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Today October 2020!

Although I do wish I would have shelled out the extra money for the Roam when navigating. Inside towns the b&w screen can get a little busy.
The Roam is quite a bit more expensive and I have little need for navigation in a GPS beyond following a breadcrumb trail (which my Navi2coach was also capable of). That's why I chose the Bolt.

It will allow me to upload activities without the use of a USB port, which is an improvement compared to the Edge 500 and N2C.

The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt arrived today. Setup with the Android app was quite straightforward. I physically installed it on the bike with the supplied forward mount. I had to shim the handle bar with strips of cut-up inner tubes to make it fit as my Nitto bar is only 25.4 mm. The 90-degree micro-USB cable I bought along with it lets me charge while using the device despite the rear-facing charging port being close to the bar. I deleted maps of South America and Oceania to free up space for maps of Japan.

I bought the bundle with sensors, but it looks like the speed sensor won't fit with my front hub which is a bulky dynamo hub and it's a bit too wide for the rear hub. I may use one of the other speed sensor I have lying around. I haven't tried the cadence sensor yet, but I do have a spare for that too.
 
So I've not done any riding so far in October but I have finally started to edit some short YouTube movies of recent rides including Tokyo Cafe Rides and some rides out of the city.

Trying to keep the creativity going each week and show a bit of Japan for people that can't travel here at the moment due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Here's a quick video.
[4K] Cycling in Japan. Rice fields, Shrines, countryside riding & surprise traditional music.
 
@joewein I I've got the Wahoo ROAM now after using the ELEMNT for 3-4 years. Before that I used my iPhone on my handlebars, something I plan never to do again now I've got the ROAM.

Battery life lasts me all day on big rides or a week to two of commutes. I've turned off live segments, the feature that tells others riding where I am (but that's cool sometimes) and I use findmyfriends for wife instead of beacon or other safety features (I have had accident before & usually ride solo).

It just works is the biggest appeal to me. They've developed the hardware, ROAM software and the app software together, so it's smooth. My favourite feature is opening app, it's got my Strava routes synced, select route and it beams it to the ROAM. No plugging into computers.
It also does routing on the fly, which is handy for the amount of times I get myself lost attempting shortcuts in a city full of dead end streets, and no grid layout.

buttons are good in all types of weather and it seems to play nicely with my sensors.
 
@joewein I I've got the Wahoo ROAM now after using the ELEMNT for 3-4 years. Before that I used my iPhone on my handlebars, something I plan never to do again now I've got the ROAM.
Another big advantage of the Roam is the glass, which seems to be bonded in the same fashion as modern smartphones are. There is much less glare. I have bought the Bolt bundle, but I think once I upgrade in a few years, I'll go for the larger size.
 
Playing with the phone. These are pano, but instead of, say, rotating/sweeping L>R trying to keep the horizon even along the way, I'm trying for horizon to horizon, either overhead or underfoot. This was at an open place, levee along the river. I guess my hand was a little steadier on the second.

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Playing with the phone. These are pano, but instead of, say, rotating/sweeping L>R trying to keep the horizon even along the way, I'm trying for horizon to horizon, either overhead or underfoot. This was at an open place, levee along the river. I guess my hand was a little steadier on the second.

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Very creative idea.
Those pictures are a challenge to my eye and brain, though. I caught myself moving my head imitating the movement of the camera in order to understand the them. Hahaha.
 
Bike Handling skills.....
What you see is what I see...
What you don't see is what I feel....
And what I feel is a two wheel slide behind AJ as I accelerate toward him with no ability to slow down.

 
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Yesterday I ordered a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt as my new bike GPS. In 2011 I started recording rides with my phone, then soon moved on to a Garmin Edge 500 before abandoning it for the o_synce Navi2coach.

Overall I had been pretty happy with the N2C. While it may lack the bells and whistles that Garmin keeps adding to its devices, it has all the functionality I really need and it had been rock solid. No freezes, no random reboots, no lost recordings (the things that drove me away from Garmin). Even torrential rain was a non-issue. My only reservation was longevity: The micro-USB port tends to wear out prematurely while the rest of the device is still functional and without a working USB port there's no way to upload courses or download recorded activities from the device so that's it. That was such a shame, since the battery -- the part that tends to die first on a Garmin -- is user replaceable in the N2C. So buy a new unit, which I had done a few times over the past 7 years or so. Before the USB port becomes dodgy, the little tether of the silicone plug that covers the USB port when not in use would also usually tear off, but a bit of electrical tape would still make it work.

When another N2C started having trouble with the USB port (not charging or device not seen by a computer) earlier this summer, I ordered two of them from a distributor. I set one up and used it on rides, keeping the other spare. However, on each of the first three long rides I had GPS issues. The device would lose satellite lock, becoming unable to determine speed and stopped counting distance. It could not see enough satellites. It would take a long time to recover from that, usually only after a reboot. I worked around this by using RWGPS on my phone and by merging multiple recordings into a final track for Strava. The surprising thing was that the backup unit had the exact same problem. If I put them both on the bike using their own mounts and recorded in parallel, they would stop working within minutes of each other. They all have the same firmware version. Maybe some new satellites have joined the GPS system that are not being recognised by the old receiver? This is pure speculation and I have not heard any other reports of GPS generational compatibility issues, but it would explain the symptoms.

