Bikes and rides

Everything the app tells you about your bike starts from two pieces of information: what bike it is and how much you've ridden it. You give it the first once, and the second builds up by itself if you turn on a source.

Adding a bike#

In the Bikes tab tap + Add bike. Whichever way the bike arrives, there are always five steps, one for each thing the app needs to know: Model, Configuration, History, Future use and Summary. A bar at the top shows where you are.

Two rules apply to every step. "I don't know" is an answer: a question left unanswered takes the typical value for that bike, and the prediction corrects itself with your real rides. And where someone has already answered for you, the item says so: from the catalogue, from Strava, workshop, from the logbook. An item marked to choose is a question the source can't answer: that one needs your answer.

1. Model

   Which bike is it? Type brand and model, for example "Trek Checkpoint". The results come with a photo; scroll to the bottom and more load. Tap one: Is this your bike? shows you what the catalogue already knows, and that's where you pick the size and, if you like, a nickname.

   If the model isn't there, at the bottom of the results tap Can't find it? Add it manually: brand, model, category and subcategory, year and a photo of the bike (the whole bike, side-on, from the drivetrain side), which an artificial intelligence model looks at to recognise where the parts are. If you've connected Strava, the results also include Import from Strava: it starts from the bike you have on Strava, with its kilometres, and from then on your Strava rides land on that bike.

2. Configuration

   How it's built: seven questions on one screen. E-bike (no, crank motor, hub motor), gears (mechanical, electronic, belt, and an internal hub gear where there is one), brakes (rim, disc, hub), seatpost (fixed or dropper), tyres (tubular, clincher, tubeless), suspension (none, front, full) and, if you like, other components such as lights or mudguards.

   Where the catalogue knows the answer, it's already picked and marked from the catalogue: if your bike is different, you change it with one tap. The list of components comes from these answers: the button to move on says how many will be created, and See the list shows them to you. At the end of this step the bike is saved.

3. History

   Its history so far is how the app works out how worn the components are today. Answer what you know: when it's been ridden since (month and year), the distance ridden, the hours ridden, how much it goes out in the wet, the weight of whoever rode it, where it was kept, basic care (washing and lubing), the last workshop inspection and the components that were replaced, only the ones you know about, with how many kilometres ago or a date. At the bottom are the bike's documents, such as the receipt or the warranty. If the bike is new, It's new, I haven't ridden it yet skips the step.

   You don't have to count the hours ridden: the app works them out from the distance and an average speed typical for your bike. If the speed isn't right, tap change and the hours follow. The weight is the one in your Profile, and it's only used with your consent; if someone else rode the bike before, It wasn't me lets you pick a weight band, with no data about who it was. The last workshop inspection counts as an inspection of every component on that date.

4. Future use

   How you'll ride it: distance per month, hours per month (worked out as in the previous step), rain, weight, where you'll keep it and how often you'll look after it. The step starts from your answers about its history: you only change what will be different, for example a bike that will sleep in the yard from now on.

   From here you also open Ride sources. As soon as real rides come in, from Strava, from phone motion or from a sensor, we measure the pace and it takes the place of what you declared.

5. Summary

   The app gets the bike ready and ticks the stages off one by one, as it finishes them: model, configuration, history and the next inspections. Then it shows you the bike with the components it recognised, and its dashboard; with your first bike, How to read the dashboard explains it, and you can open it again whenever you like.

   Last of all, if you want, pick your trusted workshop: Find a workshop opens the ones nearby, where you connect a workshop that uses CrankPal or write to one that isn't on it yet; or Skip, I'll do it later. A connected workshop sees the bike, its components and its inspections; it doesn't see your rides or where you ride.

If you close before the end you lose nothing. From the end of the Configuration step the bike already exists: you'll find it in the Bikes tab marked to complete, and you pick up from the step you were on.

If your workshop sends it to you#

Your workshop can register the bike for you: model, components, the kilometres read at the counter and the work done. It sends it to you with an email that comes from the workshop, Your … is on CrankPal, with the Accept your bike button: it opens the app, or gets it for you and then reopens the bike. The same tap also confirms your email address.

In the app the bike is waiting for you in the Bikes tab and, if it's your first sign-in, in the welcome guide. Accept and check the details opens the same setup, already filled in: the workshop's items carry the workshop label and you correct them with one tap. Rain, storage and care, on the other hand, only you know: Confirm and continue stays off until you answer, even with "I don't know". The Future use step is always yours, and there's no trusted-workshop step: the workshop is already there.

If you correct something the workshop entered, for example the kilometres, your correction wins: the bike is yours, and the workshop sees what you changed. If the bike isn't yours, tap It's not my bike: it doesn't go into any account. If the workshop wasn't connected to your account yet, accepting the bike also accepts the connection, in one go.

If you don't answer, after a week you get a single reminder, about the bike. After a month the registration closes by itself and we don't write to you about that bike again.

If another rider passes it on to you#

When you accept a transfer of ownership (see Documents, sharing and transfer), the app tells you the bike is yours now and offers Complete your bike, or I'll do it later.

It's the same setup. Model, configuration, kilometres and work done come from the logbook and you confirm them with one tap. Past rain, storage and care you only give if you know them: "I don't know" counts as a cautious value. Future use is yours. The weight of whoever rode it before never travels with the bike, and the usage the previous owner declared is cleared.

