GARMIN’S INTEGRATED PRODUCTS WILL IMPROVE YOUR OVERALL CYCLING EXPERIENCE

Garmin’s wide range of products come together to give you an enhanced cycling experience; over the years the brand have cleverly integrated all of their tech to work together as a whole, bringing you a wealth of information and features that can improve your performance on the bike as well as helping you to explore new rides with confidence while increasing your visibility to motorists and helping you to be more aware of what’s going on around you. I was recently joined by Adam Cooper from Garmin UK for a winter ride in the Lake District and took the opportunity to discuss the wealth of Navigation functions on the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus GPS computer, the versatility and training benefits of the Garmin Rally RK200 power meter pedals and run through the brilliant Garmin Varia RTL515 radar system which has been designed to help you ride with more confidence on the open road.

 

Click the link above to watch the video.

 

So Adam what would you cherry-pick as your top 3 functions on the Edge 1030 Plus?

For me it would be Navigation, Performance Training and also its connectivity with the Garmin Varia RTL515 Radar taillight.

The navigation function sounds interesting, what sort of thing can you do with that?

The 1030 Plus device comes pre-loaded with Garmin TopoActive Europe maps. With the Garmin connect App you’re able to pre-navigate yourself a route, transfer it onto the device and then follow the route you’ve planned on the 1030 Plus device.

So, I’m heading off to somewhere I’ve not ridden before, do I just pre-programme it on the App or on the 1030 Plus head unit?

As well as pre-programming it on the App you can also ask the head unit to give you a popularity-based route, selecting the most cycling-friendly route, taken from billions of miles of Garmin ride data already uploaded, with the 1030 Plus head unit selecting a suitable round trip back to your start location.

So once I’ve headed out onto unfamiliar roads how exactly do use the navigation function?

On the 1030 Plus you’ll click on the navigation folder and select your course, from there you’ll get turn by turn navigation. Also on the 1030 Plus is a function we call ClimbPro and what this does is provide users with visibility of the climb ahead.

So moving on from the Garmin 1030 Plus head unit down to the Rally power meter pedals, what’s the unique feature of those?

The most significant feature of the Rally power meter pedals is their transferability between bike to bike, with different pedal body options available meaning you can swap between your road bike to your mountain bike or gravel bike with relative ease. All your power data is transferred to the 1030 Plus head unit via ANT+® or Bluetooth® including current power, average power, left/right balance, seated vs standing and power phase which gives you a clear look at where you’re producing power in your pedal stroke.

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Garmin Varia Radar system and have recently had the chance to use it myself; what a gamechanger it is, can you explain how works?

The Radar will effectively provide the rider with eyes behind them, and the way it does that is the Radar system will pick up traffic approaching from the rear and display it on the Garmin head unit and you’ll be able to see the traffic approaching.

Yes, I’ve found it brilliant, it’s a really confidence-inspiring bit of kit; within a couple of rides it just becomes second nature to quickly glance down to the display when there’s an audio and visual signal.

It’s great for the rider who benefits from this audio and visual alert system letting them know what’s going on behind them but it’s also really helpful for the driver who’s approaching you; as the driver gets closer to you the Radar light will react and change its pattern to alert them. The Radar taillight is visible to drivers from up to a mile away.

 

NAVIGATION

The Garmin Edge 1030 Plus boasts a raft of navigation features to help make your riding feel more spontaneous and take some of the mental barriers of exploring new areas away. There’s multiple options when it comes to navigation and/or planning a ride including Garmin’s Trendline Popularity Routing function, which cleverly takes data from the billions of miles recorded on their devices by other cyclists and selects the most popular bike-friendly routes available.

Key Features:

• Ride-Specific Mapping
• Trendline Popularity Routing
• ClimbPro
• Trailforks App
• Forksight Mode
• Turn-By-Turn Directions
• Back to Start
• Create More Courses
• Nutrition and Hydration Alerts

 

Ride-Specific Mapping – The large colour display of the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus is clear and easy to read even when you’re riding hard. With Garmin’s Ride-Specific Mapping the 1030 Plus will tailor the map specifically to the type of riding you’re doing; regardless of whether you’re riding mountain, gravel or road you’ll be seeing key map information based on that particular ride type.

