Absolute Cycling: Stronger than ever
In March we held two events in the Netherlands to stay in contact with our early adopters, the Indiegogo crowdfunding backers. Everyone from cyclists to engineers to manufacturers as well as the Absolute Cycling team attended the presentation of the Absolute Cycling One. We also hosted an in depth Q&A session. Read more about the Absolute Cycling Events.
Since our last communication about the development and production timeframe of the Absolute Cycling One, we’ve been making steady progress. However, due to the early stages of the Corona virus in China, the delivery of key components has been delayed and we are no longer able to meet our projected delivery date of June this 2020.
Milestones 2020 ahead
The Absolute Cycling team has been growing since the start of this year with more experts coming on board. We have embraced some technical challenges, which provided us with a great learning curve and we conducted our first field tests in Spain during February 2020, which gave us great feedback. Everything is coming together but we are sorry to announce that we won’t be able to deliver the Absolute Cycling One to our previous schedule (with delivery in June).
Although we have solved our technical challenges, due to the setbacks caused by the current global crisis we can see it is too optimistic to make our deadline for a commercial release early in the summer of 2020. We are currently focused on finalising the hardware and electronics, ready to begin our first batch of production this December. Our new projected delivery date is January of 2021. We understand that you are likely disappointed to have to wait for your cycling computer, but you can rest assured that Absolute Cycling is as strong and healthy as ever.
The next step in field tests
We recently started producing our new prototypes, which are scheduled for testing in May. A variety of exclusive test riders have been selected to head out into the field with a mission: testing and bug hunting! We are eager to collect as much data as possible so as to transform our rough diamond into a polished gem. The next Absolute milestone is the 1st of June, when we have our ‘model freeze’. At that point the hardware will be finished and the production moulds can be ordered. Once these moulds are produced and delivered, we can assemble the first B-sample prototypes, ready for certification in September. After that our first mass production will commence in December with delivery in early 2021 as mentioned above.
Cycling for Climate with Maarten Tjallingii
On 22nd June 2020 Maarten Tjallingii, amongst others, is riding the Climate Classic, organised by Cycling4Climate. This 400 km ride will follow a route along the coastline of the Netherlands that is hoped will remain if the worst excesses of climate change can be averted. A unique sporting event in support of sustainability, the 400K ride is the perfect test for our prototype, especially for our low power processor as well as an Absolute battery test! Maarten Tjallingii tested the very first prototype back during 2019’s Cape Epic and we look forward to him testing the latest prototype in another big challenge. We are also excited to play our part in creating awareness for the need to take care of our climate.
COVID 19 impact
As mentioned before, we experienced some delays during the prototype phase in the first months of 2020. At the moment we at Absolute Cycling are all fine and healthy. Our partners continue to work – at home or in the lab – so development continues as normal whilst we keep risk to an absolute minimum. However, we need to be careful with our schedule in order to minimize disappointment for our future cyclists. We cannot foresee the future and we need to bear in mind that the virus has a large impact on us all. No matter what, everyone’s health is more important than anything else in the world. Keep on riding, but #ridesolo for now!
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