How OnlyFans modeling led to this high-tech set of handlebars
How adult-site OnlyFans helped this high-tech handlebar come to market
Slightly tongue in cheek but it's actually fascinating.
Yeah, the clickbait hed suggested something far less actually interesting. This is a decent tale of using modern society to bootstrap a product. Wasn't expecting the Porsche/BMW connection.
The novel funding method could be described as a mixture of business and pleasure
Uhm... that sounds like an old method, some would call it the oldest one in history!
A rearview mirror camera had originally been planned, though any rear-focused plans are currently on hold.
Sorta lame they didn't elaborate. On hold because of some technological hurdle they can't overcome? A myriad of regulations that are tough to navigate?
No idea.
The camera likely provides a rear view on OnlyFans.
We asked ourselves, why couldn’t handlebars function like a car’s cockpit?
Isn't this just a cycle computer? I have a cycle computer that clicks into place on my bars. It navigates and connects to sensors like pedal cadence sensors, power meters, heart rate monitors, it displays speed. All while being removable so I can easily charge it or just not bring it when I don't need those functions.
It's literally a cycle computer that also puts a finite lifespan on your fucking handlebars.
You can get the same effect cheaper by JB Welding an Elemnt Roam to your handlebars.
Features include GPS connectivity for mapping as well as 5G and Bluetooth support, integration with common cycling sensors, long battery life, built-in lighting, and more. A rearview mirror camera had originally been planned, though any rear-focused plans are currently on hold.
That seems a little silly to me. It could be lower cost if it relied on the user’s smartphone for some of this hardware. But I’m not a cyclist, so perhaps there are reasons that aren’t obvious to me.
I believe this is what those handle bars are trying to replace I couldn't be bothered to go wake the rest the sensors up or load a route so half the data fields are blank. It also can show a route map (and reroute while offline), alert for cycling specific hazards, show Strava segments (assuming you have that set up), and a bunch of other stuff that I honestly don't know because Garmin crams so much stuff into their stuff that I'm not sure anyone actually uses it all at the same time. There's really no reason that a phone can't do what this thing does since most sensors have the option of connecting through Bluetooth instead of ANT+ now. But a phone won't do it as well, or nearly as long. The 840 I pictured has something absurd like 25 hours of battery while running navigation on multiband GPS if I remember right.
Yeah, but I was only commenting on things like GPS and 5G. I know that my phone doesn't track my heartrate (by default) and so on. I see no reason not to have those functions in the handlebar computer. I just don't see why actual phone features would be duplicated, making the whole thing more complex and more expensive.
The obvious is that it doesn't require your phone, given the size (having a phablet can be awkward...), many exercisers prefer forgoing their phone when exercising - it's why smartwatches will also have GPS and 5G
This is e-waste. This could just be a decent bike computer and a light that you could slap on to any bike, but they had to go and make a thing that forces me to replace the handlebars that I picked to match my body and riding style? An expensive electronic thing that i can't remove from my bike? No thanks.
Yes the moment the "article" framed modularity and replaceability as a problem it was clear for me that this is nothing else than product placement... Those things are features I would wish my car would have.
I dunno where you live, but round these parts people are having their phones and PDAs snatched off their bikes.
While riding?... what parts are those? 😲
I'd be more concerned about leaving an integrated device where it can be vandalized, instead of taking it off the bike when it's parked.
Technically not really e-waste, as it's just the same cycling computer you were buying anyway, and presumably would have a similar lifespan.
The waste part is the non-electronic bits, i.e. when the computer needs replacing you need to bin off the attached bits of aluminium and rubber that make up the rest of the handlebars.
I mean, one of my bikes has expensive electronic parts that can't be removed.
It's also the bike that absofuckinglutely does not get left anywhere, like to the point that I don't even have a lock for it.
These handlebars are still dumb though.