 

Trendline Popularity Routing – This function is a particular favourite of ours here at Wheelbase; if you’re planning a ride in a new area there’s no better way of finding the best cycling routes than tapping into local knowledge. With billions of miles of ride data already uploaded, the Edge1030 Plus will be able to identify the best on and off-road routes available wherever you’re headed.

 

ClimbPro – The ClimbPro feature on the 1030 Plus helps you to manage your efforts on any climb. As you ride you’ll be able to see key information on the display like the remaining ascent and the gradient coming up ahead of you. This is a great feature which really comes into play when you’re climbing on roads or trails you’ve never ridden before and you’re really trying to pace your efforts or maybe preparing to attack and drop your riding partners; knowledge is power as they say!

 

Trailforks App – The clarity of the large-sized Edge 1030 Plus display lends itself really well to the unique demands of ridding hard off-road; with a maximum focus required on the trail ahead of you there’s a minimum amount of time to take in the information on the display. With off-road riding in mind Garmin have partnered with Trailforks, the off-road-specific navigation app to give you the most accurate information on trail conditions.

 

Forksight Mode – Another useful feature when you’re riding with your Edge 1030 Plus off-road is Forksight Mode; when you’re using the Trailforks app this mode automatically displays upcoming forks in the trail to help you understand exactly where you are on the trail.

 

Turn-By-Turn-Directions – If you’re navigating unfamiliar roads or are trying to make your way through a busy, built up environment the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus will guide you with turn-by-turn directions and alerts that notify you of upcoming turns.

 

Back to Start – At any time in your ride you can return back to your starting point. Let’s just say you’ve over-estimated how far you were able to ride and needed to get back to your starting point in a hurry. By simply swiping down from the top of the screen at any time during your ride and selecting ‘Back to Start’ the device will navigate you back via the shortest bike-friendly route.

 

Create More Courses – There’s never been more ways to create courses on the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus; if you need to inject some new life into your regular local rides why not spend some time planning new routes on the Garmin Connect App, Strava or Komoot before syncing them to your device.

 

Nutrition and Hydration Alerts – You can set Smart Eat and Drink Alerts to notify you to eat or drink at strategic intervals based on the data from the current ride conditions. The smart alert function estimates when you need to eat or drink based on the temperature, elevation gain, speed, duration and heart rate and power data (when using the Edge 1030 Plus with a heart rate monitor and/or power meter.

 

RALLY RK200 POWER METER PEDALS

When we talked to Garmin UK’s Adam Cooper about the Rally RK200 power meter pedals the biggest message, when it came to their ‘unique selling point’ was just how versatile these pedals were. If you’re an avid user of a power meter, training and racing to power to be a more efficient racer then you may well find yourself moving from one type of bike to another, for example road bike to time-trial bike, or road bike to gravel bike or even a mountain bike. First off, by housing the power meter in a pedal rather than a bicycle crank changes are quick and convenient between bikes rather than having to swap out power meters housed in the cranks for example.

Garmin don’t stop there though; with riders swapping between road and mountain bikes the issue of needing a completely different shoe and pedal system for off-road riding rears its head. With this mind Garmin developed their power meter pedals to feature a transferable spindle (the part which actually contains the power meter) so it can be installed within the Rally RK (Look KEO compatible) and Rally RS (Shimano SPD-SL compatible) road pedals or the Rally XC (Shimano SPD) mountain bike pedals (sold separately). Garmin UK have kindly supplied me with the Rally XC pedal bodies along with the Rally RK200’s I’m currently using, so I’m looking forward to swapping them out in the coming weeks and running them on my MTB.

