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For many, a bike ride is something to be logged, recorded and measured as much as simply the thrill of being on two wheels. With this in mind, here are five gadgets to give the Irish cyclist a bit more from their trip. By Adrian Weckler
Adrian Weckler’s guide to the tech that will help you get the most from your spin
GARMIN EDGE 820
€350 from GallagherCycles.com GARMIN is something of a specialist in athletic tech and its new Edge 820 gadget shows why. This thing is loaded with specs for cyclists who are a little more serious about training or competitive cycling. Its 2.3-inch colour touchscreen works with gloves and in the wet. It also has GPS (and Glonass) for turn-by-turn navigation. But its heavy lifting comes via its feedback metrics on your bike’s motion, speed and activity. This is generally more accurate and comprehensive than that from phones. It also connects to sensors for detailed readouts on heart rate, cadence and other health statistics.
SMARTHALO
€180 from smarthalo.bike IT’S hard to imagine a more comprehensive bike gadget than the SmartHalo. Affixed to your handlebar, it’s a GPS navigation guide, street light, alarm and personal fitness aide all rolled into one. It works with a phone app. Put in your destination on the phone and the SmartHalo will show you which way to go. Its light comes on as soon as the sun goes down and switches off as soon as you reach your destination. And if your bike is interfered with when you and your phone aren’t nearby, an alarm goes off. Because it’s a Kickstarter campaign, it’s just starting to ship now.
GOPRO HERO 4 SESSION
€190 from Argos IF you’ve held off getting a GoPro action camera, they’re currently coming down significantly in price. The Hero 4 Session may be the pick of the bunch for bikers as it’s the lightest in the GoPro range, at just 74 grams. It also doesn’t need separate plastic housing like other GoPro models, meaning it’s smaller than the standard action cam. Despite this, it’s waterproof. It has wifi, digital image stabilisation and takes 8-megapixel still images. It doesn’t have 4K video recording, but does capture ‘full’ HD at 60 frames per second, which results in very smooth, high-resolution playback.
BEELINE
€115 from beeline.co THIS takes navigation back to a very simple first principle. The waterproof, shockproof Beeline gadget tells you simply which direction your destination is in. It doesn’t care about bike lanes, one-way systems or any other kind of pragmatic travel details. It simply shows you where your ultimate destination lies, as the crow flies, and lets you worry about the exact way you’ll get there. As you’d expect, the system works via a smartphone app, which can track your journeys. It’s available in three colours and comes with a stainless steel keyring.
OLIXAR UNIVERSAL BIKE PHONE MOUNT
€17 from ie.mobilefun.com IF all you really want as a second screen for your bike is your phone, you can save an awful lot of money by simply buying a phone mount. These comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. However, one decent option is Olixar’s Universal Bike Mount. It attaches to your handle bar and clamps whatever smartphone you have so that it’s facing you. This is better suited for waterproof phones (such as the iPhone 7 or Sony Z5) as there’s no additional protection from the elements.