The Bikes tab#

The tab shows one bike at a time: you pick it from the picker under the title. From top to bottom you'll find:

• the bike's photo with a coloured halo on the parts that need attention (Critical only or Show all). Tap a halo and that part's row appears underneath;
• the dashboard with its warning lights, and the Book a service button;
• Upcoming inspections, the components most urgent first, each with when to have it inspected;
• Bike settings: Usage and kilometres, the Wear estimate for bikes added before the setup, and My measurements (bike fitting), that is the position your workshop records, with the PDFs it attaches and the ones you upload;
• the actions on the bike: Documents, Share bike, Transfer ownership, Delete bike and, if you have any, Recently deleted bikes.

How to read the dashboard and the inspections is in Health and predictions. Documents, sharing, transfer and deletion are in Documents, sharing and transfer.

Logging a ride#

In the Rides tab tap + Add ride.

With the phone's GPS. Choose the bike and tap Start recording: the phone becomes a bike computer, with speedometer, distance, elevation and the bike's dashboard. Recording carries on with the screen off. At the end tap Finish and save. A ride under 200 metres isn't saved.

By hand. On the same screen, Or add manually: date and time, distance, elevation, duration and conditions (dry, wet, mud), which the app suggests from the weather at that time. It's the quickest way to log a ride you've already done without carrying anything.

At the top of the tab there are your totals (distance, elevation gain, hours ridden, number of rides), for all bikes or for the one you pick in the picker. Below, Recent rides: tap a ride for its details, with the route on a map when there is one, the conditions and the bike. From there you move it to another bike or delete it. Rides that come from Strava or Garmin can't be deleted in the app, because they'd come back at the next update: you manage them in the service they come from. Rides from Health (on iPhone) and Health Connect (on Android) can: the workout stays there, but CrankPal stops counting it and its kilometres come off the bike and the predictions. And a workout you delete in Health or Health Connect leaves CrankPal too at the next update.

Rides that log themselves#

If you don't want to remember to press a button, the app has four ways to count the kilometres on its own. They work side by side, and you turn them on from Profile›Ride sources.

1. Say how much you ride

   The distance per month you enter in the Future use step moves the prediction forward even without logged rides; on bikes added before the setup, your answer to How much do you ride? (every day, at weekends, now and then) counts instead. Every now and then you can read the odometer from Bikes›Bike settings›Usage and kilometres (on an e-bike it's on the display): the reading corrects the total, and from the second one on the pace comes from the readings.

2. Phone motion

   Your phone already knows when you're cycling. With Recognise my bike rides on your own switched on, rides recognised with confidence come in by themselves, with kilometres estimated from the duration and marked as such; the others are offered at the top of the Rides tab, under Rides recognised by your phone, with Add or Ignore. No GPS and no battery. Downside: no route on the map, and the rides appear when you reopen the app.

3. Automatic GPS

   With the location permission set to Always, when you set off the phone wakes CrankPal up and GPS records the ride by itself; a few minutes after you stop, it closes it. Upside: exact kilometres and the route. Downside: it needs that permission, it uses battery while you ride and the first kilometre may be missing. You can switch on Phone motion too: if the same ride comes from both, GPS wins.

4. Wheel sensor

   A Bluetooth speed sensor on the hub counts wheel turns: exact kilometres, even with the app closed and the phone in your pocket. See the Sensors section below.

In Profile›Ride sources you also choose the Bike for automatic rides: it's the one that gets the rides recognised by your phone, recorded automatically or imported from Health.

In the Rides tab the Active sources row shows only the sources that are on, each with its state: active, on but with no rides yet, or with something to fix (a permission, the sensor's bike). Manage opens the sources; Update fetches new rides straight away.

Strava, Garmin, Health and TrainingPeaks#

You connect them from Profile›Ride sources, with Connect next to each one.

With Strava connected, in Ride sources›Strava bikes you say which CrankPal bike each Strava bike matches. The app suggests one when it has the same name or the same brand and model; if it's a different bike you add it, and if you're not interested choose Don't track it on CrankPal. Strava rides from before the bike existed on CrankPal go into the history, but don't wear the components a second time.

Garmin doesn't expose its list of bikes: if you only use Garmin, add the bike by hand and your rides attach to the bike you choose.

You can withdraw the authorisation whenever you like with Disconnect: rides already imported stay, new ones stop coming in.

Sensors#

From Profile›Ride sources, in the From the bike part, you get to the sensors.

Heart rate strap and power meter. You pair them once and they reconnect by themselves during GPS recordings.

Wheel sensor. A Bluetooth speed sensor that mounts on the hub (the most common are Garmin, Wahoo, Magene and similar, in speed mode). The guide I have a wheel sensor: guide me step by step tells you what you need, how to fit it and how to pair it to a bike. The app recognises brand and model and shows its photo and battery. If the phone stays at home, the kilometres arrive at the next connection. If your mechanic has already fitted the sensor, the Bikes tab tells you so, with Pair.

CrankPal sensor. It's our own sensor, and it's handed out by invitation only: on the Invitation only card you join the waiting list. If you have one, Add a CrankPal sensor activates it: it asks where you've mounted it and which bike it belongs to.

Two things to know when a sensor doesn't show up:

• A sensor accepts one connection at a time. If it's already connected to your bike computer, the phone can't see it: switch off the other device or disconnect the sensor there.
• Many sensors only wake up when you use them. Spin the wheel or the pedals, put the strap on, and search again.

Common problems#