Key Features:

• Dual-sensing power meter taking accurate left/right data
• Rally RK200 installs like any other pedal and is easy to swap from bike to bike
• Transferable spindle allowing you to swap pedal bodies for road and/or off-road rides (sold separately)
• Edge® cycling computer compatibility makes software updates and data uploads easy
• Sync data to your favourite apps for even more analysis and data sharing
• Measures left/right balance
• Seated vs standing recorded
• Up 120 hours of battery life
• Measures average power
• Measures power phase
• Measures total power
• Measures cadence

Garmin Rally RK200 power meter pedals are dual-sensing (left & right pedal data)

Garmin Rally RK200 power meter pedals are compatible with Look Keo cleats.

With transferable spindles you’re able to swap the Garmin road pedal bodies for these XC mountain bike versions (sold separately).

 

VARIA RTL515 RADAR

As I’ve already mentioned earlier in this feature, I’ve been using the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus GPS computer in unison with the RK200 power meter pedals and Garmin’s clever Varia RTL515 rear light and radar system for a few months. In conversation with Adam from Garmin UK (see video) he highlighted just how effective this piece of tech is and after using the Varia for a while now I can wholeheartedly agree.

With the Varia RTL515 paired via Bluetooth to my Edge 1030 Plus head unit I was quickly able to tune into this extra piece of information on my handlebars. Within a couple of rides it became second nature to quickly glance down to the display whenever there was an audio signal from the head unit. Looking down at the display I would see that the edges of the display had turned red and a small white dot on the right hand side of the screen would creep upwards exactly in sync with the vehicle approaching me from behind until it had safely passed me whereupon the head unit’s screen edges would turn green.

The Varia RTL515 signals to the Edge 1030 head unit, with the edges of the screen turning red and a small white dot moving upwards on the right.

 

In certain riding scenarios it proved really helpful and confidence inspiring to have that extra level of information on my handlebars, without the need to crane my neck and look over my shoulder to see what was going on behind me. On one occasion when I was riding hard on long, flat roads with high winds whipping around me I was completely unable to hear what was going on behind me; the first I was aware of vehicles approaching me was when the Edge 1030 Plus head unit signalled. It’s impressively accurate too, with the display showing multiple white dots approaching at the same time if there was a group of cars waiting to overtake me.

Once the vehicle has safely passed you, your screen edges temporarily turn green.

 

On the whole I also found that drivers seemed to be more considerate when I was using the Varia RTL515 rear light & radar system and there’s a solid bit of science behind the reason why this might be happening. As well as the Radar alerting you the rider to oncoming traffic from behind the Varia RTL515 rear light also reacts, changing to a distinct flashing pattern and change in tone (brighter) as the vehicle approaches. Tests have shown that bicycle lights with an alternating flashing pattern are better at attracting the attention of drivers; factor in that the Radar rear light also reacts to vehicles in real time and it’s fair to say that drivers are reacting to this change and slowing down to overtake when it’s safe to do so. There’s plenty of warning for them too with the Varia RTL515 rear light being visible to drivers up to a mile away. If you like the sound of this clever piece of kit but don’t own a Garmin head unit, fear not, you can pair the Varia RTL515 with your smartphone to increase your awareness with visual signals and vibration alerts, so this really is a confidence-inspiring tool that can be used by anyone.

The Garmin Varia RTL 515’s rear light is visible to motorists up to a mile away.

 

As a vehicle approaches from behind the Varia RTL515’s flashing pattern changes to alert the driver.

 

Key Features:

• Daylight visibility up to 1 mile.
• Small and easy to mount.
• Provides visual and audible alerts for vehicles approaching from behind up to 140 metres away.
• Battery Life: 16 hours of battery life in day flash mode.
• Peloton Mode: Provides a low-intensity flash that is kind to other cyclists’ eyes when riding in a group.
• Compatibility: Works with Garmin Edge bike computer or compatible smartphones.

The Garmin Varia RTL Radar rear light is compact but super-bright, even in daylight hours.

