Smart beats strong – a smart ebike can do more than just push you along

[Aushiker]

E-drives can offer more than just a boost. By intelligently integrating route, heart rate and rider data, they have the potential to revolutionise the act of cycling itself. Smoother, smarter, more efficient – we are looking at a fully connected bike future. We can unquestioningly embrace it, or we can reject it on principle. Or we can explore and experiment with it, uncovering possibilities and applications that manufacturers may not even have considered yet – and that’s the exciting part.

Interesting article at Gran Fondo.

 

[fooferdoggie]

well this isn't new it would be new in cheap e bikes but specialized already has it and bosch to a lesser extent.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

well this isn't new it would be new in cheap e bikes but specialized already has it and bosch to a lesser extent.

I concur. Specialized e-bikes take readouts from a HRM and can adjust the assistance based on heart rate. A setting can tell the e-bike how fast it should be increasing the assistance if a significant climb is detected. Smart Control also allows setting the preferred ride distance / elevation gain to complete the ride still on the battery disregarding the headwind or hills. Or, you can make a predefined ride time on the battery be completed.

Specialized e-bikes transmit many rider and e-bike data by Bluetooth (to Specialized apps) or by ANT+ to sports devices. These capabilities have been there already in 2019 for some Spec e-bikes, now these are available to all the models (since 2020).

The article mentions a Mahle X20, a hub-drive motor. While the capabilities I mentioned are available for Specialized mid-drive e-bikes including the road or gravel drop bar models (Creo, Creo 2).

 

[mschwett]

well this isn't new it would be new in cheap e bikes but specialized already has it and bosch to a lesser extent.

the “smart” assist on the x20 is quite a bit different than specialized’s version, which is based more on ride parameters you input in advance than the “learning” model of the x20, which looks at past ride data in combination with a few more inputs, like current grade and so on.

personally, I think they’re both pretty stupid, as it is surely not rocket science to turn your e-bike’s motor from one mode to the next. other than experimenting I have yet to see a possible reason to use either specialized or mahle’s implementation of these things.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

the “smart” assist on the x20 is quite a bit different than specialized’s version, which is based more on ride parameters you input in advance than the “learning” model of the x20, which looks at past ride data in combination with a few more inputs, like current grade and so on.

personally, I think they’re both pretty stupid, as it is surely not rocket science to turn your e-bike’s motor from one mode to the next. other than experimenting I have yet to see a possible reason to use either specialized or mahle’s implementation of these things.

Are you saying you can set the HR threshold and the X20 will take care your heart rate is never exceeded?

My reason of using the Smart Control is simple: Say, the route for a 80 km/1000 m Sudovia Gravel race must be ridden on a single battery. What is simpler than setting the 80 km distance, 1000 m elevation gain, 5% battery remaining at the end of the ride and let the app/TCU take care of the assistance while I would only be focused on riding?

 

[mschwett]

Are you saying you can set the HR threshold and the X20 will take care your heart rate is never exceeded?

…

yes, there’s a heart rate threshold auto mode, more or less the same as specialized’s. but what i was speaking of is actually a different mode, which uses other algorithms based on analysis of many rides (not primarily heart rate) including a heavy reliance on the slope of the terrain and the rider’s weight. the incline sensor is in the top tube controller, and does have to be calibrated once with the bike on level ground.

perhaps not surprisingly since specialized and mahle developed the SL together, the controls and configuration of the X20 are very similar to the original SL.