We don’t know about you, but we aren’t big fans of sitting up in the saddle for a chat when we are out for a ride. We’re out there to ride hard and get our training in. But sometimes that means it is virtually impossible to communicate with our training partners. And this is where BONX Grip comes in – a Bluetooth earpiece that integrates with a VoIP app in your smart phone to enable hands-free communication when getting your workouts in.

The BONX Grip

The BONX Grip is meant to be simple. The device itself is just two large buttons for easy mute and volume control. The open-back design is intended to help you hear your surroundings, keeping you safe on the road. The Grip is water and shock resistant and meant to be used whether you’re training or just out exploring the world.

The Grip only transmits your voice when you speak via voice activation, and it uses algorithms to constantly adapt to its environment (this means automatic noise reduction when the winds pick up). To accomplish this, the team at BONX fitted the grip with dual microphones and utilized machine learning to help understand and adapt to the noise in the environment. BONX tells us the Grip can even distinguish between nearby voices and those coming from a distance.

The BONX Grip app will connect you to up to nine of your closest friends. Simply fire up the app and it will find people nearby to get you started. The app is available for both iOS and Android.

The Grip is launching on indigogo with early bird prices starting at $78 for one and $150 for two. Retail price is currently planned to be $139.

Our Thoughts

We cannot tell you how many times we have looked at pro peloton riders and been jealous of their radios. We’ve often struggled to communicate with each other out on the road—whether to motivate one another or simply to chat about whatever new gear we are testing. We love how the app lets you easily setup with those around you, which should make finding someone to chat with in your group ride as easy as unlocking your phone. Our two big questions will be how long does it really last (can it handle Century duties), and how much data does it end up using? But only an AeroGeeks long-term review will tell us for sure.

Wrapping Up

Being able to encourage your training partners is good. Being able to “gently” remind them that you just dropped them is even better. With the BONX Grip, we are hoping we can do the latter often with a device that is easy to use and built from the ground up for cyclists. Stay for our long-term review!