cycling

Read Cult of Mac’s latest posts on cycling:

New taillight camera with radar watches your back while you bike

By

Apparently that light can be seen from a mile away in daylight.
Apparently that light can be seen from a mile away in daylight.
Photo: Garmin

The road can be a dangerous place for cyclists, so it’s a good thing Garmin launched a new taillight Wednesday that has a high-def camera and radar. It will record everything going on behind you while you’re on your bicycle. And its radar can alert you to approaching vehicles.

Using the new Garmin Varia RCT715 Radar Camera Tail Light, you can download all footage to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch via the Varia app. That could come in mighty handy if you’re in a crash and need to prove what happened.

10 hidden Activity app features that will take your fitness to the next level

By

Discover the secrets of the Apple Activity app.
Discover the secrets of the Activity app.
Photo illustration: Graham Bower/Cult of Mac

At first glance, the iPhone Activity app seems pretty simple. It’s basically just a calendar to keep track of your daily Activity Rings. But if you know where to look, you’ll find a surprising number of pro features buried beneath that slick, simple interface.

So check out our top 10 iPhone Activity app tips and discover some indispensable stats that will help take your fitness to the next level.

AI powers this bike light to make cycling safer

By

See.Sense Ace bike light
Ace is the ultimate bike light.
Photo: See.Sense

When you’re out on your bike, you need to be as visible as possible — especially at night. See.Sense ACE is a bike light that uses artificial intelligence that reacts to every moment of your journey, making cycling safer and simpler.

The light improves visibility when you need it most, and ensures you’re seen on the road. It also connects to your smartphone to provide things like theft alerts and cycling stats.

Apple film shows how Rapha designs cycling gear with iPad Pro

By

Rapha designer Alex Valdman uses iPad Pro for everything.
Rapha designer Alex Valdman uses iPad Pro for everything.
Photo: Apple

The iPad Pro and Apple Pencil have completely changed how the cycling clothing company Rapha designs its fashionable road gear.

In a new short film, Apple goes behind-the-scenes with Rapha’s head of design, Alex Valdman, discussing everything from his approach to design, creative process, and how he uses the iPad Pro to get work done.

Handy running accessory charges your iPhone (and could save your life)

By

Keep yourself and your iPhone alive with the BSEEN Boost Pack.
Keep yourself and your iPhone alive with the BSEEN Boost Pack.
Photo: Trident Design

You can charge your smartphone while cycling or running with an accessory also designed to keep you alive on the road.

Sounds like a lot to ask of a battery pack, but the Boost Pack by BSEEN does both with a rather simple design.

The Boost is a belt pack with an LED light panel that stays lit or flashes. It also holds your smartphone and a lightweight 4000 mAH rechargeable travel battery pack to keep your phone charged.

Detroit’s desolated stadium is the perfect playground for this BMXer

By

Shred on, Tyler. Shred. On.
Shred on, Tyler. Shred. On.
Photo: Red Bull

This Red Bull-sponsored film of Tyler Fernengel, an up and coming BMX star, shredding through the creepy post-apocalyptic remains of Detroit’s Silverdome stadium is both amazing to watch and poignant at the same time.

The stadium represents with a gravelly-voiced narration, as well.

“I remember it like yesterday,” it says. “The smell of fresh paint. The stands overflowing; a colosseum for the modern age. Forty years ago, I stood for Detroit.”

Check it out below.

Pump-Hub, an ingenious system that keeps bike tires inflated, is ready to roll again

By

Kevin Manning has the idea for a hub system which inflates your tires as you ride, eliminating the  need for a bike pump and making sure you have proper inflation every time you hit the street. Manning has the idea the prototypes, but lacks the funds to move into production.
Kevin Manning's ingenious Pump-Hub system inflates bike tires as you ride. Photos: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

SAN FRANCISCO — Sometimes even a great idea falls flat at first. Take Pump-Hub, a self-inflating bike tire gizmo. It was rolling along at trade shows and getting lots of good press before the financial crisis of 2008 sidelined the project.

Now its creator, engineer Kevin Manning, is getting back on track with a new team behind him and plans to expand his original idea — an automatic, adjustable, tire-inflation system housed in the hub of a bike wheel.

For cyclists, the Pump-Hub means no remembering to check the tire pressure or pack a pump, no fiddling around with the valve and then racing to put the cap back on before the air wheezes out and your aching arms have to start all over again. It inflates the tires to the proper pressure while you ride, making a gentle clickety-clack sound reminiscent of spoke cards from childhood days. When the tire hits the designated pressure, the fluttering sounds stop. If you get a flat, just upend your bike and spin the wheel until pressure is restored.

“It’s like how using a Macintosh is easier than using a command-line interface,” Manning says, turning his Gunnar bike upside down on the Embarcadero to show me how the Pump-Hub works. If you really boil down all the technology behind his invention, he adds, the main advantage basically ends up being “it’s easier.”

