- There's been some great tech innovations
in the world of urban cycling of late.
Some of our favourite brands many of which
we actually featured on the GCN show
back when they were just kickstarters.
We're up for making a video to showcase their work,
so here you go, seven urban innovations.
First up we've got the Litelok,
which was actually one of those kickstarters
that we mentioned on the GCN show
and here it is,
in real life,
always cool to see that happen.
Now as the name suggests, it is actually a light lock,
just over a kilo for this one.
Now it's made from a patented material called boa flexi core
which is a composite of metal and polymer.
As well as being light as you can see
it is also flexi but apparently it's mega tough,
they reckon that this could actually lift up a truck,
which is pretty cool
but that's not the only thing of course
that stops your bike from getting nicked
but it's been given a gold award by Sold Secure
who kind of tests for these sort of things.
Next up we've got this little gizmo
which is called the Beeline
and it's like a really clean simple navigation system.
It's got a phone app
that you use to input your destination on
and then when you selected it, it's got two different modes,
firstly it's got route assistant
which is where it will operate
in a more conventional style navigation aid
where it'll give you turn by turn instructions
along a predetermined route
but then it's also got free flow
which is where it'll lock on to your destination
and then always point in that direction
but leaving the route choice up to you
so you can effectively freestyle your way
as you cruise through a city.
You will notice I'm sure the return of the Sena helmet.
Now Sena actually started out
making communications equipment
but because their CEO is a super keen motor biker
they then started making products for that market
and then they realised that actually their technology
would suit some cyclists as well, and so here you go.
Now this one is called the X1 Pro
and it's got a built in camera,
there you can see that on the front there,
it'll shoot 2 hours of Quad HD quality
and then you can use the companion app on your phone
to sync that up so you can safely make and receive calls
or indeed, listen to music.
Now I'm not one for riding with headphones in
so this would be like the alternative
to riding with a boombox strapped to your handlebars,
which I do actually admire, secretly,
when people ride around with boom boxes on their handlebars
but likewise that isn't for me either.
Well do we Matt? That is the question.
Now you recognise my bike as well I'm sure,
it was the one I was lucky enough
to tear around the streets of Berlin on
earlier in the summer.
It's made by Schindelhauer
and I think it's a thing of beauty
but there's certainly no denying
the level of tech on here either.
I'm going to start with the Gates Carbon Drive.
I've long been an admirer of belt drives,
unlike conventional chains,
there's effectively zero maintenance,
so no cleaning required, no lubrication required,
and no chance of it rusting.
Could there be a more perfect bit of urban tech.
Now the reason you don't need to do any of those things
is because it's not made of metal,
it's made from polyurethane
with non-stretch carbon cords inside
and it needs its very own style of sprocket
in order for it to work
and you obviously can't call that a chain ring either
because it's not a chain, I guess it's just a ring.
A Gates Carbon Drive can't actually be used
with conventional derailleur
so you can either run them fixed or single speed
or use an alternative kind of gear system
like we've got here, this gearbox system from Pinion.
Now just like the Gates Carbon Drive,
it's almost entirely maintenance free.
All the gearing is completely sealed there in an oil bath.
The only maintenance you need to do is to change the oil
once every ten thousand kilometres or annually,
whichever comes first, and almost unbelievably,
it comes with a five-year guarantee.
It works using spur gears
with two different units giving the combination of gears.
Only two gear pairs are in contact at any one time
transmitting rider power,
so Pinion say that it works out being remarkably efficient.
And unlike a conventional double chain ring setup,
there's also no gear overlaps, each one is evenly spaced,
sequentially, so typically logical German engineering there.
You can get a gear spread
that's bigger than a conventional derailleur system
and they come from between 9 and 18 gears, this one has 12.
Now both the Gates Carbon Drive and the Pinion gear box
do require a frame that's specifically designed
for the purpose so the Gates Carbon Drive needs chainstays
that can be split apart
because the belt itself is a continuous loop
and then Pinion obviously need this dedicated mount here
on the downtube,
so neither can be considered an upgrade necessarily
but both are something that you could consider
when you're looking for your ultimate commuter bike.
Quick change of bike now, for my own town bike actually,
which was cobbled together out of a few random bits.
Now the reason we've done the bike change
is because we needed one with standard quick-release
in order to be able to demonstrate our next product,
the Nutfix from Abus.
Now this is designed to get around the problem
of having someone nicking parts from your bike
when it's otherwise locked securely.
I don't know about you
but I actually hate walking around a city
and seeing bikes stranded
like carcasses picked clean by vultures.
Wheels are the most common one to go
and you can of course get around that
by dropping your front wheel out
then locking it to the rear wheel and the rest of the frame
but, it's kind of a pain in the bum
and it's particularly bad if you do multiple quick stops.
So the Nutfix gets around that problem.
You replace your standard quick releases with it,
now it works by having a cover over the nut.
Now this cover is locked in place
when the bike is in a vertical position.
I lost to an immovable object.
Then in order to remove the cover and expose the nut itself
the bike has to be horizontal.
So you simply lie on its side, pull the nut off,
and then you're able to remove your wheels
but otherwise,
they're secure.
Genius.
Cycliq has been causing quite a stir,
not just in the urban cycling world,
but in any kind of cycle really.
And we've got our hands on their brand new
just release model.
So we've got the Fly12 CE up front
and the Fly6 CE at the back.
Their twin function, so they have smart cameras in there
which are designed to be the ultimate dashcam for cyclists
and their in combination with lights,
a hundred lumens at the back and 600 lumens at the front.
Both of which would more than justify being on your bike
for that reason alone.
Now I think it's the cameras that are the really clever.
So should you wish to record your rides
in case anything happens, either in a good way,
like I don't know, a golden eagle flying serenely past you
or in a bad way, you getting knocked off your bike
by a vehicle, then these are designed specifically for that.
So as soon as you switch either unit on
it will begin recording automatically
and it will continue recording automatically
until you switch it off again.
There is enough space inside on the SD cards
to save up to two hours of footage
and if you go over that it will begin to loop on top,
so record over the top of it, however,
should you wish to save anything for posterity
you simply press the Q button up front
or you transfer the contents of the SD card
when you get home.
However, the really clever bit
is that both cameras have motion sensors inside
and if they detect that your bike is leant over
for more than five seconds, ie you've been knocked off it
then they will immediately save the preceding video segment,
so 5, 10, or 15 minutes and then it will continue recording
for the next 30 minutes before switching itself off
and locking all that footage away.
The CE part, the name of these new ones,
stands for Connected Edition.
So they've got built in AMP Plus and Bluetooth,
meaning you can control the lights using your Garmin
and of course connect the whole thing up to your phone.
Now there is a whole load of other tech in there
that I can talk about, like built in theft alarms
but I will leave it there,
in fact I'll leave it up to you now
to let us know in the comment section
what you think the best urban cycling innovation is
in recent years.
Do also make sure you subscribe to GCN,
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and then if you want to watch any more videos
about urban cycling,
we've got the very cool Berlin Super Commuter Challenge
just down there or to find out how to ride in the city
get some good quality tips on it, click just down there.