Once again, thank you so much for the support! Hearing from everyone who has found DFC useful has made this so rewarding. Hopefully you were able to get some good training in over the winter. In this message, we’ll share details on the next run of DFCs (shipping soon!) and updates on new features.

Next Edition Shipping Soon!

For those who’ve been waiting patiently for the next edition of DFCs, we’re happy to report that they’ll be off to the distributor this week, and then to you soon after. We’d hoped to be shipping last week, but the cases took longer than expected to come in. Everybody’s tired of hearing about supply chain issues, so we’ll spare you the details aside from saying that it wasn’t any easier this time around finding all the right parts.

If your shipping address has changed since you ordered, please update that with Crowd Supply ASAP to ensure they go to the right place.

Upcoming Features:

Speed

This is our top priority and most requested feature. We’ve made some good progress on it and we have a couple of ways of doing it that we’re testing to make sure it’s compatible with most devices. Now that the next production run is done, we can focus on getting this finished up. We can’t wait to get this feature enabled which will make it so easy to track distance for workouts.

Background/Tablet-Free Use

Some of you have asked if DFC can be used while you run Netflix or another app on your bike’s tablet. Another related use case is enabling use of the bike without the tablet but still getting the bike power and cadence data. Both of these use cases are possible with a simple hardware modification and firmware update down the line. We’ll share more details when this is ready.

For some context, right now your data must be displayed on the tablet to use DFC. This is because, without being in a class or a ride, the sensors don’t know to send back the data that DFC reads. The background/tablet-free use feature isn’t enabled by default, since having both DFC and the tablet trying to talk to the sensors at the same time causes problems.

Battery

DFC will run on a coin cell battery as-is, but it’s not optimized for it, so it doesn’t last very long. It’s good for getting a ride in on a hotel bike (something we tested recently) but not for leaving the battery in long-term. However, we think we can get the battery to last for several months of typical use - similar to a heart rate monitor. We’ll dig into this more after we get the other upcoming features completed.

For other options to power DFC see this section in the user guide for details.

Support

Check the User Guide for general guidance, troubleshooting, and FAQs. If you don’t find your answer there check the Issues list for issues that we’re working on. You can also reach out directly with questions or feedback.