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Lou’s News: Turn your iPhone into a cycle computer?

January 21st, 2010 by Lou Gubrious 3 Comments

Okay.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had your cycle computer fall off of your and skitter down the road.

Looks like a good number of you.

Who amongst you would volunteer to do the same to your cell phone?

Oooh. Look at all the hands that went down.

I’m no luddite. I love my , and for that reason, this product makes me a little queasy. Without some secure, weatherproof and shockproof way of mounting my to my bike this looks like a good way to turn your into an expensive scratchy brick. Here’s the blurb:

“iPhone fitness application developer Abvio LLC today added Cyclemeter 2.0 to its list of health and fitness offerings for the iPhone 3G/3GS. Already an iTunes best seller for cyclists, version 2.0 adds new features to turn the iPhone into a powerful stopwatch, giving cyclists the feedback and motivation to ride faster, go farther, burn more calories and become healthier. Cyclemeter 2.0 also offers built-in Twitter text-to-speech so cyclists can hear Twitter replies during rides from coaches, fellow riders and family. Cyclemeter 2.0 further improves ease-of-use and safety with voice announcements and the ability to use the Apple earphone remote to start/stop the app.”

Phones, if you’re going to bring them with you on a ride, belong in your seat pack. Cyclecomputers can handle wind, rain, drops and more. Phones don’t belong on your handlebars. Sure, you could put this in your jersey, but then what’s the value if you can’t see the display?

This strikes me as a solution in search of a problem. Just my opinion.

I’m done. Go for a ride!

–Lou

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  • Steve Kusmer

    Lou,

    Thanks for your coverage of bike news, and your mention of Cyclemeter. As one of the developers of Cyclemeter, I just wanted to add some comments.

    You are right that without proper protection, a crash can turn an unprotected iPhone into a paperweight as fast as a rim can be turned into modern art.

    Here are some suggestions for your readers. First, do a Google search for “iphone bike mount”, and you’ll find a few dozen iPhone bike mounts for sale that capably protect your iPhone.

    But Cyclemeter was also designed with another approach in mind: Keeping the iPhone in your jersey, protected by a case, and even covered in a plastic bag to protect against sweat and rain.

    Here’s how you’d use Cyclemeter this way: First, get Cyclemeter set up to ride, and put the iPhone to sleep. Then attach the iPhone earphone, thread it inside your jersey, and put the iPhone in your jersey pocket or inside a back pocket. (With the case and plastic bag.) Important: Only use one earphone for safety reasons.

    Then, with use the earphone remote to start and stop the stopwatch. (See http://www.cyclemeter.com for more info.) You’ll hear data updates spoken by our app over distance or time intervals, or on demand using the remote.

    Customers of ours love this approach. You never have to lower your eyes to read a display, so you can keep your eyes on the road and on your competitors. You can configure Cyclemeter to speak up to 18 data items, including speed, distance, and climb.

    I’d also like to mention that because Cyclemeter is an application, we are constantly improving it. And because we’re internet connected, we can do things that dedicated bike computers cannot, including automatically tweeting your position to your coaches, friends, and family during your ride, and much more.

    Thanks for hearing us out, and for your coverage of all things bike-related.

    Best,

    Steve Kusmer
    Abvio LLC, makers of Cyclemeter
    http://www.cyclemeter.com

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