Great news: The long wait for the wireless bicycle brake may soon be over!!!

http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/02/Manufacturing-Electronics-Enginee...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on February 24, 2012 at 9:28am

I'm sure the feedback from this brake would be excellent. I can't wait until this needed improvement comes to bicycling.

Nearly-perfect actuation is good enough for me!

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Permalink Reply by Justin B Newman on February 24, 2012 at 9:55am

Hold out for the ABS feature!

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Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on February 24, 2012 at 11:13am

Finally! Relief from the neverending hassle of, ahhhh, ehhrhmm

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on February 24, 2012 at 11:42am

Well, the article explains that the wireless bike brake is an "experimental playground" to safely develop and demonstrate advanced braking systems for high speed trains and airplanes, in situations where a failure is merely embarassing rather than catastrophic. But I welcome the development of traction control and ABS in bikes, if it prevents me from falling in an icy turn, or stops me from skidding into an oncoming 18-wheeler. A Canadian company, Daymak, is just releasing an electric bike, the Shadow, with all wireless radio control surfaces for throttle and braking. It has the motors contained within the wheels themselves and the radio control removes the possiblility of failure from broken wires. Of course, I'd love to hack the code and use a model airplane controller to suddenly slam the brakes from a distance on some unwary rider. But I'm evil like that.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Bullis 5.5-6.5 miles on February 24, 2012 at 12:22pm

I didn't know there was a wait.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on February 24, 2012 at 12:52pm

I think you didn't notice that h' had the sarcasm font toggled on.

I know, folk music purists gasped way back when, on the day Bob Dylan showed up at the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar. The same way the bicycle purists, who believe the bicycle has reached the definitive ideal form and can no longer be improved, gasp at the notion of bikes with assistive capabilities, both for riders who lack, for instance, the hand strength to operate a manual caliper brake or who have reached the age where riding a non-motorized bicycle 30 miles each way to work might be unrealistic. If we want bikes to fully replace cars, even for disabled or elderly travellers, we must accept the possibility of mechanical and electrical assistance.

Mike Bullis said:

I didn't know there was a wait.

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Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on February 24, 2012 at 1:40pm

Ahh, yes, my fellow cycling friends, I can see the future: electric brakes; automatic, electric gear-shifting; automatic lights that dim and brighten upon changing light conditions; electric flat tire changers; auto-steering - just look where you want to go and it takes you there; crash bags that inflate so you land on a pillow of air - no helmets needed; auto-finger-flippers for those nasty drivers; electric expletive-like-a-sailor horns for even nastier drivers; auto 911-callers in case of accidents; tires that adjust size, pattern and studs automatically with weather and road condition changes; saddles that soften as your bottom gets sorer; #$%&*^# radar; automatic, electric kickstands; hot-opposite-sex alerter; self-cleaning frames; self-lubing system; built-in atuto-tool-kit - just point it at the disagreeable part and it fixes it within seconds; and, finally, electric, high-voltage locks that provide thieves the shocks they deserve.