Category: Accessories

Korean Saddle And Bag Maker Aiming For Brooks And Carradice | BikeRadar

British saddle maker Brooks has owned the leather saddle category for decades, and now a Korean company called Zimbale is branching out into the lucrative US market via Hyde Park Cyclesports in Boise, Idaho.

"My own interest in Zimbale came about partly out of frustration with the unpredictable availability of similar products from existing suppliers and manufacturers," Hyde Park Cyclesports owner Jim Powers told BikeRadar. "I received an email from Zimbale and asked for some samples. I was impressed enough with the samples to begin a conversation about becoming the US distributor.

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"We were able to come to an agreement, and now I'm working towards meeting their projections for sales in this country. Interbike is the first step."

According to Powers, the Zimbale brand was created by a small group of individuals with backgrounds in textiles, manufacturing and cycling who also saw the need for a more reliable source of fine leather saddles and leather and textile saddlebags. The group is in Korea, and the bags are made in Korea.

Korean Saddle And Bag Maker Aiming For Brooks And Carradice - BikeRadar.

Obico: The Ultimate Bike Computer?

The Open Bike Computer, or OBiCo is a fascinating new bike computer project.

It can be used as a normal bike computer, of course. But it can also be used as a heart rate monitor (taking input from Polar and Sigma brand chest straps), a music player (it plays OGG as well as MP3) and a GPS receiver. It takes an external memory card (the widely available micro-SD card), has a high quality TFT screen and a USB interface for connection to a PC.

The USB connection can be used to charge the internal lithium ion battery. Alternatively (and this deserves a drum roll) a hub dynamo, such as the Schmidt Original Nabendynamo (SON) can be used to charge as you ride.

You may at this point have noticed that it's very unlike a typical commercial bike computer, lacking proprietary accessories and software... well it gets better, much better.

The Obico will come with a custom API for software development. So if you're not happy with the software that comes with the device, you can write your own.

It will also feature the Embedded Linux operating system to the Obico could be used just like a regular computer, in so far as any Linux computer is regular!

The main features of the Obico are:

  • No batteries required! A hub dynamo will be used to charge a li-ion cell.
  • Easy to use.
  • Audio interface, so you can listen to your favorite music while cycling.
  • High quality color tft-display, that adapts automatically to the lighting conditions.
  • Visualization of:
    • speed
    • heart frequency
    • odometer
    • audio data
  • Logging your tour data like GPS coordinates, heart frequency, speed and other parameters to a MicroSD-Card.You can synchronize these data with your PC lateron. The amount of logged data depends on the size of your SD-Card.
  • GPS support is planned as an option. Location plans are scheduled.
  • New program features for this computer are for free and can be downloaded from this webpage.

The main processor is an ARM9 derivative. It is supported by a second processor, which controls the peripherals and assumes the tasks of the power management. The obico board has the following features:

  • 32 / 64 / 128MB Mobile SDRAM
  • Micro-SD Interface
  • AC97 Audio Interface to play MP3, OGG, ...
  • high quality, background lightened TFT-color display
  • HRM - Receiver (Pulse band receiver)
  • GPS - Receiver (optional)
  • 3 axis gravitation sensor
  • ambient light sensor
  • Lithium Polymerakku, that is loaded per USB or dynamo

It's still at the prototype stage, but if this project were based on genuinely open standards and free software, and received good development community support, this has the potential to be truly groundbreaking and revolutionary.

http://www.obico.de/

New LED lights

LED lights have been around for several years, but until recently they were really only practical for riding in built-up areas, or at least lit-up areas. The big advantage of LEDs are reduced power consumption and long life. However, the light output from LEDs has been disappointing. They allowed the cyclist to be seen, but provided little by way of illumination of the road.

For cycling in complete darkness, halogen lights were the only option. My own preferred option was a SON hub dynamo powering a B&M Lumotec and a Schmidt E6 similar to the one pictured below. This provides plenty of illumination for my needs. The only drawback is that I always need to make sure that I have sparebulbs in my saddlebag. Good quality bulbs seem to last a long time - I think 100 hours is typical.

Picture: m-gineering.nl

However, in the last year or two several high quality LED lights have become available, and with high light output and long life, LED technology is a real option for fast riding in complete darkness.

With the recent announcement of the Schmidt E delux, there are now 4 excellent LED lights on the market for use with hub dynamos.

  1. The Schmidt E-delux
  2. Busch & Muller LUMOTEC IQ Fly
  3. Solidlights 1203D and 1203DR
  4. Inoled Extreme

The IQ Fly has been getting rave reviews, but it seems to have been surpassed by the Schmidt E-delux.

Hand made by Wilfried Schmidt, maker of the SON, it is compatible with 6 volt dynamos from Shimano, SRAM and of course the SON by Schmidt.

Features include:

  • 80 lux output (this compares with 40lux for the IQ Fly and approx 25 lux for the E6)
  • a standlight, so the light stays on for a few minutes after stopping
  • On/Off and Senso mode. Senso mode automatically switches the LED on, when the ambient light levels falls
  • Aluminium casing and copper heat sink for dissipation of head from the LED.
  • internal optics are from the B+M IQ Fly.
  • available in Black or polished aluminium
  • weight: 85g.
  • can be used with or without a taillight, without modification

The Edelux should be available in June 2008 at a price of less than 130 euro.

New SON Dynohub

The unrivalled SON dynamo hub (or Schmidt Original Nabendynamo, to give it it's full title) has a new model available this month.

The 20R is a lighter version of the SON 20, which is designed for bicycle wheels of 16" to 20" in diameter.

The SON 20R has the following specification:

  • Power: 6V/3W
  • Efficiency: 60% at 15km/h in a 20" wheel. 65% at 15km/h in a 28" wheel.
  • Power consumption (under load): 0.7 W at 15 km / h (in a 20" wheel)
  • Power consumption (under no lighting load): 0.4 W at 15 km / h in a 20" wheel)
  • 26 pole magnet.
  • Hub Sleeve: aluminum 6082 T6 polished or black anodized
  • Spoke holes: 36, 32, 28, 24, 20 (radial spoking allowed)
  • Two 4.8mm electrical contacts
  • Weight: 390g (compared to 580g for the existing models)
  • 5 year warranty

A model for disk brakes is under development and should be available in February 2008, and the 28" model should be available in October 2008.

There seem to be no plans to update the SON XS, which is a narrow version of the dynamo hub, designed to fit the narrow front forks of a Brompton and New Series Moulton.