The number of cases of outright fraud in crowdfunding has been pretty low. They usually just run out of money and ideas. It’s not like there isn’t precedence for failed power meter development efforts.
I think these guys being experienced production engineers believed that they had it all figured out and then ran into design to production issues that plague almost all electronics projects and now are forced to eat crow over it.
Hubris is endemic among engineers.
The big update is out. Complete new design in a Look Keo pedal based power meter rather than an insert. Update is too big to repost here but here’s the link.
Short version is that the tension due to the threaded insert was not consistent enough to produce reliable strain readings and therefore power readings. There was no deterministic way to offset this so a redesign was necessary. Good news is that the “guts” remain the same, it’s the “package” they had to redesign.
Not just a Look based pedal, they have a MTB design too (according to Shane’s latest video). I’d certainly consider it for CX racing if it holds up
I am not sure how I feel about switching pedals. I am fairly invested in SPD-SLs and like others, though this was an ideal way to use existing pedal platform across a few bikes. On the other hand, I wasn’t sure that having a reduced axle size threaded into the crankarm was as solid an interface. Anyways, looks like I will be riding without a power meter for most of the season but get new pedals for training season.
I’m so glad I didn’t go for an IQ2 as pedal based power meters are of no interest to me. I’m glad I went for a 3rd gen stages.
Was there a mention of expected shipment date (yes I realize that’s a sensitive subject haha)
One of my uses for it are a track bike so short of sending my track cranks to Stages or uber-expensive SRM track cranks, I’m OK with a pedal based solution to be able to use between 2 or 3 bikes. I would have to spend a lot more to be able to do anything for my 3 bikes.
August now. So with a grain of salt that means September-October by the time they get through delays and to the high backer numbers.
With any luck however, they can tap into some expertise at Look and avoid more delays. I am guessing that Look is a willing partner to get more units out there and take a bite out of Shimano’s market share.
2020
That’s actually faster than I expected.
Given your background in product development, do you think they had these pedals already planned and now had to speed the plans up or was the original plan so flexible in terms of technology and materials to switch to pedals?
Sounds like it could be a cool product when it comes to market!
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.
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.
- 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?