REVIEW
XON RIDE-1
IThe XON RIDE-1 from the folks at Cerevo is a smart riding recorder that came across our desk over the summer . This review is long overdue , but you ’ ll forgive us as it ’ s been in the triple digits , so getting anyone to ride their bike all day has been a challenge . But now that things are cooling off we ’ ve put the XON RIDE-1 through it ’ s paces over the past few weeks and have a few thoughts on this little tubular device .
The RIDE-1 continues the excellent line that is the Cerevo XON series of smart devices . But unlike so many of the other devices in the rage , the RIDE-1 is more of a singular device dedicated to those that spend a majority of their time on their bicycles . In this respect this is probably one of the most niche products that we ’ ve looked at from Cerevo , but one that just might live up to all that it claims to be , as this little stick is full of all sorts of wonderful tech .
This small device attaches to the frame of your bike and is designed to gather all sorts of data from your riding experience and beam it directly to your smartphone . The RIDE-1 is packed with 7 different internal sensors ( I ’ m amazed how they fit all this in such a tiny device ) and it can also connect with existing sensors via the ANT + technology that allows all sorts of monitoring devices to talk to each other , which really opens up the Ride-1 .
The included sensors will pull in data regarding elevation , your speed , the grade you on on , your overall cadence , your power both for your left and right side , and a heart-rate monitor . It ’ s capturing a lot of things that are going on at once , and if you ’ re a data nerd you are going to really like this . You also get telemetry data , environment data , cycling dynamics , GPS distance information and the route data can displayed in real time on the companion smartphone app which is neat .
ILike I said when I opened up this review , the RIDE-1 really is packed with tons of data collecting features . All this is designed for serious riders to improve their racing performance , but can also be good for casual riders looking to find out more about how they ride . Riding to and from work offered up a neat inside look at how I rode , and the more intense rider here in the office did enjoy seeing the specifics of their trail ride that would be impossible to grab otherwise , at least from a single device .
And because Cerveo is a company that is always pushing the smart capabilities of all their devices ( they are huge data nerds , and that ’ s awesome ), the RIDE-1 also features Bluetooth technology , so you can connect your bike to the Internet via your smartphone . The device is built around iOS , but an Android app just launched last week so everyone can get the most out of the device . We ’ ve only played with the Android app for a little bit , but it works as well as expected and opens up the RIDE-1 for more users .
But all this data you collect won ’ t matter much if you can ’ t do anything with it . In this regard the Ride-1 allows the user to monitor their data in real-time from all those neat built in sensors . You won ’ t need to go home and download a bunch of telemetry , instead , even when you are at some at a remote place like a mountain trail or in the pit lane of your BMX race , you ’ ll be able to check your ride stats . This enables not only you , but your riding partners and / or team to give their hot take on your run , or even control a rider ’ s pace and change up strategies for future runs based on the data being pulled in .
With this being the Cerevo XON series , the data you gather can be overlayed over any captured movies that you take while on your ride . I ’ m going to guess this is the best time to mention that Cerevo has their own action camera ( we
44 GAMBIT | SEPT / OCT | 2017