Schwinn and Motosumo revolutionize indoor cycling
Schwinn1 bikes, powered by Motosumo, features an app that utilizes smartphones to convert standard indoor bikes into state-of-the-art bikes to enhance one’s training experience.
SINGAPORE — In Shimano Cycling World here in Singapore’s Stadium Sport Hub, American fitness giant Core Health and Fitness, led by its global vice president of sales and marketing Tim Hawkins and vice president for Asia/Latin America Frank O’Rourke, displayed some of their latest Schwinn1 bikes powered by the Danish tech company Motosumo.
This powerful alliance is expected to revolutionize indoor cycling.
How? Well, the market-leading Schwinn bikes will be combined with an innovative app and technology that utilizes modern smartphones to convert standard indoor bikes into state-of-the-art bikes. This will enhance the training experience for thousands of indoor cycling riders that train on Schwinn bikes.
Indoor cycling started in late 1995 in California. Johnny Goldberg, or Johnny G, a South African endurance athlete, developed the Spinning program and the bike in collaboration with Schwinn. He was training for long- distance cycling race from Los Angeles to New York, Race Across America, and he had a road accident while training one evening. That experience compelled him to develop a stationary bike with a weighted flywheel that would allow indoor training regardless of the weather outside.
Fast forward to the last quarter of 2018: Schwinn made indoor cycling history again with this Motosumo team-up.
Schwinn1 offers connected fitness solutions; leaderboard, group class management, games with friends and workout history. No new hardware is needed since all you have to do is use your smartphone.
Motosumo used an advance biomechanical model which, combined with the motion sensors in a modern smartphone, can tell just about anything about the rider’s pace, calorie consumption, cadence and riding style. This kind of information is normally only found on advanced bikes but Motosumo’s app and technology works even on standard bikes with no form of built-in technology.
In addition to the data about the users’ training sessions, the gamification element delivers entirely new possibilities for Schwinn users and instructors. For instance, users can connect with other riders and instructors, and riders can compete with teams in other health clubs around the world. The app also gives instructors a vast array of possibilities to create a unique class environment and share real-time data and instructions with their class members.
The social gamification element is unique to Motosumo on a global level as the smartphone functions as the connecting link, regardless of bike or gym. This used to require a heavy investment in expensive sensors, receivers, monitors and computers, but Schwinn1 powered by Motosumo now offers a shortcut to a unique social community across one or more indoor cycling teams.
“Motosumo has developed a technology and an app that is unique on a global level. It is easy to use, requires nothing from the clubs to integrate and it brings all Schwinn bikes up to a totally new level of innovation. At the same time, Motosumo adds an entirely new layer of technology and gamification to our most advanced bikes. In this way, Schwinn and Motosumo are disrupting the industry, and we go from being purely hardware-driven to offering many more possibilities and user-experiences with this software solution. We’re the first to step into this digital transformation where everything is centered around the users’ smartphones, and we expect a lot from it,” says Dustin Grosz, president and COO of Core Health & Fitness that equips approximately 1,000 health clubs with more than 25,000 Schwinn bikes every year.
“By launching Schwinn1 powered by Motosumo, we add a technology layer on top of the existing training experience, which contains endless possibilities for the users, instructors and the clubs. In itself, this is a leap forward for indoor cycling, but I expect even more in the coming years. The next year will be characterized by rapid innovation, developing both hardware and software within the partnership, utilizing the vast instructor knowledge within Core, to bring a completely new and versatile indoor cycling experience. The fact that we’ve reached this point is due to an intense team effort and, of course, the entire company is thrilled about the collaboration with Core,” says Kresten Juel Jensen, CEO of Motosumo.
Acknowledging that the indoor cycling instructors are the club’s most valuable assets, Core is committed to provide certification, training and continuing education. Last year alone, Core educated more than 10,000 instructors in over 400 training workshops. Moving forward, all instructors will be trained in maximizing the Schwinn1 app. A new online certification was also developed to support the live workshops. Currently, a dynamic team of over 120 global Master Trainers provides the training and education.
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