“They wonder why the cycling industry is on its a***?”
These words don’t belong to your live blogger but a Facebook commenter — and to be fair, the truth is the cycling industry hasn’t been on a purple patch lately (by lately, I mean the last 2-3 years), to put it kindly. And cyclists, like many consumers in this capitalist society, are getting frustrated with the state of things, and looks like the latest brand to bear the brunt of that ire has been Garmin.
> What the hell is going on in the bike industry? Wiggle Chain Reaction turmoil discussed plus pro cycling's idiot problem on the road.cc Podcast
If you missed it, the Swiss-American company which makes fitness and sports equipments such as smart watches and cycling computers, released its latest, upgraded version of the latter yesterday: Garmin Edge 1050, its top of the line device that succeeds the Edge 1040, and is the company’s first new cycling computer since the Edge 540 and Edge 840 were unveiled together more than a year ago.
And to start off the list of complaints road.cc has already seen about the product which was launched just a day ago, is the price. It costs £649.99 — a price point at which you buy entire bikes (my Decathlon RC500, which I absolutely love, costs the same amount).
The list only begins there, more things that seem to be bugging cyclists is the lack of a solar option and shorter battery life — to compensate for the brighter screen, needing a new mount, and Garmin Pay — which allows you to make digital payments with your cycling computer — is unsupported by many UK banks.
> Cyclists blame "utterly ridiculous bike prices" for brands' ongoing struggles, after Giant's sales slashed again
Here are some words from road.cc readers:
muppetkeeper: “Careful of this one, GPlama on YouTube points out that the half turn mount has moved, and this unit is most likely not to fit on your existing mounts... FFS, idiots. How many of us have K-Edge or integrated mounts. I bought a1040 today, now just about affordable.”
Secret_squirrel: “What are Garmin up to? Didnt the 1030 go on for years before the 1040 was released? Personally I prefer a slightly crapper screen and almost double the battery life.
They must feel threatened by the Karoo?
I'd pay for a 1040.5 at about £399-£450. Might keep a lookout for discounted 1040’s…”
ravenbait: “Garmin pay is almost completely unsupported by banks in the UK, so I wouldn't worry too much about getting used to paying with your computer.”
60kg lean keen climbing machine: “£600 pounds for a bike computer, I would not have any cash left to buy much coffee and cake if i spent that amount on a bike head unit. I have spent less than that on a whole bike, and it works and does the job that any bike should do just fine. My current computer is Bryton 420 (£80 - £100) That does every thing I want for over 6 times less. Yes if you got the cash then "fill your boots!!" but realy are we just being marketed ever more functions, tinkering at the edges, and then paying top money for only a little more?”
However, it wasn’t all bad blood…
Jetman’s Dad: “Garmin Pay supports Starling, I haven't paid with anything other than my Forerunner for the last year or so and it has worked flawlessly. The only place I was unable to use it was a small car park in Cornwall that also refused to accept a contactless payment from my Co-op visa debit card.
I'll give you that support across UK banks is poor, but it is not a "shit function thats almost entirely of zero use”.”
mark1a: “For every halo bike or top of the range accessory, there are many alternative options below it. Nobody is forcing you to buy anything, or indeed post a comment telling the class that you don't need it. Yes you can spend north of £12k on a bike, but equally there are many models below £1k.
One could also argue that the top end products contribute to the functionality of mainstream stuff with trickle-down technology. Do you think that mechanical 105 would be as good as it is now without the Dura-Ace of 10 years ago? Do you think Garmin Edge 130 (currently £140) would be as good as it is without the likes of 1030, 1040, 1050 sales funding the development?”
> “I’ll see you in the winter”: Zwift accused of “taking subscribers for granted” as monthly subscription rises from £12.99 to £17.99 – but company says price hike “necessary” for platform’s development
Over at Facebook, things were a lot less meticulous, and a lot more snappish, here’s a choice of comments…
“Seriously over hyped & priced. Will not pay so much for minor improvements”
“So it's easier to remove your Garmin from your bike mount to pay at the cafe than the phone you have in your back pocket… Genius”
“Has the battery life improved ? Brightest / Smartest / Most connected … for how long?”
“I see more and more competition in this market. So, do these benefits outweigh the negative aspects like limited battery life?”
“If you can ride fast then you would not need more than 5hrs of battery life…”
*cue to Remco Evenepoel getting dropped in the Alps and then waiting for his team car to get a change of Garmin…
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63 comments
Whilst the clip from JV does look good, I wonder if a cyclist should be that close to someone in front without having their hands on the handlebars to access the brakes.
If something happened that required them to stop in an emergency, the short distance would not give them enough time to react.
At no point can we see their hands or indeed the bars, what makes you think that they are riding no hands? If it's the whistle, there are a number of electronic bells available that have a whistling sound as one of the options, it's most likely one of those.
There may be some confusion as to which cyclist I am referring to: the one that is singing/conducting an orchestra.
Apologies, the other video – the left hook one – also mentions JV so I thought you were referring to that one, I hadn't seen the other. Thoroughly agree with you, using the cycle lanes in London every day in a way I think it's great that people feel secure enough to ride no hands but a lot of them aren't actually very good at it and don't seem to realise that an unexpected bump, pothole or even gust of wind could bring them and the cyclists around them crashing down.
