Genuinely new products are rare these days, but as the first fully integrated smart handlebar, Flitedeck will supposedly bring something completely different to high-end cycling. This carbon-fiber handlebar has a 180 x 70-millimeter IP68 waterproof, high-res touchscreen and cycling computer with GPS navigation, linking with fitness and cycling peripherals, security, crash detection, lights, smartphone connectivity and even training modes.
Yet, looking beyond the achingly cool, future-forward design, we’re struck by the fact nobody has thought to invent it before. Yes, the latest electric bikes often have digital displays, and as a child of the 1980s all I ever wanted was a Raleigh Vektar (complete with sound effects, speedometer and FM radio), but even the most premium race bike still relies on a rather inelegant handlebar-mounted bike computer.
Not so with Flitedeck. It looks to be an altogether more elegant solution. By using Wi-Fi and an E-sim, downloads such as GPS navigation and training data can be done wirelessly, and from anywhere with a phone signal. The specially developed wireless chip (Bluetooth ANT+), like the bike computers it’s looking to replace, will support all common cycling sensors, including power meters and those measuring speed, cadence and heart rate. Compatibility with products such as the Garmin Varia radar also mean you can be alerted to approaching traffic from behind. Early plans to feature a rear-view mirror camera have been shelved though for now.
Photograph: Flitedeck
After getting hooked on road cycling in 2020, cofounder Sabrina Fischer was annoyed that she had to mount ugly bike lights and computers to her beautiful aerodynamic bike—so the idea for Flitedeck was born. Together with her cofounder Matthias Huber, they started to investigate, as Fischer explains to WIRED: “We asked ourselves, why couldn’t handlebars function like a car’s cockpit? We thought there just had to be a more integrated, more connected solution.”
When asked why the cycling industry hadn’t done this seemingly obvious upgrade already Huber says that, “electronics just isn’t their focal point, they understand carbon-fiber manufacturing, aluminum and quality control, but there’s rarely an electronics department, and when parts are required [with EV bikes for example], they just buy them in from brands like Bosch.”
What makes the German duo think they can build state-of-the-art racing handlebars, let alone one with an integrated smart computer? Well, Fischer interned at BMW, wrote her thesis on race car electrification while working at Porsche, where she helped develop the front axle of the Porsche 911 GT3, no less. She’s also worked for Automobili Pininfarina, Roborace the now-shuttered autonomous EV racing arm of Arrival. Huber has also worked at BMW, Porsche, Roborace and Blackwave, a carbon-fiber manufacturing specialist.