Heads up on late summer & fall events and conferences I’ll be attending

August 24, 2013 by |Blog|Comments (42)

It’s about time to head into the busy late summer and fall period.  At least, a busy period in the sports technology world.  Typically the sports technology world introduces devices at one of two major timeframes – fall and spring.  Fall is aligned to the holiday shopping season that follows it, and spring is aligned to the busy summer that brings most people outdoors.

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For cycling, that begins with Eurobike in late August this upcoming week.  This is where most cycling companies introduce new products to the market – focusing on showing it off to press and distributors/retailers.  Though, much of that has already begun over the past month, for example Outdoor Retailer in the US and other similar events since late June.  And announcements from Garmin, CycleOps, Wahoo, and others. But fear not – there’s more unannounced stuff coming on Wednesday.

Eurobike brings pretty much everyone in the industry under a single roof.  Well, 6-8 roofs actually.  It’s massive.  In any case, I’ll be there.  I’ll be checking out anything new that I don’t already have on hand, and as usual putting together posts on the usually entertaining non-tech side of the show as well.

You can hit up all my Eurobike posts from last year here.

I’ll be there Wednesday, August 28th, and a portion of Thursday, August 29th.  If there’s anything in particular you’d like to see or get more details on, drop a note below in the comments!

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Next up in mid-late September is Interbike.  This is pretty similar to Eurobike, except we see less European/Asian companies and more US/Canadian companies.  Though, it’s a smaller show than Eurobike. Typically you’ll see some of the boutique US companies show up here that wouldn’t otherwise travel to Eurobike.

In most cases, companies with a larger international presence (i.e. a Garmin, Polar, etc…) would make any announcements they had at Eurobike rather than at Interbike.  Whereas primarily US focused companies would make those announcements at Interbike.  For example, Stages Cycling last year announced their product at Interbike (and had a booth there).  But behind the scenes they were actually at Eurobike meeting with various organizations.

I’ll be there Wednesday and Thursday, September 18th & 19th.  Like last year, I won’t be attending the Outdoor Demo days.  It’s just not a good spend of my time given how few sports technology gadgets are there that I wouldn’t already have.  The Outdoor Demo is a blast though, but it’s mostly for folks wanting to test out bikes.  Finally, since I’m always trying to squeeze these trips in between my other work trips, I’ve gotta be pretty focused on the use of my time.

You can see all my past Interbike posts here.

Like Eurobike, if there’s a company you want me to checkout, simply note it below.  Oh, and with both Interbike and Eurobike, if you’re a company that wants to meet – now is the time to get on my calendar.

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Finally, we’ve got the ANT+ Symposium.  This is where pretty much any company that makes a device in the sports technology world goes to.  That’s because almost everyone except Polar uses ANT+ in some capacity.  Though my presentation isn’t actually ANT+ focused from a technology perspective, instead it’s a look at the entire market.

This will be my 3rd year presenting there, where I deliver a Keynote session to the entire conference (usually about 200-300 people) on market trends and where I think things will be going.  You can watch last years presentation here.

Below is the all fancied up description of my presentation for this year (and the full agenda):

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From my perspective, the biggest benefit of the conference is meeting with companies and giving them your (as in you, my readers) feedback.  In most cases companies send their founders and/or principal developers/leads.  While conferences like Interbike and Eurobike are good for seeing finished product, there’s no better place to have a discussion around the future development of a product than at the ANT+ Symposium.  I often comment that if I had to choose just one of these three to go to, I’d choose this every time from an ROI standpoint.

When able, I usually get sneak peeks of new stuff coming up that I include little snippets of in posts.  You can view all of my past ANT+ Symposium posts here.

So if you’re gonna be at any of the three events and want to catch up (keeping in mind they tend to be crazy busy!) – drop a note below, or via the contact form in the header of the homepage.  Also keep in mind that any of these events could unfortunately get squashed by an unexpected work trip. :-/

Thanks for reading – and hope to see you there!

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42 Comments

  1. Robin
    August 24, 2013 at 5:23 pm #1

    I’m sure it’s on your list, but I’d like to see more about Power2Max’s new offerings and prices.

    Reply
  2. Daniel
    August 24, 2013 at 5:24 pm #3

    Eurobike: I´d like to see Rapha and Creme Cycles. Thx and have fun!

    Reply
  3. Cameron B
    August 24, 2013 at 7:02 pm #4

    Do you think Garmin will be offering updates or new iterations to the 910xt and or Forerunner 610 this year?

    Thanks and I enjoy reading your posts.

    Cameron B

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 25, 2013 at 6:18 am #5

      There definitely won’t be an update to the FR910XT this year. Next year would be the earliest for that.

