asmac

I saw a couple of Vanhawks today (https://www.vanhawks.com/specs) -- they were shooting an ad in Kensington Market in Toronto.

Very nice looking carbon frame, belt drive, NuVinci hub, SP dyno, built-in lights, theft detection, navigation and rear-proximity warning system.

They tell me it will take fenders and they are working on a rack system plus steel and aluminum models. The bike I saw will sell for about US$1500 and will be shipping July 2015.

Don't know how far it will go but kudos for pushing the technology -- good to see something different.

JReade

"The single-speed (and the variable-speed) Valours come stock with a 55T front chainring and a 22T rear sprocket."

I'm curious why this ratio was selected.

jfowler85

Cool bike, dumb name. A hawk for a van?

BobbyG

I'm still scratching my head over "All-City Space Horse" and "Charge Plug".

jfowler85

No kidding.

Steely Dan

potentially interesting.

the $64,000 question: eccentric bottom bracket or sliding dropouts?

Agent Cooper

This bike offers pointlessly expensive solutions to problems riders have been effortlessly solving for 130 years - for free.

All the trendy kids will fall over themselves to get the first one.

Vanhawks is a dumb name though. They should have called it "Shut Up and Take My Money!"

Dan515

Sorry, lost you there.

kickstart

Other than being butt ugly, and the needless expense of a composite frame for whats basically a utility bike, I like it.

Garfield Cat

That's because the Company sees itself as a software company for the bike industry and not particularly a bike manufacturer.


Vanhawks Raises $1.6M To Help Put The Valour Smartbike On The Road | TechCrunch

noglider 

What do the sensors provide? I can't imagine a bike's need for software, but maybe I need to imagine harder.

bmthom.gis

I don't know why a commuter would want all off that on a bike, especially if it is all integrated. We are usually a pragmatic bunch that would rather have something that will stand up to abuse and the test of time over having gadgets and other nonsense that will eventually break. The tech can stay in cars. Bicycles shouldn't need to have a skilled electrician to fix amy problems. What happens when there is a firmware update and all of a sudden half of the features no longer work properly? Even with cellphone updates, there are always problems and eventual patches that get things mostly working until tye next update comes out and there is a whOle new set of problems

osco53

You guys need to get out more.
Young people are making things, History has proven that small Innovations often lead to great things.
It wasn't long ago the world was burning leaded gasoline and smoking was cool. Solar power, the 'Tesla' electric cars, etc

https://www.teslamotors.com/

Who would have ever Imagined an Electric Luxury car with a 300 mile range that could to 120 plus mph..

RubeRad

Here's a more entertaining introduction to Tesla cars:

What it's like to own a Tesla Model S - A cartoonist's review of his magical space car - The Oatmeal

spivonious

I'm really not sure why bikes need blind-spot detection, but the turn-by-turn navigation is kind of cool. Actually, the bike price is reasonable when you consider that it has dynamo hubs and built-in sensors for what we normally add accessories for....but it's missing some key things for a commuter/utility bike:

1. Lights
2. Rack
3. Fenders

I also wonder how it would hold up in the rain and temperature swings of year-round riding here in the northeast US.

Reynolds 

Newer, more complicated, more expensive... connected!
It must be better!

tjspiel

Is there a review of one out there anywhere?

I like the basic design and belt drive, but I'm more skeptical of the electronics.

How good is the headlight?
Is the navigation system really any better than just mounting a phone or GPS to your handlebars?
Is the proximity sensor actually useful?
I've got enough things tracking me as it is, how likely is it really that the electronics would help this bike be recovered from a theft?

Of course, I'm a bike enthusiast and there are people that don't want to research a hundred different lights or 20 different GPS systems. They just want to buy a bike and have it all included. Maybe this would have some appeal to that demographic, but the stuff has to actually work decently well.

AlTheKiller

Yeah, and in the process thousands of pretty crappy things come along. Bikes like this seem that way to me. Geared towards the techy, startup employee who fairweather commutes. And, sure, good for him if it gets him out there. As far as what it actually brings to the table for most people is more cost, more headache, too many things tied into it to fix quickly at a local bike shop, etc... What the world of bicycling does NOT need are iBikes. Oh, hey, there's a bunch of features built in to this bike which can be had cheaper after market and chosen to your liking, and you need all our proprietary gear for any of it to even work.

J. Dub

My thing is where do you find a carbon fiber bike, with internal cabling inside the frame, plus carbon belt driven, and IGH for $1500 in the USA?
I'd love to see it.

PolarBear007

Meh... It's a roadie-commuter wannabe. Made of carbon-something-or-other. No thanks.

I'd break it in short order and be honked off b/c i couldn't re-purpose all the nifty gadgets.

J. Dub

Yea what do they mean by carbon composite? Is it carbon fiber or not?

Mr IGH

Carbon-fiber commuter bike that has software upgrades, definitely a First-World problem....

noglider 

It's the term use to describe the stuff we usually refer to as carbon fiber. Carbon composite is more accurate because it contains a lot of ingredients including a lot of what they call resin, which I believe is a kind of plastic. You can't build things out of pure carbon.

Darth Lefty 

For a carbon frame, NuVinci rear hub, Gates belt drive, dyno lighting system, Ergon kit, and all their little doodads packed into a custom handlebar, it's looking like a how-did-they-do-that bargain at $1650.

If I were going to pick holes in the spec it would be that the integrated stem handlebar headlight removes a lot of options for fit and accessories, and the spec'd Vittoria Randonneur tires which everyone seemingly hates.

Archwhorides 

. I agree with you Darth. I also agree that there are some misses, but this kind of product pushed others to be more creative