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Shimano files patent for app that can tell you when bike tyres and disc pads need replacing

Will we soon be using an app to tell us when to fit new components?

Shimano has filed a patent for an app that can inform users when their bike's regularly replaced parts, such as tyres and disc brake pads, need to be changed.

The Shimano patent published today (US 11526699 B2) outlines a detecting device, a detecting method, a generating method, and a computer-readable storage medium that give the user advice about the degree of wear to their bicycle's parts.

In the 22-page document Shimano says it is currently "required to provide means for allowing the user to more readily obtain information related to a worn portion of a human-powered vehicle", with an app suggested as a solution to inform and move beyond user judgement and tyre wear indicators.

> Best road bike tyres

"It is an object of the present invention to provide a detecting device, a detecting method, a generating method, and a computer-readable storage medium that allow the user to readily obtain information on the degree of wear for a worn portion in the human-powered vehicle," the patent states.

Via the control unit which can detect whether a bike part is worn it is suggested users could receive information about the wear to brake pads, disc brake rotors, tyres, as well as abrasion to chains and extension to wires.

And while you might be sat reading this wondering what's the point when you already know when to change your tyres and brake pads, Shimano's app proposal could offer more riders knowledge of when it is time to fit some fresh rubber, improving safety and reducing the chances of getting stuck thanks to some untimely end-of-tyre punctures.

While there are some apps and tools that attempt to take the guesswork out of knowing when to maintain and replace parts - like the ProBikeGarage app that syncs to Strava to tell you how many miles each part of your bike has done - this is the first time we've seen technology proposed that would measure actual wear rather than estimating.

For a glimpse at how this could work, we jumped over to the motoring industry where Anyline's tyre tread scanner boasts to be an industry-first scanning technology that measures the depth of tyre tread grooves to alert users if tyres are dangerously worn down.

"By replacing subjective manual measurement with objectively collected digital data Anyline tyre tread scanner reduces safety and compliance risks whilst helping to prevent fraud," the company's website proudly states.

Users simply scan their tyres with their smartphone and receive instant "objective digital evidence of each measurement" in the form of "accurate tread depth measurements".

Currently, looking at your bike's tyres for wear is a personal judgement-led process of checking the baldness or squaring off of tread, possibly with the help of a tread wear indicator, while weighing up the real-world performance and puncture protection.

> When to change your bike tyres — 7 warning signs to look for

As tempting as it is to try to squeeze every last mile out of your rubber, a string of worn tyre-induced punctures is likely to be the signal for even the most economical cyclist to purchase some new tyres.

Shimano's app patent suggests the guesswork could, some time in the not so distant future, be removed, or at least be better informed.

Dan joined road.cc in 2020, and spent most of his first year (hopefully) keeping you entertained on the live blog. At the start of 2022 he took on the role of news editor. Before joining road.cc, Dan wrote about various sports, including football and boxing for the Daily Express, and covered the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Part of the generation inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Dan has been 'enjoying' life on two wheels ever since and spends his weekends making bonk-induced trips to the petrol stations of the south of England.

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19 comments

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mark1a | 1 year ago
1 like

I track the accumulated distances on my bikes and their components with the Strava Gear function. So long as one is conscientious about retiring and replacing the components when something is replaced on a bike, it's an excellent guide to longevity/service life.

Fundamental to this is making sure each ride is tagged with the right bike, and I've saved actual minutes of my life by using the ActivityFix site to do this.

Go to https://www.activityfix.com and sign in with your Strava account. From there you can set up "if this then that" type rules. The "IF" can be based on multiple data points such as GPS location, ANT+ sensors, speed, distance, commute flag, etc, and the "THEN" function can change multiple values, for example, gear used, description, activity type and many more.

It works very well if you have multiple bikes and, like me, like to have Strava data neatly curated with correct info before it goes to VeloViewer.

Here's a screenshot of the rules screen:

 

 

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espressodan | 1 year ago
0 likes

Maybe Shimano should concentrate on making sure that their customers can get an adequate and reasonably priced supply of pads before they go trying to spruik an app that will inevitably invite you to change them before you actually need to.

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Global Nomad | 1 year ago
2 likes

Coming soon...
an app to tell you when to pedal
an app to tell you when to breath
an app to tell you when to get a new app
 

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brooksby | 1 year ago
2 likes

Is their device called the Mark 1 eyeball?

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andystow | 1 year ago
1 like

The data nerd in me thinks it would be really cool to have a plot of, say, chain wear with a data point after each day or week of riding. I could extrapolate the data and know I'll need a new chain in five weeks. Or I could see the slope change with different lubrication or conditions. Not cool enough for me to measure it with a tool every day now and make a spreadsheet, and not enough for me to buy something electronic either.

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wtjs replied to andystow | 1 year ago
0 likes

The data nerd in me thinks it would be really cool to have a plot of, say, chain wear

Do you have a reliable chain length device in mind which could accurately and reproducibly determine the distance from the front margin of the roller on an outer link to the front margin of the comparable roller on the next forward outer link with such precision that it could detect a week's wear? I could go for that, but at the moment I'm pursuing my 5 chains per cassette policy using the Rohloff tool which tells me when the chain has just lengthened 0.5% and 1.0%. I see the KMC tool with digital readout which claims 0.01mm lengthening 'accuracy' over 4 full links mentioned but I've never seen one in use. That woud imply an ability to detect 1/(25.4 x 4)% elongation on a new chain = 0.01%. That would be pretty good- 50 steps on the way to the first 'classic' wear mark of 0.5%. So, has anybody got one of these and has found that the elongation measure gives the same value if you measure several times at once, and gradually increases over the weeks and months and doesn't jump around?

