In SUA masinile care au cutie de viteza automata sunt utilizate de peste 60% din populatie, in Europa lucrurile nu stau chiar asa, si desi tehnologia a fost implementata in biciclete, ea a fost imbunatatita printr-un sistem nou. Utilizand smartphone-urile, o cutie de viteze automata va schimba vitezele in functie de modul in care rulati, in functie de terenul pe care va aflati, totul fara a face o conexiune fizica, cu bicicleta. In momentul de fata exista cutii de viteze automate mecanice pentru biciclete, insa ele nu sunt fiabile si un sistem de acest gen ar simplifica extrem de mult lucrurile.
The system, unveiled today, uses your smartphone to calculate the best gear to be in for the current pedalling speed – then wirelessly shifts up or down. It also uses the phone’s accelerometer to know when to change down in an emergency stop – so you can pull away afterwards with ease, and will eventually be able to use the phone’s GPS capability to get the bike into the correct gear for an upcoming incline. In manual mode, Bluetooth on the gear switch communicates with an iPhone in the rider’s pocket. An app on that phone then relays the rider’s commands to a Shimano electric gear shift system modified to receive Bluetooth signals.
iPhone-ul vostru se conecteaza prin Bluetooth la cutia automata de viteze si probabil cu ajutorul unei aplicatii dedicate ii spune cand si cum trebuie sa schimbe vitezele. Tehnologia a fost inventata de catre cativa britanici, ea functioneaza deocamdata doar cu bicicletele Shiamno, insa in curand va ajunge cel mai probabil si in bicicletele altor producatori. Ideea in sine este grozava, mai ales ca exista atat de multe smartphone-uri in lumea intreaga, insa ramane de vazut cat va costa o asemenea bicicleta.
In automatic mode, a magnetic sensor on the main crank tells the app your pedalling speed – known as cadence – while a wheel sensor tells it your road speed. It then computes the correct gear and beams it to the Shimano mechanism. “It’s not difficult. The link between cadence and speed is the gears,” says Wilson.
