Piedmont Velo Sports: Cerevellum Hindsight 35 - first test ride

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Cerevellum Hindsight 35, new in the box.

My friend, Buddy, contacted me with an offer to try out the Cerevellum Hindsight 35. Buddy has been using one of these systems for a while now and had a brand new one in the box that he generously offered to let me try out. He has enjoyed the one on his bike and felt I would also.

The Cerevellum Hindsight 35 consists of a display screen attached to the handlebars of a bicycle and a unit for the back of the bike that houses a camera and a red light. The camera/light unit is connected to the head unit by a wire that is zip tied to the underside of the top tube of the bicycle. The rear red light can be turned on or off and set to a steady red light or a flashing red light from the control buttons on the side of the display.

This system is also designed to be used by the stoker (the rider on the back) of a tandem to enable the stoker to see what is going on in front of the bicycle. The stoker's view is blocked by the captain (the rider on the front). The camera would go on the front of the tandem when used for a tandem stoker. There is an option to flip the image on the display. Everything would be backwards if you didn't flip the image when the camera is mounted on the front of a bike.

When set on record the system continually records a five minute loop of what is displayed on the screen. The head unit contains an accelerometer that will stop the recording and save the preceding five minutes of video if the bike falls over. Evan, the developer of the Cerevellum, came up with the idea for this system after he was hit from behind by a car while riding his bicycle.

Basic bicycle computer functions are displayed at the top of the screen. Displayed are: current speed, average speed, maximum speed, time of day, elapsed time, trip distance and odometer. Current speed along with one other option are displayed all the time at the top of the video screen. The unit comes with a wireless speed sensor. Heart rate and cadence are optional accessories. The Hindsight 35 is ANT compatible.

The video screen is 3.5 inches and is transflective. Transflective means that in bright sunlight the screen reflects the sunlight back to light the screen and display the video. The LEDs that are used to back light the screen turn off when it is using sunlight to back light the video images. This saves battery life. The screen is not for use with polarized sunglasses.

The Cerevellum Hindsight is powered by a rechargeable internal lithium - ion battery. It should have a run time of 5 hours when set at the highest resolution.

Soon you will be able to purchase and download modules to add even more functions to the Hindsight 35. These will be like adding apps to a smart-phone. The first module that will be offered will be power. In addition to displaying current wattage from ANT compatible devices such as SRM and Powertap, the software will graph measurements in real-time.

Retail price of the Cerevellum Hindsight 35 is $329.00 at this time. Click here for more information on Cerevellum.

Buddy holding up my bike to show off the Cerevellum screen.
The yellow unit is a Powertap computer.

The camera and rear light system attached to the seatpost .
Buddy's sidekick, Max, is to the left of the bike.

In the video below Evan tells about Cerevellum during an interview at the 2011 bicycle trade show Interbike.

I had heard that there were some riders leaving from the Tobaccoville Park at 2:00 this afternoon. I thought that riding out there to join in the ride would be a good opportunity for me to try out the Hindsight 35. My ride to the park took me across Winston-Salem on city streets for about 8 miles. This was my first time using the system and it was very helpful during this cross town ride. It was nice to not have to look over my shoulder to keep an eye on traffic behind me. At one stoplight I saw in the video screen that the car behind me had it's right turn signal on. I moved my bike over to the left side of the lane while I was waiting for the light to change and the car was able to turn right on red. Once I got across town I had approximately 10 more miles to ride through the country side to reach Tobaccoville, NC and the park. The Hindsight was useful on the country roads also.

I arrived at the park a few minutes before the 2:00 departure time.

The planned route of the group was from the park to Lewisville, NC and then back to the park.

Riders are ready to get riding and enjoy the beautiful 60 degree day.

That's Pam and Jimmy in the middle of the photo. They are well known cyclists from King, NC who organize rides and encourage many riders.

Riders at Tobaccoville Park ready to get going.

The Tobaccoville community got is name because of a plug chewing tobacco factory that was operated by Charles Orrender in the 1870s. The factory was located about one mile south of the Tobaccoville crossroads on what is now Doral Drive.

The park was started in 1994 on 14 acres of farmland that was next to the Village Hall. The official name of the park is "The Village Park". Most folks I know call it "Tobaccoville Park".

We stopped and regrouped a couple of times during the ride after the group of riders had gotten a little separated. I snapped this photo of a few riders who had stopped to wait on riders that had gotten caught by a stoplight. That's Bill at the front ready to go.

I glanced down at the video screen occasionally while riding with the group to see what the riders behind me were doing and to watch for cars approaching from the rear. This worked out very nicely. I did have a little trouble telling what the distance was between the back of my bike and rider behind me a couple of times. I think that is just because this was the first test ride of the Hindsight.

We stopped at the Lewisville Town Square and everyone got off their bikes to chat and some used the restrooms while we were there. After this short stop I broke off from the group and rode back home. I got in an additional 12 miles from here. My total ride for the day was a little over 44 and 1/2 miles in length.

An up-close look at the Cerevellum Hindsight 35 screen.

An up-close look at the camera/rear light unit.

The video is 5 minutes of what was displayed on the Cerevellum Hindsight 35 during my ride home from Lewisville. This was downloaded from the Hindsight straight to YouTube.