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TECH NEWS

Five cool things coming soon from Specialized, Lusso, RH+, RoadHawk and Scott

Here are the first five products of 2018 we're previewing before the reviews go live on the site...

While we might have overdone it over the festive season as much as the next person (luckily there's little photographic evidence from our Christmas Party) our review team still budgeted in enough recovery time to get out and test some of the latest kit, tech and bikes so you can read before you buy. Here's our pick of what's on test this week...

 

RH+ Shark Jersey

£175.00 

RH+ Shark Jersey.jpg

Big price but also claimed to offer big performance, this luxurious jersey is designed to be super aerodynamic and has a pre-shaped 'Skin Fit' construction according to RH+. They loftily say the breathability is of a level never seen before on a bike jersey, and it's also waterproof thanks to added Polartec innovation. Is it the best in the biz? Stu Kerton is testing it now... 
zerorh.com

 

Specialized Tarmac SL6 Pro

£5,400.00

The Tarmac needs little introduction, but it has had quite an overhaul over the last couple of years and our tester Dave Arthur runs through what's new for the 2018 version in this video. His review will be on the site in the coming weeks...
specialized.com 

 

Scott Road RC Ultimate shoes

£349.00

Scott Road RC Ultimate Shoes -side.jpg

Expensive yes, but Scott's RC Ultimate road shoes are designed to offer the very best in breathability and comfort while offering top end power transfer from the soles, rated a 10 out of 10 on Scott's stiffness index. The upper is a mix of Carbitex, a structural fabric that's actually made from carbon, and a textile mesh to offer support and a high level of comfort. Are they worth the huge outlay? The review is coming soon.  
scott-sports.com

 

RoadHawk Ride R+ Cycle Edition Camera

£139.99

Roadhawk Ride R+ Cycle Edition Camera.jpg

"As a cyclist, you have probably been in countless situations whereby you wish you could’ve replayed an incident", say RoadHawk, who are touting this bar-mounted video camera as the answer. It can spin 360° and has a simple mounting system, plus 1080p resolution quality and an 8gb SD card included. Apparently it's also ideal for horse riders, if that is of interest to you...
roadhawk.co.uk

 

Lusso Windtex Stealth Overboots

£30.00

Lusso Windtex Stealth Over Boots.jpg

The latest version of these overshoes from Brit brand Lusso have a more understated look, and retain the same thermal, windproof and water repellent properties. They're said to be ideal for temps of 0-14°c, a wide range, and our reviewer Stu Kerton has been trying them out in the mildest and chilliest days the UK's eccentric weather system can throw at him to see if the claims ring true...
lusso.bike

 

To read all of road.cc's latest test reports, head over to the reviews section. If you want some extra advice before splashing your cash, check out our buyer's guides. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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14 comments

Avatar
Anthony.C | 6 years ago
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I have been on the lookout for such a camera myself, so far I have only come up with the Mio mivue 560 and the Sena Prism Tube. The Mio can be had for 80 quid and seems to have the best batery life. It claims 2.5 hours but some reviewers claim to be getting over 3 hours. The Sena is 109 quid but has better picture and sound quality and is more user friendly. Battery life for that one is 2 to 2.5 hours and they can both record on a loop. Them's your options. 

Avatar
nniff | 6 years ago
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Not 'good', 'good enough' - there's a big difference.  Loop recording is simple enough, just overwrite instead of stopping, so that you don't have to faff around wiping the card all the time.  And as for cost, I don't want GPS, speedo, Heart rate, tram lines, lights and what have you,  just a decent run time, an image quality sufficient to read number plates and that's about it.  Surely not too much to ask.  A Fly6 did most of that, and I'd even be happy with buying a replacement battery for one of those, but it's a sealed unit (although a replacemet is possible and described on t'internet somewhere).

Avatar
alansmurphy replied to nniff | 6 years ago
0 likes

nniff wrote:

Not 'good', 'good enough' - there's a big difference...  And as for cost, I don't want GPS, speedo, Heart rate, tram lines, lights and what have you,  just a decent run time, an image quality sufficient to read number plates and that's about it.  Surely not too much to ask.  A Fly6 did most of that

 

I suppose that's the thing though, some want HD, some want a do-it-all, some want GPS overlays. My commute isn't that long so battery life is low down, I quite like a camera that connects to my phone so i can quickly delete non-important footage. GoPro seem to be centred around 4k so the market seems to be looking at unnecessarily high image quality at an increasingly high price.

 

Is there a mass market for what you're looking for, i mean the demographics on this site are probably skewed. But if you or I took these ideas (loop, battery, average picture), hit the kickstarter route, went through product development and released it would we wipe our own faces? Or would Johnny Sportive be on here asking why it didn't include a light, or wasn't smaller, or HD?

 

 

Avatar
imaca replied to alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

alansmurphy wrote:

nniff wrote:

Not 'good', 'good enough' - there's a big difference...  And as for cost, I don't want GPS, speedo, Heart rate, tram lines, lights and what have you,  just a decent run time, an image quality sufficient to read number plates and that's about it.  Surely not too much to ask.  A Fly6 did most of that

 

I suppose that's the thing though, some want HD, some want a do-it-all, some want GPS overlays. My commute isn't that long so battery life is low down, I quite like a camera that connects to my phone so i can quickly delete non-important footage. GoPro seem to be centred around 4k so the market seems to be looking at unnecessarily high image quality at an increasingly high price.

 

Is there a mass market for what you're looking for, i mean the demographics on this site are probably skewed. But if you or I took these ideas (loop, battery, average picture), hit the kickstarter route, went through product development and released it would we wipe our own faces? Or would Johnny Sportive be on here asking why it didn't include a light, or wasn't smaller, or HD?