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andystow replied to wtjs | 1 year ago
3 likes

I'm a metrologist by trade, so yes I'm fairly confident it could be done, even if the data were a bit noisy you could get clear trends with repeat measurements using consistent technique and correcting for any large changes in temperature.

As an example at work, we can measure the valve seat wearing on a diesel engine while it's running (takes maybe 100 hours to get a clear trend.) You could probably get chain wear while the chain was spinning if you really needed to.

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Backladder replied to andystow | 1 year ago
2 likes

andystow wrote:

You could probably get chain wear while the chain was spinning if you really needed to.

I need all my competitors to be using that app, then I need a back door so that at the push of a button they all get a message that they must change their chain 5 miles before the end of the race  3

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wtjs replied to andystow | 1 year ago
0 likes

I'm a metrologist by trade, so yes I'm fairly confident it could be done

However, nobody has admitted to having a precise, reliable device on which it can be and has been done- even the boring way of measuring elongation week by week

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jaymack replied to wtjs | 1 year ago
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Please tell me that this is a cycling thread. Seriously thougth, having an app' for everything will just turn us into fools, using experience and your own grey matter really is the way to go. Education's all about developing one's own faculties yet we're encouraged, no seduced, into going headlong in the opposite direction. There's a good quote from Einstein on the topic, if only there were some way for me to find out what it is...

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SimoninSpalding replied to wtjs | 1 year ago
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The thing is there is a difference between technically possible and commercially/ financially possible.

If the device to measure your chain wear cost the same as 10 chains with a promise to accurately predict when replacement would be needed to max chain life you would have to run it for a long time to pay for itself, and it would have to be robust, waterproof etc.

On the other hand my piece of metal marked at 0.75% and 1% wear cost me £3, and I use it maybe twice a year on each bike (except the wife's bike, which only gets used itself twice a year anyway!)

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Xenophon2 replied to wtjs | 1 year ago
3 likes

If you mean the one whose pic I attach then yes I own it and  it gives the same values (+- 0.01) when measuring at the same spot repeatedly.  But, it does NOT measure the same values all over the chain.  I measured a couple links down from the powerlink and then at the opposite side, once a month (1 month equals to roughly 900 km, this is a commuter bike).  If at time 'X',  it measures e.g. 0.25 elongation close to the link, it could measure 0.32 on the opposite side.  Assuming equal manufacturing tolerances (with which I'm not familiar) this suggests that wear is not even all over the chain. Please don't ask me how this is possible, I have no clue.   But the numbers stay consistent, meaning that when measuring a month or two later you might be at 0.38 close to the link but be at 0.46 on the opposite side.  Matter of fact, what I never did (just didn't see the point) was measure a perfectly new, just installed chain to see how the values at different spots compare then.  I usually swap around 0.60 (expensive cassettes).

 

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ktache replied to Xenophon2 | 1 year ago
0 likes

On my kmc X1 epts, using my park cc2, I get more wear around the quicklink, least over the past couple of chains.

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wtjs replied to Xenophon2 | 1 year ago
0 likes

It appears that this digital tool is about £100 and hard to get. I have the Rohloff which gives an average measurement across just over 7 1/2" links to indicate 0.075 and 0.01 mm per link, but includes wear on the rollers. I'm going to get a Park Tools CC-4, which averages over 14 links and does a pretty good job eliminating the roller wear from the measurement, and indicating 0, 0.5% and 0.75% wear, corresponding to 0, 0.064 mm and 0.096mm per link- to see if it makes any difference to my new 5 chains per cassette regime: change chain at wear level 1, keep going through all 5 chains and then rotating back through the worn chains and binning each when it gets to wear level 2. I may consider not binning them, because on the last chain of my previous 4 chain regime Shimano 9-speed changing is still good with the chain much worse than level 2, with no skipping.

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RoubaixCube | 1 year ago
0 likes

I ride around three thousand miles a year. Ive only had to change brake pads once in in 3 years and even then it wasnt because the old pads were worn but I just wanted some pads that were more rim friendly and had more bite than the stock Shimano pads. (I wouldnt class that as regular)

As for tyres I think that is also pretty self explanitory. There are so many guides online telling you when you should consider changing tyres but at the end of the day its all common sense. if it looks pretty gnarly. Consider putting on a new tyre.

as gimmicky as it sounds a tire pressure sensor might have been slightly more useful -- Not that i would buy one, but im sure that some people would.

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Sriracha | 1 year ago
3 likes

Probably more use to operators of fleets of bikes, like Boris bikes, etc

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levestane | 1 year ago
7 likes

... presumably when component manufacturers need more cash.

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JL77 replied to levestane | 1 year ago
4 likes

"Your ink cartridge, errrm, tires need replacement. We will send a service van." "But I just replaced them after punctures." "They must be replaced. Failure to replace the tires will void warranty and disable your vehicle. We will charge $200 on your credit card. Thank you."

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Browsie | 1 year ago
5 likes

I would imagine that any cyclist that has any pride in the roadworthy-ness of his or her bike would know when the tyres or brake pads are past their best without having to resort to an app, all the rest will happily carry on riding unroadworthy machines anyway.

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