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Mavic Saved, Kona Cancelled and something else interesting

Image: Mavic

Mavic Saved

We saw some worrying shenanigans a few weeks back as Mavic appeared to have been financially hung out to dry following its divestment from Amer sometime earlier in 2019. There was a very real chance that the company would cease to exist, although the famous cycling brand itself would be odds-on favourite to survive in some way.

Disclaimer: I now have ALL my wheelsets made by Mavic and have spent a tidy sum on two more sets in the last week at what I hoped was a good price. No PR freebies tho.

The French receivership/bankruptcy process is different from other countries and involved several firms bidding for the assets including a bid with Tour-winning Bernard Hinault as the figurehead.

Long story short, Mavic is now owned by that not-so-famous cycling brand Bourrelier (they are now an investment group). Most likely jobs will be predominantly saved at locations in France rather than in Mavic’s overseas locations.

Source: francebleu

Kona Cancelled & Bought

It’s not surprising that triathlon’s premier long-distance event held annually at Kona has been cancelled. For the first time and due to CV19, the iconic race in Hawaii will not be held.

I know many triathletes who are very interested in Kona and who stay up at night in the UK to follow the proceedings (procession?). I’m not one of them and also know quite a few newcomer triathletes who have no idea what Kona is. Whether or not it is famous doesn’t deny the magnitude of the event nor its impact on tech releases.

For followers of endurance sports tech, however, there might be a glimmer of hope that product launches destined for Kona might, instead, be brought forward. It is a glimmer though as there are not too many announcements made at Kona although there is an occasional one and others at a similar time that coincides with various city-marathons.

On a related Kona-note, Slowtwitch report that this weeks owner of the Ironman brand is now formally ADVANCE as the transaction from WANDA has been finalised.

 

Something Else Interesting

The enlightened British powers-that-be have now reclassified (downgraded) 3000 miles as better suited to experienced riders, while 750 miles on busy roads disappear altogether from the network map. An enlightened statistician will point out something like ‘at this rate, the UK will have no cycle routes by 2043’. Everyone will ignore the enlightened statistician.

Source: Sustrans via Road.cc

Finally

A new running watch draws ever closer…I have one on my wrist for an imminent review ( 😉 , August). Perhaps I might classify it as a ‘proper’ running watch.

Plus, if anyone is interested, I might post some GNSS accuracy reports based on ‘interested satellite constellation combinations’. So, if you are the only person in the world likely to be interested in that highly niche area please ping me below to get my creative juices flowing (aka post some screenshots of a few overlaid workout tracks)

 

 

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24 thoughts on “Mavic Saved, Kona Cancelled and something else interesting”

  1. My ‘proper’ running watch wish list; no wrist hrm, square screen format, full Stryd compatibility. We’ll see..

    3. LOL, pretty much the Polar v800, RIP, other than not quite “full” Stryd compatibility (however with post-run sync, it does include all data). Sure would be nice if a v820 (match the calendar year) was coming out in August… not holding my breath at all for that one! BUT if it were… return of 5khz analog… ALL v800 features (other than GoPro control which wasn’t in Polar’s control and I may be one of 3 people to ever actually use it, LOL), with a proper (non-cheapo-Sony) GPS chipset (hmmm, I hear there is a good one called SirfStar… just saying)… basically take everything that was right about v800 (including both BT and analog reception), add: wifi, ant+, proper multi-channel BT, OHR (for daily fitness tracking, not for sports or at the expense of all the metrics and methods the v800 used)… make sure it can still receive HR in the water (for some like myself that need to know if our HR is going outta whack, that’s invaluable, post-swim sync won’t help if I blow up in the water)… square screen, color optional (might be nice, but not at the expense of clarity, contrast, and INSTANT response (no wrist-turn delay nonsense) and at least the v800 battery life. It’s been YEARS, that doesn’t seem like much to ask…

  2. Yes please, also perhaps something (in general) on the the delta in tracking between L and R wrists, due to antenna orientation eg?

    1. fore runner 45 plus leaked today.
      is there a 245+ or 645+ along with it?

  5. I sure hope a “proper” running watch means that it’s fore runner(s). I’m sure there’s at least 655 of us that would love a watch that lte’s us use live tracking without dragging a phone around with us.

    🙂

    ok, i’m done here. Now make it happen!

    1. 🙂 not Garmin, sorry. i don’t get any special garmin freebies or special treatment from garmin…hence the, err, ‘unhindered’ reviews (tho getting scarily positive of late, Garmin must be doing something right)

      3. I’m starting to think its the new Samsung which would be less exciting than new Polar

    1. It is time for FR645 upgrade. What is the purpose of FR45+ or FR245+? Unless after FB acquisition they will implement FB features over all products. So what is the new mysterious running watch – a new Vantage or Suunto? I hope it will be good. 😃

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