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Home / News / With Shimano’s new bike camera, your heart’s in the director’s chair

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With Shimano’s new bike camera, your heart’s in the director’s chair

Sensor triggered recording bypasses your brain and eyes

Fraser Macdonald

If my heart had eyes, I could’ve saved myself a lot of strife.

Amen to that, sister. But when your heart’s not blinding your judgment, it’s bally good at recognising excitement. Which makes it a dependable remote trigger for your action camera. The CM-2000, from cycle component superpower Shimano, can be set to begin (and end) recording based on various sensor criteria including heart rate, power, cadence or, via a smartphone app, GPS speed.

Your brain, for all it’s eye-based advantage, is prone to forgetting to get you to press the record button, being mostly concerned with “Don’t hit that jump!” internal screaming. Stupid brain.

So I should get this instead of a GoPro?

Well, hang on. The latest GoPros and Garmin Virbs can be voice activated, if your throat isn’t paralysed by the thought of impending bike/ground interface events. And some of them have 4K recording, whereas the Shimano maxes out at 1440p/30fps. The also-4K TomTom Bandit, meanwhile, has action-sensing accelerometers – they don’t trigger the footage but they do drop tags for easier (hospital bed) editing.

But if you’re a keen cyclist, that uses ANT+ power, cadence or heart rate sensors, and is prone to forgetting to hit the ‘go’ button before a gnarly section, the Shimano’s going to be worth a look. It can use a GoPro style mount, by the way. And it also has a neat little foamy baffle to try and reduce wind noise through the microphone.

And what if I’ve lost all my money in the aforementioned ill-judged romantic liasions?

Then investing in a bike-based lifestyle is a wise course of action. A bike may break your bones, but it’ll rarely hurt your feelings. But if pricing is what you’re after, and affordability is what you’re hoping for, then prepare yourself for a little surge of sadness.

UK pricing is yet to be announced, but suggested US prices are pegged at $349, which puts the CM-2000 square into top-end GoPro money. There will be a slightly scrimpier version, the CM-1100 at US$299, but that doesn’t have the Bluetooth smartphone connectivity. And no right-thinking Stuffer ever buys the thing-without-Bluetooth. It’s just not right.

Profile image of Fraser Macdonald Fraser Macdonald consulting editor

About

Fraser used to wear a Psion Series 3 palmtop in a shoulder holster. Perhaps he still does.Either way, his lifelong mission - including fourteen years for Stuff - has been to see whether the consumer electronics industry can ever replicate that kind of cyborgian joy.So far: nope. Despite a plan to combine a action camera and Olympus Eye-Trek goggles to become Man Who Sees The Vision Of A Man Three Inches Taller Than Himself.He also likes mountain bikes, motorbikes, cars, helicopters. Still thinks virtual surround is witchcraft. Dislikes jetskis, despite never having been on one.