After 25 Years, Timbuk2 Finally Updates Their Ancient Classic Messenger Bag

By

timbuk2-new-classic-messenger

 

No one but actual, honest-to-God bicycle messengers had the authority to wield a Timbuk2 messenger bag. If you were an iron-assed hard case living life on a bike, you’d probably earned the right; though you might still have found yourself the target of diluted messenger disgust.

That was the pervading vibe 15 years ago when I bought my first Timbuk2 bag, a Bolo (back then, each size had a name; the Bolo was the large version). Make no mistake, these were Messenger Bags: simple, voluminous, virtually indestructible black holes, able to swallow an inordinate amount of awkwardly dimensioned deliverables, specially stabilized for use on the bike exclusively. The only grudging nods to civility were a couple of pockets sown onto the outside of the bag and an optional padded shoulder strap.

And apart from a few minor changes, it’s stayed that way. Like the coelacanth, the Classic Messenger has remained a living fossil, unchanged, while other Timbuk2 species have evolved and developed around it. Until now.

Kinda Serious, Hardcore Or Crazy Fitness Maniac: Wahoo’s Trio Of New TICKR Bluetooth Heart-Rate Straps [CES 2014]

By

CES2014-6
The little dots on the sensor's face are lights that tell you whether the sensor is connected, or if the battery is low. Photo: Eli Milchman

Cult _of_Mac_CES_2014_80x80 LAS VEGAS — Rather than come out with a more casual-oriented wearable fitness tracker like everyone (and we mean everyone) else, Wahoo stuck to its athletic roots and took the more serious route of improving the heart-rate monitor strap and accompanying training software the company introduced a few years ago.

In fact, Wahoo has created three new versions of its Bluetooth HR strap. The company even tried to restructure the way athletes think about training with the new “burn or burst” approach for the Wahoo iOS app.

Schwinn’s Mouthy CycleNav Tells You Where To Go [CES 2014]

By

ces-2014-5
The CycleNav: Putting the "win" back in "Schwinn." Photo: Eli Milchman

CES 2014 bug

LAS VEGAS — Remember the Hammerhead? It’s a device that attaches to your bicycle, links to the GPS on your phone via Bluetooth, and guides you along a pre-chosen route by flashing a left or right light when you need to turn.

Schwinn‘s new CycleNav does one better. Like the Hammerhead, it attaches to your bike (via quick release) and flashes an LED light to alert you to an upcoming turn. But it also speaks voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation to you through a speaker, just like your iPhone does.

Xspin Bluetooth Sensor Is Like GPS Tracking For Indoor Bicycle And Elliptical Rides [First Look]

By

xspin-3
Image courtesy of Pafers.

 

Now that winter has hit the country, cycling has moved indoors for much of the U.S. That means straddling a stationary bike or throwing your trusty road or mountain bike up on a stand (or if you’re really brave, rollers).

That’s where the Xspin comes in. it’s a small box filled with sensors and a low-energy Bluetooth 4.0 radio that attaches to a crank arm and sends speed, distance and cadence data to an accompanying app — either one of two developed by its parent company, Pafers, or a handful of popular third-party cycling apps, like Strava or MapMyRide. It’ll also work with ellipticals (though it obviously attaches differently, since ellipticals don’t have cranks).

Silicon Beach Special: Solé Fixed Gear Bicycles [Deals]

By

CoM - SoleBikes

Venice Beach, California. A sunny playground full of hipsters, homeless folk, and the team behind of Cult of Mac Deals. But there’s another company that calls this chill little corner of LA home – Solé Bicycles.

We’ve partnered up with the awesome guys at Solé to bring you a ridiculously epic discount off of their exceptional two wheeled machines. Perfect for cruising the beach, the city, or your local bike path, these bikes will get you there, make sure you look good doing it, and – thanks to Cult of Mac Deals – save you 30% off in the process!

Hammerhead, A Heads-Up Display With Flashing Lights To Help Cyclists Navigate

By

hammerhead-1

$

 

Ever tried using an iPhone or Android phone to navigate with GPS through crowded streets? It’s pretty difficult, even for a veteran cyclist like me, to split my focus between the road and tiny symbols on the phone’s tiny screen.

Plugging in to a headset to hear turn-by-turn directions sometimes works, but cycling with headphones can also be a pain (not to mention illegal in places under certain conditions).

The answer, of course, is a heads-up display like Google Glass; but until it’s ready, there’s the Hammerhead, a light-powered navigation aid with some other cool tricks up its sleeve.

Meet The Buckshot: A Cheap, Palm-Sized, Bicycle-Friendly Bluetooth Speaker

By

outdoor-tech-buckshot

 

You can thank Bluetooth technology for making cycling safer. “How’s that,” you ask, as you wolf down a Lemon Sublime Gu? The answer lies with the growing number of Bluetooth speakers designed to be mounted a bicycle; listening to music from a speaker obviates the dangerous (and often illegal) temptation to wear earphones on the bike.

