Vanhawks (YC W15) Raises $1.6M to Help Put the Valour Smartbike on the Road
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
They designed a carbon frame and fork for a commuter bike, going through the huge time and money sink that is creating their own moulds (plus need at least one per frame size and they are expensive) and it doesn't have fender or rack mounts (for aesthetics). Nice practical choice there.
Maybe it is just prototype photos, but custom designed bars/stem/fork and they couldn't route the cables for the electronics internally? Plenty of examples of that working already (look at Di2 builds using PRO parts from Shimano). And on that: integrated stem/bars might be fine, but only if they are exactly the right size for you.
And routing/directions? (Ooh, haptics, that'll work on a bumpy street.) For a short-ride/commute bike? That you'll need once to learn the way and then not again? Maybe on a touring bike to get you through a complicated all-day route, but this is not that bike.
Yes, I'm a bike snob, but I'll stick to my cheap commuter and my fleet of pricer rides, thanks.
Thanks for the comments and feedback!
Our bike can be equipped with off the shelves fenders and rack mounts. :)
All of our cables are internally routed.
We suggest you routes for your way as we collect data from people around you, giving you best route suggestions aka waze alike. :)
We don't need a Waze-alike - Strava heatmaps already do it. Cyclists are pretty good at finding the most efficient paths.
The salesman then proceeds to give another tour around the car showing where each of the switches are located to turn on each component, and how many times you need to press them.
Who would put up with such a car? I deal with that crap every day plus another battery on my helmet. To drag bikes into the 20th century, we need frames with 1 [good] internal battery, 1 chargepoint, 1 switch, and a multitude of compatible accessories which can be attached in different places and hook into the frame's standardized internal electrics.
This makes me feel like I'm going crazy - seeing a new bike manufacturer skipping such everyday basics and deciding that what bike frames have been missing is bluetooth connectivity. Including a comms wire in the frame wiring gets you that anyway - people who want a "smart bike" can plug in a smart device under the seat and some output devices on the handlebars. Better upgrade path too.
(Include a wheel sensor in the frame, as wireless speedos suck, and having the sensor output available on the comms wire means all devices can use it as wake-up)
I commute year round in all weather: pouring weather, snow. I need fenders. Look at the frame: it has no receptacles for the screws for installing them.
For $1250, you don't even get lights, nor reflectors in the wheel spokes: basic safety features.
Also no suspension in the frame. Thin tires. For something pitched for commuting, this is designed an awful lot like a racing bike, but not optimized for that use, either.
For commuting you generally want 1.5" to 1.75" road slicks. They require less pressure to achieve low rolling resistance (you will be grateful when you don't have to jam 115 p.s.i of air using an emergency hand pump), provide more comfort and protect the wheel against damage from surface irregularities better. In commuting you have potholes, stones and curbs to contend with, as well as junk that falls out of trucks. Some of it you don't see very well at night.
I would probably trash that frame in about a year.
http://www.roadbikereview.com/reviews/why-you-should-be-ridi...
This is a bike to separate yuppie fools from their money.
Not to mention investors.
"LED's to guide you on your commute". WTF? You can get voice directions via headphones from a navigator. Approaching right turn. Ding!"
It seems to me that sticking an iPhone on any bike via an attachment would do everything this bike does. It has an accelerometer for pothole detection. GPS for speed and navigation. You could even charge your phone in the process!
The two things that can't be replicated are blind-spot detection and theft protection. There is no shortage of small devices on Kickstarter that can duplicate these features. A small IR sensor that bolts to the back of the bike. And for theft protection to work as expected, there needs to be hundreds of such bikes on the street. At the $1200+ pricepoint, I find that unlikely..
It reminds me of one of those swiss army knives with the 16mb USB stick built in. Seems cool at the time until you realize something that should last a decade or more is now irrevocably tied to something that's going to be obsolete next year.
Plus the market for $1,200+ commuter bikes simply cannot be that large.
They should have just made nice-looking attachments and left it at that.
Thanks for the comment and feedback! Really appreciate it.
We have something in the work for an attachment in the future. The Valour is our way of offering an experience versus just a new spot of technology. :)
I would love to bike, but frankly, I'm kind of lazy (especially regarding the hills). I would be interested in an affordable bike that mitigated some of these problems, though.
1) As you get older, particularly if you work in tech, you will notice your wrists, elbows, and shoulders getting a little sore. Ergonomics can go some way toward minimizing that, but riding a bike in any kind of traffic will put a lot more strain on you. Any kind of cushioning/shock absorbers/breaks?
