Chinese web company Baidu are to release an innovative SmartBike, called the DuBike, before the end of the year. Baidu run China’s premier web search site – their equivalent of Google – and became the first Chinese company to be included in the NASDAQ-100 index.
Baidu’s DuBike was designed in partnership with Tsinghua University’s design department, and has a plethora of high tech features, including monitors to track sports heart rate, pedal rate, and peddle pressure, all transmitted to a smartphone app via Bluetooth. The app can then track health data, provide map directions, and recommend potential cycling routes. The bike is not motorised, but does feature regenerative electrics, charged by pedal power.
It is not yet known whether the DuBike will be released in Europe and the US, but Baidu, through its Institute of Deep Learning, are keen to share the tech it has developed for its SmartBike with other manufacturers.
Source: engadget
Maybe Chris Froome or Alberto Contador will be pedalling one of these up Alpe d’Huez in next years TDF while engaging in social media. 😀