gear which auto-switches between signals as the bikes come into and out of range. This could offer much improved full-lap coverage.

While road racing presents additional challenges, Reynolds concludes that it would be possible to live-stream a WorldTour event – albeit with a few pretty big ifs. Among other issues, he says a system would be needed to wake the camera and send it to sleep again in order to preserve battery life.