New Cannondale Synapse SmartSense Technology
What’s this new technology on the Cannondale Synapse?
So Cannondale have released an updated version of their Synapse 'endurance' road bike, particularly the carbon range, and along with this update, they have added some pretty interesting tech.
Integrated electronics that Cannondale are calling "SmartSense".
RLE stands for Radar, Lights & Electronic Shifting.
The range starts with the Synapse Carbon 4 - no integrated tech. This is followed by the Synapse Carbon 3 L which has Shimano 105 groupset and the Intergrated SmartSense Lights. Then there is the Synapse Carbon 2 RL which runs the Ultegra mechanical groupset, with the Integrated rear Radar system and Lights, and then there is the range topping Synapse Carbon 2 RLE which has the Ultegra Di2 electronic shifting, along with the rear Radar System and Lights.
Seeing as the Synapse Carbon 2 is the range topping bike, one would assuming there maybe a Synapse Carbon "1" down the track which may have some extra fruit.
So what is this SmartSense? Basically its an integration of Garmin battery, Garmin Radar and lights from Lezyne into one system.
It includes a battery which is located at the bottom of the down tube, just below where your drink bottle cage mount would be. So your head light and taillight both are wired through to this one easily removable battery.
This is a great idea. Especially on a bike that is designed for long distance riding - think long hours in the saddle.Anyone that has done some long rides and has individual head light and tail lights knows, that one of the first things they have to do when they get back is take all the lights off and plug them in to charge up again - and this can be quite fiddly.
There is a downside - the battery life. The battery is listed as a 3450mAh battery and on minimum brightness can last up to 20hours - One review I saw said that the battery life was only 4 hours, although 4 hours of constant cycling is a fair amount of time - ie, if you average 20kms p/hr and ride for 4 hours, that is a 100km ride, but as I mentioned, the Synapse is a bike that people will spend a lot of hours on and so 4+ hours on a Saturday is certainly not unheard of.
The work around hear? I guess taking a 2nd battery with you - if that is possible - as that would then give you 8 hours of power. Now think if you use this bike for some BikePacking - it wouldn't be that hard to actually take a 2nd battery with you in one of your bags.
So what else does this do?
There is also a Radar system which also has a number of features. One is that as it detects a vehicle approaching from the rear, the tail light will become brighter, and then as the vehicle passes the light will go back to its standard brightness.
The system can connect to the Cannondale App, other bike computers (think Garmin head units), it does support ANT+ so others like Wahoo, etc should also be compatible at lease to some degree, or the head unit that has a number of LED's that comes with the system. From what I understand, this system is actually based on the Garmin radar system and so integrates will with the Garmin head units.
You can see Cannondales about page here.
CyclingWeekly also released a YouTube video about it which you can watch here.
So some final thoughts - I really like this idea. Having the ability to just remove one battery and charge it up instead of having to remove the head light and tail lights every time you get back from a ride. I also can see that this is going to lead to some more integration which is good. As mentioned earlier, having a battery that can last maybe 6 hours would be good, but I guess they have made a compromise on weight to battery life.
The Synapse isn't a lightweight or aero speed bike, it is an endurance road bike, built for people to put in a lot of hours and kms on, so I think its the perfect model for this type of system.
Check it out and we will no doubt see where this technology goes in the coming years.
Comments
Post a Comment