Giro and Zipp helped kick off the Tour de France buildup this week with their new Synthe and Firestrike announcements. For us, this is the start of the 2015 product announcement season, which runs from the Tour through the Ironman World Championships in October. This is both our busiest and most favorite time of the year as all of the major players in the industry showcase their newest products. While we can’t say much yet, we can tell you to stay tuned for more big news!

For those visiting for the first time—welcome! One of our favorite ways to showcase our readers is our Readers’ Rides album on Facebook. You can check it out at http://on.fb.me/12jEqE3. If you would like to have your bike featured in our album just tweet us at @AeroGeeks, Facebook message us, or email us at info@AeroGeeks.com.

Wahoo RPM – Cadence Sensor

Last week Wahoo introduced a new Cadence sensor to the market – the RPM. The RPM is unique in that it offers both Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+ in a single 7-gram package. This dual-band capability allows athletes to sync the RPM with both their smart phones using Bluetooth and many of the already existing ANT+ devices, including the Garmin Edge and Forerunner series of products.

The RPM mounts to a crank arm via zip ties or double-sided tape, and is a single self-contained package – no magnets. If you swap between bikes frequently you can choose to simply lace it on to your shoe (great for the AG team as we are constantly swapping between bikes.) Wahoo sent us an RPM to try out earlier in the week, and we had it installed and synced to an Edge 500 in under five minutes.

Stay tuned for our full thoughts on the RPM and let us know if there is anything specific you would like us to test.

This Week’s Posts

Tuesday – Club Med Academies at SandPiper Bay – Review, Zipp 404 Firestrike – First Look

Wednesday – New Nutrition – GU Chocolate Peanut Butter and Osmo Preload Hydration, Giro Synthe – First Look

Mail Room

We already mentioned that Wahoo sent us an RPM to test this week, but that was far from the only product to end up in our mail room. Late last week we sent our 910xt back to Garmin (final thoughts coming soon). In its place Garmin sent us their new Fenix 2 GPS watch. We just unboxed it Friday and already managed to fit in a workout with it this weekend. Stay tuned for our First Ride in just a few weeks.

TriRig sent both their Alpha aerobar and Mercury pedals. We have been looking to test Mercury for almost a year now, so it’s no surprise that we had it unboxed and on a bike the first day. Alpha is a slightly bigger install, so while we have it unboxed, it will be a few weeks before we have it on one of our test bikes. Check out our images below from the initial unboxing.

Alpha

Alpha

Mercury

Mercury

Current Reviews

1. LiteSpeed C1 – Had our first long ride with the C1 – and came away all smiles. This is a fun bike to ride in a group but has the speed when you need it.
2. Wahoo RPM – We unboxed, installed and rode with the RPM this week. So far so good! We are planning on riding with both the RPM and a standard Garmin speed\cadence sensor to compare the accuracy.
3. Bontrager Hilo XXX Carbon Saddle – We mounted a Hilo XXX to our C1 a few weeks ago and are finding it to be a comfortable saddle over the long haul. One of our favorite features is the use of different materials that help to keep you from sliding around.
4. Mavic Tri Heliums – We unboxed the Heliums last week and are getting them dialed in this week. It always amazes us how a cleat just one mm out of position totally destroys your form.