 

 

There absolutely is a market, I want something to replace my cheap, but OK SJCAM, the number 1 requirement is long battery life. Cost of larger batteries is minimal, the battery for the SJCAM is less than $20. An extra $40 of battery capacity and support for micro SDXC is all it would take.  Any remotely serious cyclist is going to be doing rides longer than 90 minutes. Anyone who brings a decent camera with, say 6+ hours of recording will make a killing.

Avatar
ClubSmed replied to imaca | 6 years ago
0 likes

imaca wrote:

alansmurphy wrote:

nniff wrote:

Not 'good', 'good enough' - there's a big difference...  And as for cost, I don't want GPS, speedo, Heart rate, tram lines, lights and what have you,  just a decent run time, an image quality sufficient to read number plates and that's about it.  Surely not too much to ask.  A Fly6 did most of that

 

I suppose that's the thing though, some want HD, some want a do-it-all, some want GPS overlays. My commute isn't that long so battery life is low down, I quite like a camera that connects to my phone so i can quickly delete non-important footage. GoPro seem to be centred around 4k so the market seems to be looking at unnecessarily high image quality at an increasingly high price.

 

Is there a mass market for what you're looking for, i mean the demographics on this site are probably skewed. But if you or I took these ideas (loop, battery, average picture), hit the kickstarter route, went through product development and released it would we wipe our own faces? Or would Johnny Sportive be on here asking why it didn't include a light, or wasn't smaller, or HD?

 

 

There absolutely is a market, I want something to replace my cheap, but OK SJCAM, the number 1 requirement is long battery life. Cost of larger batteries is minimal, the battery for the SJCAM is less than $20. An extra $40 of battery capacity and support for micro SDXC is all it would take.  Any remotely serious cyclist is going to be doing rides longer than 90 minutes. Anyone who brings a decent camera with, say 6+ hours of recording will make a killing.

This is an assumption but based on the videos I see posted on YouTube I would say that the majority of these cameras are used for commutes. I am pretty sure that the majority of bicycle commutes are less than 90 minutes so that battery capacity would be suitable for the assumed majority market and the addition of a battery pack opens it up to the large(?) minority that will want to go further. Those that go further may indeed be already carrying a suitable multi-port external battery pack for their other devices (satnav, phone, etc.) meaning that it is no extra burden.
It makes good business sense to design your product for the mass market to reduce production costs through higher volumes and produce add-ons to broaden the appeal to the minority markets.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

You say battery life then ask for loop recording, good image and low cost.

 

Good image works against battery life as does low cost, low cost also goes against battery life.

 

You might be looking for an existing camera with a mobile charger...

Avatar
nniff | 6 years ago
0 likes

Will someone, who makes cameras for bike, please recognise that battery life is the key thing.  

I don't care if it can take high def this and that, or at least it could if the battery hadn't gone flat half an hour ago.

I used to have a Cyliq rear camera.  That was good, but after a year it wouldn't hold a charge.  Their front light will tell me when my gas bill needs to be paid and what have you, but it's a stupid price.   Will someone please make a bike camera that's simple, overwites from the beginning when it fills a card, has a proper long-life battery (in both senses), takes a good enough image for recording commuting and doesn't cost the earth.   Surely not too much to ask?

Is this the one?   Seeing as there's no mention of battery life, I doubt  it.

Avatar
CygnusX1 replied to nniff | 6 years ago
0 likes

nniff wrote:

Is this the one?   Seeing as there's no mention of battery life, I doubt  it.

From the Q&A on the Amazon listing:

Quote:

In terms of battery life, the internal battery will last for around 90 minutes but our waterproof battery pack extension (sold separately) will power your camera for a further 4.5 hours.

So, no. (Unless you're willing to contemplate external charging bricks and related wiring attachments etc.)

Avatar
muhasib replied to nniff | 6 years ago
0 likes
nniff wrote:

Will someone, who makes cameras for bike, please recognise that battery life is the key thing.  

I don't care if it can take high def this and that, or at least it could if the battery hadn't gone flat half an hour ago.

I used to have a Cyliq rear camera.  That was good, but after a year it wouldn't hold a charge.  Their front light will tell me when my gas bill needs to be paid and what have you, but it's a stupid price.   Will someone please make a bike camera that's simple, overwites from the beginning when it fills a card, has a proper long-life battery (in both senses), takes a good enough image for recording commuting and doesn't cost the earth.   Surely not too much to ask?

Is this the one?   Seeing as there's no mention of battery life, I doubt  it.

Says on their website it is 90 minutes, no mention of battery capacity or availability of spares so you can swap out.

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alansmurphy | 6 years ago
0 likes

And to be fair, they only needed to pull the rms and bottom gripper down a tad, where it creeps to when you're on a bike is the more important matter...

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BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
0 likes

The 'Shark' jersey doesn't even fit the person in the pic, wrinkled up as fuck.

Avatar
Simontuck replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
1 like

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

The 'Shark' jersey doesn't even fit the person in the pic, wrinkled up as fuck.

Luckily that's not Stu, so it doesn't matter as he won't be reviewing it! I'm guessing they just grab any old dude who happens to be around when kit comes in for the photos. As long as it nearly fits thats good enough for a pic.

Avatar
alansmurphy | 6 years ago
1 like

Hmm skin fit, no hiding anything in that  2

Avatar
Simontuck | 6 years ago
0 likes

I really liked the look of the Shark collection. It came out back in 2016. I saw it tucked into the corner of a stand at the NEC at the end of last year. It'll be interesting to see what Stu makes of it. Much like the water resistant/proof jerseys and shorts that other brands have, but with the added bonus of being a complete kit from cap to shoecovers

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