Wrong news item!
I never learned to ride without holding at least one hand on the handlebars.
(Never learned to mount - or dismount - the bike while the bike was moving, either…)
Riding no-hands - despite most of my bikes being fairly similar (don't tell my wife I admitted that) some are much easier than others. I had a Specialized Allez that I couldn't, but a similar geometry Canyon which I could ride for miles in the right conditions. The cargo bike is a work in progress and I don't think I'm brave enough to try the Brompton.
I can go a long way on most of my bikes with no hands on the bar, some easier than others, but usually only a few seconds on the Brompton.
There are some complex factors invoked with bike stability apparently. Mine all feel quite different, but I can ride all hands-free *except* the one with the longest wheelbase. But... that is the recumbent and so it's maybe having much less "inverted pendulum" ability to shift the centre of mass by moving my upper body?
FYI, the difference is mostly headset torque and bearing preload. With too much, or too little, the rider cannot control the fork with their body position -- the fork either won't respond, or flops around uselessly.
Torque the headset correctly, and every bike should be easily hands-free (of course, there's still a baseline of required rider skill).
I would have thought wheelbase and steering angle probably contribute a bit, no?
Well, where you can move your body position more that's maybe useful. Less helpful when you have limited ability to move your body and/or the centre of mass is lower in relation to the wheels - per my recumbent. I can sit up a bit but that changes all the dynamics and I find that immediately precipitates an off (if I don't catch the bars).
Haven't practiced much though. If I was minded to I think I'd put the time into learning how to wheelie on it as almost every small child I pass demands that.
Or maybe I should learn to play it?
With small-wheel bikes I wonder if these seem more difficult because you have to make corrections with your body faster because said small wheels have less stability, or simply because bike geometry differences?
My 2010 Orbea Orca I could even ride no-hands on the rollers, though I wouldn't dare try with my titanium Enigma which had exactly the same geometry (custom frame). I've also found since I stopped doing strength conditioning and core work that I'm not as stable or confident either, so there's definitely elements of bike and rider involved.
Wheelies next then (old vid but still looks like camera trickery to me)!
Blognitive dissonance!
Nothing new there! Just depends what things you compare!
Lots of divergent views of the same situations:
I think that most of the UK is just starting to seriously realise that mass motoring has some down sides. So as populations grow we're having issues with capacity and congestion / road maintenance / pollution - including noise pollution / how can we provide the new infra for cars 2.0 - electric / too much surface being impermeable etc.) So councils are perhaps starting to look at ways of having fewer journeys driven.
I'm not sure how many consider that cycling could be a serious part of helping things? Of those where they do I suspect many are still in the "encouraging cycling" phase - perhaps running some campaigns (training for 0.01% of the population, 50 pounds off some bikes purchased with this scheme). Or painting some intermittent thin lanes. Wishful thinking.
A very few places are - perhaps - getting to the point where they are grappling with the notion of what to do with all these cyclists that have appeared? But I think this is often "pedestrians are concerned! How to we slow them down / police them?"
I'm hoping they'll see that (like with motorists) perhaps the way is carrot and stick - but you get more return on the carrot!
* The UK's got better traffic death stats than many places. We're still among the best in Europe (countries there are mostly at the top). We're even better than NL, never mind further afield.
** They say that they're concerned about safety but as noted this is one of the safest places in the world to travel. Hence I think that "just doesn't feel safe" and "actually - it's *change* - and there aren't other people doing it / it's not social." Plus we've just made driving more convenient (and sometimes cycling less so deliberately).
Yes. But puns!
It was noted! “Pun: A form of wit, to which wise men stoop and fools aspire.” - Ambrose Bierce - who after writing that stooped to many.
Fortunately, I'm not wise, or with all that stooping, these days I'd never get back up again.
"They have the object permanence of a 3month old baby"
If the RB Bora Hansgrohe really *had* to go dark blue, they could have at least done the blue and white/silver quartered background
Was doing 31 in a 30 single carriageway earlier to be overtaken by a driver doing 44 with no clear line of sight.
Would they do that to another driver? Complete car brain.
In Northern ireland they would - it's routine.
The next logical step is Garmin brings out a cycling focused Android phone. With a built-in mounting system compatible with their head-unit battery bank. I wonder if this unit is actually running on Android already?
I think it's a good addition to the line up and will suit some peoples needs.
Right…so on a 150 mile day I'll be sorted as long as I can average 30 mph plus. Some people don't half talk some drivel!
Exactly. I upgraded to a 530 about 2 years ago after my old 130's battery was draining faster meaning that when I attempted my first 100 mile (in a hilly area, I might add) I got 90 miles in, just over 6 hours and my I had used all 100% of what I had. I had a shortcut home so only did 95 on the day. But there ain't no way I can do 100 miles in 5 hours, let alone 150.
Yeah. Not everybody is interested in going fast, but the industry/ media seem to think they do with all these performance products.
Thank goodness for people like Jack Thurston, or Russ from Path Less Pedalled, etc
Or Grant Petersen
The comment could just be someone's dry sense of humour.
True, although in my experience of Facebook commenters on cycling matters gobshites who want to parade their alleged superiority to other cyclists by boasting of their speed, fitness, stamina et cetera tend to outweigh those with a dry sense of humour by about twenty to one…
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