      As for the FR610, it’s in line for replacement this year based on historical timetables for the fall running season. Garmin is very predictable when it comes to product release cycles.

      Reply
  4. Dan
    August 24, 2013 at 7:18 pm #6

    While at Eurobike, please check out the new/updated trainers from Kinetic by Kurt and the Pioneer Powermeter.

    Reply
  5. Art Hare
    August 24, 2013 at 8:02 pm #7

    If you’ve got time at Interbike, drop by the Racermate booth. Racermate is hosting the Tour de Giro team (Art and Eric), and we’d love to swap thoughts on training/racing software.

    Reply
  6. Glen Stickley
    August 24, 2013 at 8:07 pm #8

    Is the Brim Brothers Zone going to make it to market?

    Reply
  7. Joe
    August 24, 2013 at 9:30 pm #9

    Another vote for an update on Brim Brothers Zone. Really want to know if they are close to market. Also curious if any garmin vector partnerships are really in the works.

    Reply
  8. Brett Sherfy
    August 24, 2013 at 10:22 pm #11

    I’d like to see hands on with the Recon Instruments Jet glasses.

    Reply
  9. Stefan N
    August 25, 2013 at 1:55 am #12

    +1 for Brim Brothers and Garmin Vector partnerships

    Reply
  10. Joe G
    August 25, 2013 at 4:00 am #13

    Ray, maybe you know already, but maybe ask Garmin if they will offer in the near future the vector for other pedals, speedplay in particular.

    Thanks

    Reply
  11. Andy
    August 25, 2013 at 4:10 am #14

    Polar is not on Eurobike, so I think we won’t see something new this year from them.

    Reply
  12. Jordan
    August 25, 2013 at 6:07 am #15

    +1 on Garmin Vector with other pedals, such as SPD-SL, and any other pedal based power meters or cheaper power meter solutions (under $1000)

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 25, 2013 at 6:15 am #16

      Yup, regarding Garmin Vector, they stated at the media event a few weeks ago that they do plan to add other pedal types down the road. Initially that would be a mountain bike pedal, and that there was also interest in spin bike applications. They said there was no technical challenges with other pedal types beyond that, but rather it was all business decisions.

      But beyond that they didn’t specify a timeframe for doing so.

      Reply
  13. Hans
    August 25, 2013 at 6:11 am #17

    Hello Ray,
    O-Synce for shure as they will show some new gadgets.

    Reply
  14. Jordan
    August 25, 2013 at 6:21 am #18

    If you talk to Zipp, could you ask them why they’re refusing to re-dish wheels more than 1-2 years old for 11-speed cassettes? Please tell them they’re making a lot of people very unhappy with that decision. Thanks.

    Reply
  15. RickH
    August 25, 2013 at 6:30 am #19

    Request Mio GPS bike computers to market outside EU. At least upload local OSM’s.
    Best reviews Ray.
    Great photos too.

    Reply
  16. Markus
    August 25, 2013 at 6:54 am #20

    Hey Ray, do you think polar would bring up New products this fall? I think they’re somewhere behind…
    Thanks for your answer, Greetings from Austria…

    Reply
  17. Remco Verdoold
    August 25, 2013 at 7:23 am #22

    Hi Ray,

    I was planning to go myself to the event but it clashes with my holiday of cycle touring 2 weeks in Scotland. I am still thinking of getting an indoor trainer. The Tacx Bushido is high on my list but can’t understand that it can not communicate with the 910XT based on power. I would like to have the power send to my watch. Do you have any suggestions (besides the Kickr)? Or can you inform at Tacx if they plan an ANT+ update on their Bushido trainer?
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 25, 2013 at 8:44 am #23

      Correct, it doesn’t send out the power stream as ANT+. I keep asking for this, but haven’t made any progress.

      The other suggestion is the PowerBeam Pro, which does send out the ANT+ stream and they’re committed to additional ANT+ control capabilities, so that’s positive.

      Reply
    • cam
      August 25, 2013 at 12:04 pm #24

      i also wish it would output power to the 910. surely this is a simple thing to add to a firmware release (rather than being a constraint of the hardware)?

      Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 25, 2013 at 6:07 pm #25

      It’s definitely a ‘simple’ thing. I’m sorta confused why it hasn’t been added.

      Reply
    • Eli
      August 25, 2013 at 9:01 pm #26

      This is all guessing:
      – They may have run out of Ant channels.

      – I have a feeling the Ant+ data doesn’t completely line up with their data so they can’t just send their proprietary packet and then just send the Ant+ packet. If so it would make it much harder to implement on the firmware of their devices.

