Wahoo’s Elemnt Roam and Bolt cycling computers are getting an update for 2025, and the fitness brand is also adding the new Trackr Radar rear light to its product line-up. None are available to buy yet, but the computers will be early next month, and both the revamped Roam and Bolt see £50 price increases to £399.99 and £299.99 respectively. The Trackr will retail at £179.99.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of the Elemnt Ace launch in late 2024, a supersized device with a built-in wind sensor. This range revamp sees Wahoo make improvements to the rest of its bike computer range, and join Garmin in offering a rear light radar, similar to its rival’s Varia device.
Both the Elemnt Roam and Bolt are now in their third generation, sitting together below the Ace in Wahoo’s product hierarchy. The Ace remains the brand’s “most powerful bike computer”, while the Bolt is aimed at road riders who want something compact (and purportedly aero-shaped), and the Roam is more for… well, roaming.
The revamp does see some new features added to both the Bolt and Roam, although it’s definitely a case of evolution not revolution. The Roam 3 (pictured above) now includes a touchscreen paired with a larger 2.8″ display (up from 2.7″) and what Wahoo describes as “enhanced navigation and route management.” Likewise, the Bolt (pictured below) is larger too, at 2.3″ (previously 2.2″) and “optimised for clarity, especially in bright sunlight”. The Bolt 3 doesn’t get a touchscreen, though.
You’ll also notice the customisable LED lights, that Wahoo included on their older units to “provide quick visual cues for performance metrics or navigation”, have disappeared from the top of the new Bolt and Roam computers too, presumably sacrificed to make way for bigger screens. Guess not that many Bolt and Roam owners were making use of them…
Wahoo’s larger screens for the Bolt and Roam shouldn’t come as a surprise, product Manager Cory Pittman recently telling us that he thinks the “trend towards larger screens will continue” and mirror the growth of phone screens over the past couple of decades.
“We asked people, what do you want out of your next bike computer?” Pittman said in an interview with road.cc about the Ace, quotes that now make even more sense seeing where the brand has gone with its updates to the Bolt and Roam.
“Two of the top five were screen size and readability. So they’re basically saying, ‘I love the resolution and the size of my phone, but I’m not putting this on my handlebars’, so I do think that there is going to be a trend towards larger bike computers.”
Both devices now offer improved claimed battery life, with the Roam 3 increasing from 17 to 25 hours, and the Bolt 3 from 15 to 20 hours.
Prices are also up across the board, with the Elemnt Roam 3 rising to £399.99 (from £349.99) and the Bolt 3 now at £299.99 (up from £249.99 for the second generation).
In an unusual move, the updated models aren’t actually going on sale at the time of their grand unveiling. They will be available from 6 May, and even more unusually, the Trackr Radar (£179.99) doesn’t even have a release date yet.
Perhaps Wahoo is trying to get in there early to avoid a repeat scenario of a few months ago, when grainy images of the Elemnt Ace were leaked on forums and social media; and if that was a deciding factor in this product launch strategy then it’s worked, to the best of our knowledge. We didn’t see or hear any whispers about these new products in public before receiving the embargoed press info a few days ago, so it looks like everyone who got it kept schtum this time around.
Onto the Radar rear light: Pittman believes his customers “have a high desire for safety and a high willingness to pay for safety products”, which is why Wahoo has now added a radar device to its product line-up.
“There’s going to be a lot of innovation in that space over a 10-15 year period and it’s going to only benefit the entire industry and the driving industry as well,” he said.
Gareth Joyce, CEO of Wahoo, added: “At Wahoo Fitness, we’re driven by innovation that empowers athletes to push their limits. Our new Elemnt cycling computers and Trackr Radar rear light are designed to keep riders connected, safe, and performing at their best — whether that be at the Tour de France or on a daily work commute.”
In terms of the tech specs, the Trackr of course works as a standard rear light too, but doubles up as a radar system that can detect approaching drivers, increasing the flash pattern accordingly. It also features a built-in accelerometer that “allows the unit to function as a brake light”, getting brighter when a rider slows down.
We’re not given any figures expressed in lumens telling us how bright it is, but we’re told that it can offer up to 20 hours of battery life. A built-in accelerometer also allows it to function as a brake light, and we’re promised that a ‘dual mounting system’ should mean it can be attached to any seatpost.
For more information, head over to Wahoo’s website.
What are your thoughts on Wahoo’s latest updates? Let us know in the comments section below.
17 thoughts on “Wahoo revamps flagship Elemnt Bolt and Elemnt Roam computers and unveils new “cutting edge” Trackr Radar rear light”
The LEDs always were rubbish,
The LEDs always were rubbish, TBH (v1 Bolt user)
I liked them myself. I used
I liked them myself. I used the top one for showing turns and the side ones for keeping track of how I was say doing compared to my average speed.
Didn’t realise how much I used them until I got a Garmin as well.