2) Mentioned the electric assist. Is that going to be an option for these, or is your audience only folks who can ride a regular bike from day 1? A number of folks I've run into wanted to switch to a bike from their car, particularly during nice weather, but wanted some assurance they wouldn't get exhausted halfway there. The assist made it possible for me.
3) In the same vein, some way to fold this so it can be carried in a small car or some special rack so it can be carried by car? Particularly for a commuter audience I would think you would want the ability to hop a car or bus or train for part of the ride?
4) Lights rechargable? How many recharge cycles? Batteries replaceable for the lights/sensors/bluetooth?
5) Someone has already mentioned a smart helmet. I know there are a couple companies working on those, but are y'all working with any of them to incorporate a handshake so you can possibly trigger things at the best time?
6) Lastly, any thoughts to collision avoidance signals for other traffic? Something where it senses a car or other vehicle is getting too close and either hits the horn or flashes a light(s) to try and get the driver's attention?
Thanks in advance for your time.
For 2), there is no electric assist (as in no electrical motor). Any reference to electronics refers to the main-board in the handlebar that contains a bunch of sensors and things.
4) The lights are totally rechargable. There is a dynamo in the center of the front wheel hub that generates far more power than the system uses. Its expected that the dynamo will be sufficient as the sole power source. There is one high-capacity battery in the handlebar that powers all electronics.
6) At the moment the bike only notifies you if something moves into the blindspot, however it wouldn't be difficult to make it flash the rear lights at the same time to notify the driver.
Thanks for the comments and feedback! :)
1) We use ergonomic grips and saddle from Ergon!
2) the bike is not paddle assist, we might have something in the future though ;).
3) No way to fold it but you can carry this on a bus, train or a car easily on a bike rack.
4) yes they are chargeable!
5) We will look more into this forsure. :)
6) yup! Thanks for the suggestion! Will look into it more!
However I think attempting to mass produce a high-quality smart bike is a very commendable endeavor as it is dearly needed on the market. A great city bike with a good setup for lights, theft security (screws, tracker, lock), low maintenance (belt, hub) easily cost more than a cheap used car and you have to curate all the accessories yourself whereas most of these things com built-in on a car/motorcycle.
* Bell Muni helmet
* with rear and front flea lights
* front GoPro
* jawbone which falls all the time
* Rudy project glasses with chromatic lenses
I have seen some attempts at smart bike helmets, but none doing it right.
Also, I second that the rear proximity sensors and haptic feedback are likely to be a gimmick, I would drop the navigational indicators and place a built-in anti-theft tracker instead. Besides they are easily confused with turn signals for a buyer looking at the bike for the first time.
As an experienced San Francisco city rider, rear sensors are a gimmick as you learn to grow eyes on your back and you already see these things, or it is too late. What matters though is a front camera first, rear camera maybe.
With cycling, innovations trickle down from the top. Starting out with a flat-bar hybrid is not starting at the top, and seems like a really weird choice. Hybrids are marketed to beginners, or mountain bike people who want to train on the road with the same hand position they ride off-road.
Sofware may be "eating the world," but Asian manufacturing has been eating the cycling market for 40 years. Shimano, specifically, is a far more profitable business than any of the branding companies or manufacturers. If you aren't going after Shimano, you're fighting for scraps.
Why did you choose the Fallbrook N360 over the Shimano Nexus Inter 8 which is cheaper and 2 lbs lighter?
I'll also point out that carbon is a terrible material for bikes that are getting banged around with locks and bike racks. Minor carbon damage can cause total material failure. Your bike shatters underneath you.
People who spend >$1000 for a bike don't usually buy hybrids. Existing roadies won't want this. The market will be people-who-don't-currently-ride, but won't think anything of spending >$1000.
People-who-don't-currently-ride are going to be very uncomfortable on a bike that has its handlebars lower than the saddle.
They will sell some, but few will get ridden for any length of time. If they want to create something like bike-Waze, they need network effects, which is going to be very difficult at this price point with a product that isn't interesting to current cyclists with disposable income.
Bike shops are going to avoid stocking these, as they don't want to be on the hook for supporting a complicated product from an untested vendor. Buying a bike though the mail means assemble-it-yourself, which is easy to get wrong. It's even more perilous with carbon componentry.
Ali here, one of the co-founders at Vanhawks! Thanks for commenting! The reason we used flat handle bar is because we aimed our bikes at commuters! Flat handle bars are really ergonomic. In relation to also our frame design, they go perfectly with our aesthetics :). Hope that answers your question!
Although I am not a big fan of the hand shaped rubber tips. I would opt to use gloves instead and SPD clips (w/ Vittoria 1976 shoes which are absolutely amazing for wearing all day), but then I am a bike nerd.