 

 

GARMIN EDGE 1030 PLUS GPS COMPUTER

Full Specification:

General:

• In-Ride power compatible (via Garmin charge battery pack, not included)
• Dimensions: 58 x 114 x 19mm
• Touchscreen
• Colour Display
• Display Size: 3.5” (88.9mm) diagonal
• Display Resolution: 282 x 470 pixels
• Weight: 124 grams
• Battery Type: Rechargeable Lithium-Ion
• Battery Life: 24 hrs
• Battery Save Mode Included
• Water Rating: IPX7

Maps & Memory:

• Ability to Add Maps
• Basemap
• Storage & Power Capacity: 32 GB Internal Memory
• Waypoints/Favourites/Locations: 200
• Navigation Routes: 100 Courses
• History: Up to 200 Hours

Sensors:

• GPS (Global Positioning System)
• Glonass (Global Navigation Satellite System)
• Galileo (Satellite Navigation)
• Barometric Alimeter
• Accelerometer
• Ambient Light Sensor

Daily Smart Features:

• Connectivity: Bluetooth, ANT+
• Connect IQ (Downloadable watch faces, data fields, widgets and Apps)
• Smart Notifications
• Text Response / Reject Phone Call with Text (Android Only)
• Weather
• Virb Camera Remote
• Smartphone Compatibility: iPhone, Android

Safety & Tracking Features:

• Livetrack
• Group Livetrack
• Rider-to-Rider Messaging
• Incident Detection
• Assistance
• Bike Alarm
• Weather Alerts
• Inreach Compatible

Activity Tracking Features:

• Calories Burned

Training, Planning and Analysis Features:

• Customisable Screen(s)
• Auto Pause
• Interval Training
• Advanced Workouts
• Downloadable Training Plans
• Daily Workout Suggestions
• Auto Lap
• VO2 Max (Run)
• Training Effect (Aerobic)
• Recovery Advisor
• Virtual Partner
• Race an Activity
• Segments
• Auto Scroll
• Physio TrueUp (keeps physiological data in sync between devices)
• Physiological Measurements (requires heart rate strap and power meter)

Outdoor Recreation:

• ClimbPro Ascent Planner

Cycling Features:

• Alerts (triggers alarm when you reach goals including time, distance, heart rate or calories)
• Courses
• On-device Course Creator
• Garmin Cycle Map (routable cycling-specific street map)
• Cycling Dynamics Compatible
• MTB Dynamics
• Integrated Trailforks Trail Data
• Power Meter Compatible
• Compatible with Varia Radar (rear-facing Radar)
• Compatible with Varia Lights

Connectivity:

• Edge Remote
• Varia Remote
• ANT+ Electronic Shifting
• Shimano Di2 Synchro Shift Integration
• Smart Trainer Control

In the Box:

Standard (Device Only):

• Edge 1030 Plus
• Mounts (standard and flush out-front)
• USB Cable
• Tether

Bundle:

• Edge 1030 Plus
• HRM-Dual
• Cadence Sensor
• Speed Sensor
• Mounts (standard and flush out-front)
• USB Cable
• Tether

 

GARMIN RALLY RK200 DUAL-SENSING POWER METER

Full Specification:

• Weight: 326 g
• Water resistance.: IXP7
• Cleat type: KEO
• Q-factor: 53 mm (55 mm with provided 2 mm washer)
• Stack height: 12.2 mm

In The Box:

• Rally RK200 pedals
• Cleat hardware
• 55 mm Q-factor washers

General Garmin Rally Dual-Sensing Power Meter Specification:

• Battery type: LR44/SR44 (x4) or CR1/3N (x2)
• Battery life: up to 120 hours
• Maximum rider weight: 105 kg
• Accuracy: +/- 1%
• Field calibration
• Adjustable release tension
• Measurement location: spindle
• Communication: ANT+® and Bluetooth®

 

 

GARMIN VARIA RTL515 RADAR TAIL LIGHT

Full Specification:

• Dimensions: 98.6 x 19.7 x 39.6 mm
• Weight: 71.0 g
• Modes: solid, peloton, night flash, day flash
• Lumens: 20 solid, 8 peloton, 29 night flash, 65 day flash
• Battery life: 6 hours solid, 8 hours peloton, 6 hours night flash, 16 hours day flash
• ANT+®: Yes
• BLE: Yes
• Water rating: IPX7
• Viewing angle: 220 degrees

 

Written by Johnny Dodgin

Digital Media Production by Dave MacFarlane

 

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