Au contraire, I really like
Au contraire, I really like the LEDs for controlling HR when putting efforts in. I think this could be one of those updates where they just seem to want to tinker with stuff, and offer features that niche people want like the wind sensor thing. Perhaps more about “what can we offer that costs us nothing but helps us extract a tad more cash”??
I still don’t get a rear radar at all though.
bobbinogs wrote:
Ditto. Was a fan. I was sad when that disappeared with my new Element Roam (my very old Bolt died, they gave me a discount on the roam). On the Roam the top LEDs will show run left/right to show next turn on a route though, and the HR field colour will show effort, so nearly as good. But I’d still prefer to have the old configurability of the Bolt’s top LEDs.
Showing whether you were above or below the average speed so far was another setting I liked to have on the Bolt.
On the roam the leds on the
On the roam the leds on the left show you your zones. It’s just on the bolt the top leds had the merged functionalities of both sets of led’s that the roam and original elemnt had.
The leds on the bolt v1 were
The leds on the bolt v1 were great, but when they added colour datafield backgrounds that worked exactly like the leds they became a bit redundant.
I’m still running an ELMNT
I’m still running an ELMNT BOLT V1, and I’ve never really understood the LED’s. I’m sure I configured them for HR zones, but never really look at them. Mostly I just use it for navigation so just glance at it now and again. Or wait for that beep to tell me I’ve missed a turn…again.
Yes, i use a bolt v1 too.
Yes, i use a bolt v1 too.
Only use the navigation when on holiday really. It sucks ! That is why i was waiting for a price drop on a roam.
I think that will not happen price just went up 🙈😅
I was a big fan of them on
I was a big fan of them on the Bolt – super useful if you were riding to power for a training session. It’s the one thing i miss having moved over to Garmin!
A whopping 20% price hike for
A whopping 20% price hike for an extra few hours battery life (no doubt most will still forget to charge it until 5mins before their ride – me included)!
This is like a Trumpesque tariff for not buying Garmin?
Similarly, the rear light price is frankly ludicrous for the included features, I bought an “el cheapo” action camera (new) for £18 on eBay, in order to rear mount to support (& improve) my Operation SNAP submissions (front & rear footage) so surely a rear camera could have been included as well to capture close passes, surely the radar could activate recordings when a vehicle is rapidly approaching and/or within 3 metres? Or via the “acceler-ometer”?
Or some sort of alarm if nudged/bumped or tampered with when left unattended???
Or a GPS tracking feature if they get away it???
Come on Wahoo – try thinking out-of-the-box instead of just copying Garmin (but a tiny bit cheaper)!!!
I’ve been waiting 18 months for them to fix the ebike power level (they can’t even get it to show level 1, 2 or 3 when it previously did but changed to 2, 4 & 7 for some inexplicable reason following an “update”).
No doubt that’s it for any decent added features on my V2 Bolt, which were promised, maybe it’s time to look for an alternative 🤔
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells
An accelerometer is an actual thing. Though it perhaps sounds like something Wallace and Gromit would make use of 😉
Yeah, but it’s obviously a
Yeah, but it’s obviously a mistake – to detect braking you’d need a decelerometer.
Kendo (Japanese: 剣道, Hepburn:
Kendo (Japanese: 剣道, Hepburn: Kendō, lit. ‘sword way’ or ‘sword path’ or ‘way of the sword’) is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu).👍
Just in case you didn’t know…?
I used quotations as I heard an American pronounce it that way, no education lesson required thanks!
“Perhaps Wahoo is trying to
“Perhaps Wahoo is trying to get in there early to avoid a repeat scenario of a few months ago, when grainy images of the Elemnt Ace were leaked on forums and social media; and if that was a deciding factor in this product launch strategy then it’s worked, to the best of our knowledge. We didn’t see or hear any whispers about these new products in public before receiving the embargoed press info a few days ago, so it looks like everyone who got it kept schtum this time around.”
The new Bolt was spotted on Pedersen’s bike ages ago!
As far as I can tell, the
As far as I can tell, the only story that raised suspicions of a new Bolt was CyclingNews’ article, which was published last week – hardly “ages” ago. Even then, it’s clear the device Pedersen was using differs from the final production version of the Bolt V3 – in particular, one of the photos of Pedersen’s device clearly shows the hallmark row of LEDs that have been dropped in the production V3.
I wonder when a manufacturer
I wonder when a manufacturer is going to figure-out how to make a cycle computer with an edge-to-edge screen like phones have. There’s so much wasted potential screen space on cycle computers due to the large borders around the edges.
It will be interesting what
It will be interesting what new features or functions the new Booky and Roam V3’s have, plus if any new functions get added to the element app.
as for sizing then I really do hope they stick with the Bolt and Roam size options and don’t fall into the trap that people want some ugly massive look device or a phone on their bars, no thanks.