There’s quite a bit going on, but it is not impossible. It looks like all of the big parts are there and this is more a packaging and validation exercise, but the devil is in the details. Pedal based is a fairly well know solution and I would assume that they carefully examined one before so can avoid pitfalls. The hard part will be getting all of the supply chain to line up, are they modifying anything but the addition of the gauge to the axle and the end cap, can Look provide them the base units etc etc. 3-4 months means everything has to line up first time.
From a supply chain perspective it is interesting.
My guess is that they were approached by look that was interested in their technology and that they have had some conceptual talks.
After the testing errors those plans might have gone in overdrive where Looks resources and established supply chain made this possible.
But that’s just my guess
I think the USP is dead. The whole point was a platform independent system. Power meters are a niche business anyway so I think that in the longer term this isn’t a sustainable operating model. Good luck to them but I genuinely believe this will now be an also-ran. I also feel really sorry for the locked in Kickstarter backers who bought into a different product entirely.
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Look has been more than willing to license/supply their design where Shimano and Time have not. I think they see it as a win-win to grab more market share. Not sure how they are for co-development or design support or just a 3rd party supplier to others. I imagine to make this work, Look is probably cutting them a pretty hefty deal at least for the initial run. We’ll see if there is enough savings in their thin film bonded gauges to differentiate from a Vector or Assiamo
The biggest challenge in my mind is getting units together and validating their operation. I see no room for error at this point with limited funds. There’s already a growing number of backers demanding refunds because they specifically wanted a pedal-agnostic solution, which I feel is fair.
This actually why I think they had exploring talks, that Look is able to integrate the iq2 unit in their production process, perhaps built a different spec pedal prepared for the unit.
In the sense that they had their R&D look at the possibilities and maybe draw up a design without investing too much in it
Look has more to gain than lose in terms of image loss, if it fails people will look at iq2 rather than Look in my eyes
I agree and I am sure that’s why, despite other stretches of no communications, this one actually had a good reason while they negotiated with Look and their production partners. I wonder if this was a Plan B for a while or a last ditch effort. As far as look is concerned, they can’t lose on this other than some don’t like Look pedals and as long as they do their job as they should, then a product failure will pretty much be on IQ2 not Look.
Adding on conjecture - It wouldn’t surprise me that the IQ2 pedal is a variant of the Look/SRM pedal. It could be Look has concept or prototype based on the construction of the Exakt ready or readily quick to bring to production. Slap the IQ2 gauge on the Look axle and electronics into the body and off to the races.
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- Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but Shane said “releasing the pedals for the Shimano SPD system.”. So if there was a licensing issue with Shimano SPD-SL (road), why isn’t it an issue for the MTB side?
- Maybe it’s semantics and we are really talking about a more generic 2-bolt SPD style (welgo and such?), rather than the specific Shimano version?
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I should be more specific. I was thinking road pedals not MTB . I don’t believe there are any SPD-SL compatible pedal-based power meters and originally Shimano blocked IQ2 from producing a shortened SPD_SL axle to compensate for Q-factor. I am not sure why Shimano is reluctant to allow SPD-SL pedals to be licensed. It’s even difficult to find non-Shimano SPD-SL cleats
IQ2 announced there will be a mountain bike version based on the what I assume they meant the ubiquitous 2-bolt SPD cleat, which has been out there for years and used by Wellgo and countless others.
Why one and not the other? Shrug.
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You’ve lost me… It’s only the 4th here.
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Sorry, my goof. Apparently 5/3/19 is May 3, not May 5. Been a long week and DD/mm/yy vs mm/DD/yy was too much to compute today. It took 2 edits just to get this short post right
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A hard row to hoe on the road scene to capture market share, but if they can get the MTB pedals to work, hold your beer, because that is a bit of a holy grail for MTBikers.
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My bet is these never launch.
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I am still confused as to what they are offering to those of us who only bought into the left power meter option… Will they only give us a left pedal? Or a pair and only the left has the meter in it?
I was hoping to use these in my training for the transRockies MTB event this year, but now the delayed Aug 2019 launch date, thats well out!
I mean, all pedal based power meters come with left-only options so it doesn’t seem that absurd.
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I believe we will receive a powerless second peddle. I’m actually happy to get peddles, but I don’t use Look cleats. Saying that, I have egg beaters on my winter bike so by the time these ship I am happy to change.
They went from “we have a perfect solution that fits every pedal on the market” to “we have the same solution as these guys, those guys, those, and also those - except ours doesn’t quite work yet. But it’ll be cheap!”. A little drop in USP, I’d say. Their only chance is to get the MTB model working before any of the other guys beat them to it. That’s a very high bar. Not only do they need to get their (new) powermeter working in production, they also need to make it survive in an MTB environment.
Note that their web site tagline is still “The universal high-tech cycling tool everyone can afford”. It’s not universal anymore, and you may be able to afford them, but you can’t actually get them.
Unfortunately while they ship a pair of pedals, I read the FB comments that they aren’t supplying cleats. Kinda cheesy but IF these actually see the light of day, they just got a power meter than is still less than half the cost of Assiomas. another $20 for s set of cleats shouldn’t break the bank but maybe that’s part of the value proposition for Look because I bet those $20 cleats are 90% margin by now.
If they do deliver, I will probably pick up another pair instead at that price from someone who doesn’t want them instead of switching pedals between bikes.
I would need to get some new shoes as well. Those cleats won’t fit my egg beater shoes. Luckily I was thinking of changing them anyway. I never liked being clipped in, my bike shop recommended egg beaters as they are easy to use. I call them my training clip ins. I now have SPDs on my summer bike. Time will tell.
I sympathize with those who thought the would get a solution for different pedals like Speedplays and the ability to move them bike to bike and between MTB and road. Holy Grail stuff there.
At the same time however, it is interesting to see the unrealistic expectations and the resulting outrage and entitlement culture from some people who took a gamble on a crowdsourced project. They thought their €149 got them every single technical detail, the armchair engineering or a seat on the board and those who can’t even read the details of the updates when their questions are answered there.
While I also believed they were a lot closer than they were, the delays all seem plausible including this last one. Mistakes were made for sure on their part but nothing that hasn’t happened to countless more experienced companies. In the end it’s a gamble and I for one will be OK with getting a usable power meter. Those who thought they were getting a SRM or Vector level PM at a fraction of the cost are bound to be disappointed.
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You are right. The track record of anyone getting a spacer-type PM working is, as DCRainmaker pointed out, zero. So that was a low-probability gamble by investor/buyers to start with.