      – Seems like if the trainer is always hooked up to the computer then the computer should send out the power data through the Ant+ stick on the computer. (The software on the computer can much more easily have a background thread running in the background sending out the Ant+ power data) The added benefit is that the change is less likely to cause the firmware in the trainer to introduce new bugs if implemented there

      Reply
  18. Eli
    August 25, 2013 at 11:11 am #27

    Anything new from Firstbeat? (most likely eurobike) Or any other company doing HRV analysis with r-r intervals

    How about EMS/NMES (Electrical muscle stimulation) technology from Globus, Compex, or Slendertone? (most likely Eurobike, the first 2 are the main companies in that market, the third just started at the lower end. The rest just have crappy devices that don’t produce the output to do the same thing)

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 25, 2013 at 6:09 pm #28

      I haven’t heard anything, but I’ll check-in.

      I feel that until they move away from the ‘charge the watch vendor’ model, it’s going to remain a tough sell. Ultimately, they should be flocking to companies to ask for R-R inclusion, and then charge users for the software (as they do today).

      Right now they’re dipping into both pots and I think it’s costing them more than it’s making them. Just my guess…

      Reply
    • Eli
      August 25, 2013 at 8:49 pm #29

      Their software analyzes the r-r intervals that are in a standard FIT file so no need to pay Firstbeat to be able to record the data. Why don’t more vendors allow recording that data as an option? Did you ever get the chance to ask Garmin about the Edge 510/810 getting that option? Would make it much easier for other companies to come along and do HRV analysis. Firstbeat doesn’t have to be the only company that can analyze the data same as analyzing power from a power meter doesn’t require licencing TSS from training peaks. (I’m hoping others will being introducing HRV analysis to the market)

      Watch vendors would only be charged if they want to run the firstbeat analysis algorithms on the device or the backend software/website of the device.

      As to EMS/NMES it seems like the true proof of them improving muscle strength isn’t there but then also hasn’t been disproved. Also it seems like many people use them just for the recovery functionality after hard workouts/runs/bike rides to become less sore. The hard part is there are very few reviews that seem to come from an unbiased source. Seems like most positive stuff I see online are from people who have a financial gain from people buying it and the negative stuff I see comes from people who haven’t used it but just think its wrong to stimulate muscles with electrodes so must not be useful. Seems like in a market where people spend lots of money to save a few grams of weight on the bike more people would be willing to experiment.

      Reply
    • Eli
      August 26, 2013 at 12:07 am #30

      thanks. (btw clever training does sell the globus EMS unit and amazon sells the compex, although the units sold in the EU seem to have more functionality, so amazon uk shows different compex units)

      Reply
  19. cam
    August 25, 2013 at 12:03 pm #31

    hey ray i’d love to get some pictures and hear some news on tacx’s ipad app – apparently its getting released at eurobike… haven’t bought tts3 or 4 so hoping this becomes a possible solution to pair with the bushido.

    and if you could find out whether it will work only with wahoo’s ant+ dongle or will work with others (such as garmins which is cheaper…)

    cheers and enjoy

    Reply
  20. Cameron B
    August 25, 2013 at 4:22 pm #32

    Hi Ray, thanks for the post on Garmin FR910xt and 610 updates. Have a great round of Expo-ing

    Reply
  21. Jan
    August 25, 2013 at 7:14 pm #33

    Hey Ray.

    Come to hall B5 to eleven sportswear to have great czech beer ;-)

    I will be there exploring the same days….

    Reply
  22. Roman Weber
    August 26, 2013 at 8:27 am #34

    would be great to get an idea about the next suunto products or software updates, many thx, greetings from austria

    Reply
  23. Don
    August 26, 2013 at 1:53 pm #35

    Please check out:

    1. Brim Brothers (let us know how it’s changed from your first ride)

    2. Ultegra 6870 – is it really as close to DuraAce Di2 as it sounds but for 1/2 the price?

    Reply
  24. David Nicolau
    August 26, 2013 at 3:42 pm #36

    I’d like to hear anything NEW that SRAM will be coming out with! (electronic shifting!!)

    Reply
  25. Mark
    August 26, 2013 at 4:23 pm #37

    Can you drop by Hed for me? I am ready to purchase a set of Jets but they just released a new line of wider/tubeless C2 platform hoops, will they be releasing the Jet line in the wider platform as well? If so when? Thanks so much Ray.

    Reply
  26. ChrisB
    August 27, 2013 at 3:58 am #38

    Can you ask Garmin when they are going to fix basic things on Connect?

    For instance, if you plan a route through Conect and download to an Edge, the elevation data is lost:

    link to forums.garmin.com

    Reply
  27. John Twist
    February 9, 2019 at 1:17 am #41

    Have you review any electrostim products currenty on the market?

    Reply