The latest is Outdoor Tech’s Buckshot, a tiny, ruggedized (to IPX-5) shotgun shell-shaped speaker with a rubber mount for attaching it to a handlebar; it even doubles as a speakerphone. What separates the Buckshot from most other bike-friendly Bluetooth speakers is its diminutive size, and its price — the Buckshot is just $50.

Source: Outdoor Tech

Hopefully The New Cycling-Friendly Jabra Sport Wireless+ Bluetooth Earbuds Fix Its Predecessor’s Woes

By

jabra-sport-wireless-plus

Jabra made a big show of introducing their Sport Bluetooth music/phone earbuds at CES this year, even bringing in triathlete celeb and Ironman champ Craig Alexander to flaunt the buds while he sweat away the miles on a stationary bike. Unfortunately, the Sport has been plagued by reports of abysmal Bluetooth connectivity (possibly due to range) and poor fit ever since it shipped.

Jabra’s response is their new Sport Wireless+, the successor to the Sport, which Jabra says has made everything better.

Skobbler’s ForeverMap 2: Fully-Featured Offline Navigation App With Bicycle Routing

By

skobbler-2

ForeverMap 2 is one of those great apps that should be a no-brainer download for any even moderately frequent map user. Unlike either the standard iOS Maps app or the Google Maps app, ForeverMap 2 can download and store custom maps on your device — allowing you to use the map and accompanying navigation features even without a wifi or data connection.

Today, ForeverMap 2 has been updated with behind-the-curtain improvements to make it much faster, and it now also includes guide information from Wikitravel. It can even route bicycle trips. Best of all, Skobbler has dropped the price from $3 to free till the end of the day.

Wahoo RFLKT Bluetooth 4 Bike Computer Leaves Your iPhone 5 Safe In Your Pocket

By

1348225940.jpg

So you just had your own personal iPhone 5 unboxing. What next? If I were you, I’d hop on my bike and go burn a few calories, taking in the sunny view of the city as I go. But where would I put my new toy? After all, there are no iPhone 5 handlebar mounts available yet. Or maybe you live somewhere rainy and dull, and you want to keep your iPhone in a pocket or bag.

Luckily, the RFLKT now exists. It’s a little LCD bike computer that sits on your handlebars, only instead of just spitting out your speed and lap times, it displays sports info beamed to it from your iPhone — 5 or otherwise.

The ReeCharge Case Helps Transform Your iPhone Into A Cycling Computer [Review]

By

Take your iPhone along for the ride in the ReeCharge Case
Take your iPhone along for the ride in the ReeCharge Case

If you’re more than a casual cyclist, you might’ve considered buying a bike computer to track the details of your rides. But did you know, if you own an iPhone, you’re only one cycling app away from already owning the bicycle computer you so desire.

But you’re also going need a way to keep your new iComputer mounted to your handle bars during those long rides; and that’s where the excellent ReeCharge Case ($100) from BioLogic comes in.

Use Your iPhone To Get In Shape And Lose Some Weight [Feature]

By

The iPhone is probably the best fitness accessory around. Photo Yutaka Tsutano/Flickr.
The iPhone is probably the best fitness accessory around. Photo Yutaka Tsutano/Flickr.

There are a ton of ways to get fit and lose weight. And there are even more stupid books and fad diets that may or may not help you to slim down and get healthier. But there are really only two things you need to do: eat less and do more.

Of course, it isn’t easy. Luckily, those of a certain nerdy bent will find all the motivation they need in gadgets and apps. I have been doing just that for the past few months, and I thought I’d write a little about how to get thinner and fitter by using your iPhone.

If Your iPhone is Tony Stark, LifeProof’s Case System Is Iron Man [Review]

By

lifeproof-8

If there were ever a medal for Most Staggering Misnomer, the iPhone would find itself in serious contention for gold; the little glass slab is so stuffed with useful functions it makes the “phone” element of its name ridiculously misleading. Consider the action-packed roles my iPhone has filled over the years: Bicycle computer; running partner; navigator; wilderness scout; survival guide; weather advisor; and visual story-telling tool, not to mention being able to score all these adventures to music. And yeah, it makes calls too.

The iPhone is the most indispensible piece of hardware since man discovered sharp rocks. Problem is, the iPhone is also a fragile weakling, easily damaged by sharp rocks, gravity or water — things that exist in copious amounts around precisely the places you’d want to use the iPhone to adventure with.

The people at LifeProof, however, have recognized this paradox, and they think they have a solution. They’ve come up with a quiver of clever, well-designed, mission-specific exoskeletons that work as a seamless, modular system, all designed around the core armor: a lithe, shock-resistant, fully sealed (yes, waterproof) iPhone 4/s case. And for the most part, it works brilliantly.