In any case, after 2 months of testing and experimenting with these two units and with RWGPS, I have decided to move on. The Wahoo Elemnt Bolt seems to have received a lot of "it just works" kind of reviews that make it attractive to me. I like buttons that can also be operated with winter gloves and don't hold much faith in touchscreens still working in the rain. The battery life of 15 hours is enough for most of my rides but I can also recharge it during a ride with a micro-USB cable from an external battery.
I've had my Elemnt Bolt for 3 years now. Zero issues with either hardware or software. It's performed perfectly.
 
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Less than a week to go until my Fleche ride, which will be 400+ km by the time I get home. Yesterday, to prepare a bit more I rode 174 km in Hinohara and beyond, for tiles, fitness, testing out what to wear and of course, pictures.

With 15-21 C and no more than a slight drizzle, I was OK in my summer kit + base layer under jersey + wind breaker at times.

Between the adventure of tiling on roads that have become deserted and largely impassable except to hikers and the views when the sun broke through the clouds, this was a really fun day. I had coffee and pastry at Musashitsukaichi, coffee and ice cream at Tomin no Mori and finally curry and nan in Ome.

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I met a cat, two frogs and a family of monkeys.

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The new Wahoo Elemnt Bolt worked well. Battery life seems close to the advertised 15 hours and it was easy enough to recharge while recording during the ride. I will find out how navigating and recording with it will work out on a 400 km ride soon.

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Was cycling home yesterday after work and just reached the top of a gradual incline when I was passed by a guy pedalling a heavy gear. His bike had small wheels with pretty fat tires. I was surprised by how quiet he was. I was probably doing 22~25kmph when he passed me probably around 35. I was curious as even though he was in a huge gear his body/legs didn't really seem to be showing any stress on his little bike with fat tires. I was not really in the mood to get to sweaty in my jeans so I just watched as rode away. He seemed to almost float away and then stopped pedalling but seemed to maintain good speed not pedalling at all as he rode into the distance. I was thinking it most be an electric moped of some kind.

Was looking around, maybe it looked something like this?

Not sure though as I didn't get a very close look at it. He was definitely going over 30 though. That one seems limited to 24 (assisted? although that limit could be removed I guess) and it also says its not road legal. So maybe it was something else.
 
I have had that happen about 10 years ago when ebikes were quite new and expensive. I was laboring up a hill when a girl on a mamachari-type ebike passed me without literally breaking a sweat. It took me a while to realize she was on an ebike.

In Europe ebikes are limited to 25 km/h, which in practice means 27 km/h, I think. (There is a little legal wiggle room.) I don't know the situation in Japan, is the electric assistance on ebikes limited to a certain speed, too?
 
I'll be watching out for this guy to have a better look at the bike next time. It definitely seemed to have a cruise mode where he maintained good speed without pedalling. That's why I was thinking moped instead of ebike. Interesting though and pretty cool the way it seemed to float quietly away on those tiny fat tires.
 
In Europe ebikes are limited to 25 km/h, which in practice means 27 km/h, I think. (There is a little legal wiggle room.) I don't know the situation in Japan, is the electric assistance on ebikes limited to a certain speed, too?
Yes, the cut-off is 25 km/h, a speed at which assist must already be zero. It has to progressively decrease between 15 and 25 km/h, if I remember correctly. Electric assist has to be tied to pedalling - no electric power when you're coasting.

Anything outside these restrictions is considered a light motorcycle, with all the requirements that come with it when used on public roads: Drivers license, motor vehicle insurance, helmet, license plate, etc. I can only guess about speedometers or indicators.
 
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Today I installed the Garmin speed and cadence sensor set on my Elephant Bikes NFE with the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. It was quite painless.

I had bought this ANT+ set to use with the NFE when I was still using the o_sync Navi2coach GPS unit, but had to take it off the bike again when it had issues. The N2C worked fine with the Bontrager speed/cadence sensor set I had on my Bike Friday, but not with the Garmin or with another ANT+ sensor set I had also tried. The Garmin sensor set then sat unused in a bike parts box for the next four years!

Anyway, I popped in a fresh pair of CR2032 lithium cells and initiated the detection on the Wahoo head unit. It found them without problems and automatically asked me if I wanted to add a cadence field to the menus. That was quite a nice touch!

I'll test it outdoors on a quick grocery run tomorrow (today it was just by spinning wheels and pedals on the bike stand in the entrance).
 
Crap weather, but got a lot done around the house. I had a few beers while making/eating dinner and it happened.
Silence.
Everyone was busy doing their thing.

With a full belly and after a few beers - i changed and hopped on the trainer. I could not figure out what i wanted to do, so i did an ftp test.

I do not recommend this order of events - however i did bump up 17w from my previous test. No training involved, just riding more lately.
 
Crap weather, but got a lot done around the house. I had a few beers while making/eating dinner and it happened.
Silence.
Everyone was busy doing their thing.

With a full belly and after a few beers - i changed and hopped on the trainer. I could not figure out what i wanted to do, so i did an ftp test.

I do not recommend this order of events - however i did bump up 17w from my previous test. No training involved, just riding more lately.
You may did no specific training, but you were well fueled - pure power.
 
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