We haven’t been the best at communicating our progress with everyone. We apologize for that and have made some changes which should address this. You can expect more communication coming up from us on our blog, Twitter, and Facebook pages. Right now I’d like to get everyone caught up with where Pedal Brain is at.

When Will It Ship?

The short answer is sometime after the Tour de France. We were all set to start manufacturing a couple months ago, but after some serious testing we realized the need for a battery. This obviously added some time during which time two key components we need had their lead times double. As of right now, we still don’t know when one of those key components will ship. The distributor is suggesting no more than 6 more weeks. Once we have this last component we can start manufacturing, which will take only a few weeks.

What About The iPhone App & Website?

While the hardware portion of Pedal Brain (called the Synapse) won’t ship until after the Tour de France, we’ll release the iPhone app prior to that. We’ve added a demo feature to it so you can see how it would work if you were riding it. The iPhone App is undergoing a design cleanup currently; I’ve included some screenshots below. The iPhone app and all upgrades to it will be free. The website is also coming along nicely, and it too is getting a design cleanup. We don’t have a demo of the web functionality yet are adding it. You will be able to login using your Facebook or Twitter accounts if you choose.

How Does It Mount To The Bike? Is It Waterproof?

A picture works best here. As you can see, we’ve gone through a number of iterations and have arrived at the version on the right. It’s designed to mount just under your top cap. If your fork has been topped, don’t worry; we’ll be offering a lifter/spacer insert to allow this mount to work. The mount is also articulated to allow for varying stem angles. While the base in these photos is screwed to the mount, the production version has thumb screws. This will allow the base to come off when your bike is traveling on your roof rack or when you need to take it inside to charge the battery. Not shown here is a lid which covers the iPhone and protects it from rain, sweat and sports drink. The lid does allow the touch screen to still be used. Note that the production version will be black in color.

Will The Battery Last As Long As My Saturday Ride?

Yes. We’ve added a 1590mAh battery into Pedal Brain that slightly more than doubles the iPhone’s current battery life. On top of that, we compute speed and distance from a sensor rather than GPS, which greatly reduces battery requirements. You won’t have a problem going for a long ride and listening to your iPod through a Bluetooth ear piece. The battery is charged via USB just like your iPhone. Since it’s easier to charge your iPhone than the Synapse, we’ve added a feature called smart charging. When enabled, Pedal Brain will use the iPhone’s battery until it is down to 20% capacity, and then the Synapse battery will kick in and start powering the iPhone. This way, short rides (less than two hours) won’t require the Synapse to be recharged.

What About An iPod Touch?

Pedal Brain works with the 2nd generation iPod touch but won’t be available right away. The initial version in bike shops will only be for iPhone 3G or 3GS. Later that month, we’ll have an iPod touch version available for purchase. It’ll be lower in price as it won’t include a battery (since there is no GPS on the iPod touch).

What About That Rumored Next Generation iPhone And iPhoneOS 4.0?

Like the iPod touch, future versions of the iPhone will require a different version of the Synapse. That is to say, the new iPhone won’t work with a Synapse sold for an iPhone 3G or 3GS. The reason for this is the form factor differences. The electronics in the Synapse will work just fine with new versions though. For this reason we’re looking into creating a program where you send us your old Synapse and we re-case it for the new iPhone. The cost would then just be for the new case, some labor, and shipping. It’s too early to know if this will work, but it’s something we’re hoping to offer. We designed the Synapse fully expecting new iPhone models continually coming from Apple, and our goal is to have a new version of the Synapse ready for sale seven weeks after Apple releases each new version.

We are already taking advantage of the new iPhone OS, including running in the background and better mapping. A little side note here: while Pedal Brain can run in the background, we don’t encourage doing other things on your bike besides biking. That includes checking Twitter, sending SMS messages, watching YouTube or anything else. Our main reason to support running in the background was to not drop data when someone calls you, as the iPhone switches to the phone app even if you don’t answer. So please use your head and stay focused on the road.

Pricing?

Pricing for everything is nearly complete. We’ll have a post on it later this week.

Where To Get It?

Pedal Brain will be available at local bike shops throughout the world via our distributor, HED Cycling. If you are interested in carrying Pedal Brain, please contact HED Cycling at 651.653.0202 or on the web.

Expos?

We’ll be at both EuroBike and InterBike in the HED Cycling booth. We’ll have everything there for you try out Pedal Brain and will be giving away some stuff, too. It’ll be a great time, and we look forward to meeting many of you.

SDK And API?

This too is another post, but yes, we will have a SDK available for the Synapse and an API available for the website.

We’re happy to announce that we’ve selected HED Cycling to be our international distributor. While our company names are anotomically similar it’s HED Cycling’s dedication to quality, rich dealer relationships and international reach that sold us. In addition, we are excited to work with Steve Hed and HED Cycling’s sponsored athletes to build the very best cycling computer solution.

At this time are still targeting late first quarter/start of the second quarter to start shipping Pedal Brain. Dealers that are interested in carrying Pedal Brain should contact HED Cycling at (888) 246-2629 or (651) 653-0202 if outside the United States between 9am and 5pm Central Standard Time.

For sometime now we’ve been using ABS plastic to test our case designs. This has worked really well for us and has allowed for some rapid iterations on the design. It also is very close to the plastic we’ll use for our production version. Recently though we decided to make some carbon fiber versions of our case. We’re pretty happy with the results. We were able to reduce the thickness in some places and also reduce the overall weight. It also made for a very good looking case which is why we have it as our homepage image. We plan to offer both a plastic and a carbon fiber version of the case though not at the same price or quantities.

The mount in the photos below is designed to go on the steerer tube. This provides a large amount of support and removes any possibility of the mount moving around. It does require that your fork hasn’t been topped though. To counter this with our test riders, we machined a special spacer that adds the necessary amount of height so the mount works. This also works for stems that rise instead of fall or are even.

We couldn’t wait till Christmas to unwrap Pedal Brain. We’ve been diligently working on it for sometime and are at a point to let the cycling community know about it. Now that we are unwrapped, I encourage you to follow us on this blog, Twitter and Facebook. We’re a pretty open company so if you have questions, please contact us. We’ll also be adding a support and discussion section in the next couple weeks for everyone to see the conversations taking place.

With Pedal Brain unwrapped now, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.