Why you should go to Sea Otter
Other than to meet up and have a fun time
Over the years I have been to my share of trade shows. In many industries. Two more coming up in the next weeks: Embedded World in Nuremberg and Sea Otter Classic in Monterey. Between all the trade shows I have gone to - big and small - bike shows have always been 10x more fun.
There is just something about the people in the bike industry that is much more relaxed, passionate, and just plain good-happy-fun-times’ish. As much as I love that, there is a flip side to it: Just how hard it is to make enough money to sustain a business in bikes.
I still remember very clearly a point maybe 8 years ago at the Eurobike show. Tons of meetings trying to explain why it made sense for all crankset manufacturers to have power meter tech in at least a few of their cranks. And that it isn’t that hard to do. Out of the blue someone stops me in some random hallway. I vaguely remember the face, but not who it was. He basically just stopped me to tell me one thing:
“You will hate me for this now, but later realize I was right: Don’t waste your talent trying to make money in the bike business. There are so many other industries that are much better”.
I think back to this sometimes. And he WAS right. We have the best technology for making torque sensors on e-bikes. We can save our customers tons of money. The market is growing year over year. Yet - even huge companies will haggle and discuss forth and back for ages over starting a tiny project for maybe €10K with us. At the same time, I can ink a deal in robotics, networking, or medical devices over a quick meeting for a lot more and start tomorrow. The contrast is extreme.
As annoying this is - it is also an amazing opportunity for new bigger entrants in the bike industry to focus on agility and moving fast.
So there you have it: The choice seems to be between FUN tradeshows and endless money struggle - OR - seriously BORING tradeshows and serious money being invested wisely to make progress and move technology forward fast.
Bikes being the first one - and that is why I go to Sea Otter Apr 17/18 :)
Why Sea Otter?
Of all the bike shows I have been to over the last 10 years, Sea Otter is the odd one. So small. So much not a B2B show. This place is like a festival. Yet this has proven several times to be the perfect early-season place to meet decision-makers in the bike industry from all over the world.
This was also where the first real bike product I developed was launched in 2017. The big launch of the first 3rd party power meter products by two different brands. Race Face for MTB and Easton for road/cross/gravel bikes. This was picked up by media, including DC Rainmaker, who explained how Sensitivus was the company doing the actual power meter technology.
So did I convince you to go to Sea Otter?
If you end up going, please let me know so we can meet :)
TECH STUFF
We have been having fun with measuring torque in some funky gears lately. Well actually, this type of gear is pretty genius. A harmonic drive gear can combine high torque to weight ratio, high gear ratio, and no backlash with back-driveability so the gear can be driven in both directions. That is quite impressive.
But trying to figure out how to put strain gauges on this thing is not easy. Here is some FEA to show what is going on with the strain. This is not the full story - there is much more to talk about here.
Some of this stuff is a bit difficult to show in a simple way, but the short version is: If you are looking to put a torque sensor on something like this - watch out. Not easy at all. But doable. Talk to us in Sensitivus if you are into that kind of madness :)
NERD STUFF
I told you earlier about my DIY touring e-trailer (here shown on the latest longer tour to Barcelona from Copenhagen). My winter project was to make the throttle wireless. Now winter is officially over - and it is working. I still have to do the first real on-the-road testing, but it feels good in the lab. Here is a quick video showing that it actually works now.
Having a throttle without some spring load to return to zero is obviously not the safe way to do it. But it is so much more convenient to use. And given how easily the brakes on the bike won over the motor in my first iteration of this e-trailer setup I am going to do it like that again. Also, there is an element of “stealth” to this. Flixbus does not like e-bikes and I like to have that option when biking about far away from home. And EU rules do not like throttles either. So I prefer not to use anything that looks like an e-bike throttle :)
Stay tuned for more as I get to test this out.
FUN STUFF
Evolution is always fun to observe. Here we are back at the good old 1965 cult velo-solex motorized bicycle. Back from the year Moore stated the law that have pretty much defined the last many years of our daily lives with constantly having to buy new devices. Oh, and this beauty is available for download to 3D-print if that is your thing.
The modern e-version of this is here from Itallien Pininfarina (WIRED wrote about that back in 2007):
To the latest take on this concept from CLIP in Brooklyn.
So that is evolution. for you. Evolution of the velo-solex. From the 1940s till tomorrow.
FRIENDS
BrakeAce
Now Denmark is not a hilly place. To say the least. But MTB is still pretty big here. More technical XC than DH etc. But still.
One of the interesting things coming out of our 2016 Kickstarter was a request from this guy (Matt Miller) over in New Zealand - prime downhill land.
After many forths, backs, and detours we are now at a point where our power meter electronics sits inside the world’s premier brake force sensor. And it is doing miracles for the top athletes in the sport. Just take a look.
This video tells me two things. 1) I am not signing up for a DH race - ever, and 2) the BrakeAce sensor and the way this coach uses it really make a difference for this daredevil rider. Both on his riding and on his mental preparedness, which is clearly super important for his race.
Check out the brilliant BrakeAce system for getting faster without having to get fitter.
ABOUT
I have been spending the last 10 years on sensors and technology for bikes. Both are things that I really enjoy. Technology for bikes can be many things - these are the types of products and technologies I can talk about from experience:
Power meters (to measure how hard you pedal for training purposes - but actually valuable for much more than just that). A product with a high retail price and a low BOM price. Mostly sold as after-market.
Case: Technology still on the market by THM - The Clavicula PM crankset.Brake sensors (for optimizing MTB downhill performance). Very niche product for elite riders, which may eventually slowly become more widely accepted. Pure after-market.
Case: Technology on the market from BrakeAce.
e-bike torque/cadence sensors (to make e-bikes feel more like “analog” bikes on a really “good leg day”). Super high volume product with a fairly low sales price - a pure B2B product for integration into a motor design or similar.
Case: Technology on the market from Sensitivus, but not quite out in stores yet.
Each of these examples has occupied a good chunk of my life over the last 10 years, but there is more. A lot more. This is a story for another day.
P.S.
If you found this interesting there is more in the back issues. And if you found it boring, maybe the previous issues were more interesting for you:
Why you should do a Kickstarter - or actually, why you should not
Why you need a power meter - open source or not
Why hub motors are better - and how Miri may be just the writer/photographer you are looking for
Why you should ride a bike to work - maybe even an electric unicycle
Why you should buy a new bike now - and why you should know TwoTone :)
P.P.S.
Should you end up going to Sea Otter - and if you liked the velo-solex bit or the BrakeAce bit, there is actually a much more potent take on e-bike conversion targeted full suspension MTBs. And this is the main reason why I am going to Sea Otter. Seriously take a look at what Bimotal is doing here. Quite clever.
Thanks for reading along :)
[[ … AND LET’S KEEP UNF*KING THE PLANET - ONE EBIKE AT A TIME ]]