WILSONVILLE, Ore. (BRAIN) — The Otto Tuning System combines an iPhone's camera with sophisticated visual alignment technology in a mobile app to help cyclists easily adjust rear derailleurs. The $39 product, which includes gauges that attach to the derailleur and cassette, is being offered by Otto Design Works, a new company headed by a Portland-area engineer and long-time bike racer.
The Otto Tuning System is currently being marketed primarily to consumers, not shop mechanics. But the company's president said the system could be used by shops to help document their work. The company also said that in some ways, the app allows more precise adjustment than even the best mechanic.
Otto was founded by Jake VanderZanden, who has been developing the product for about two years. In addition to being president of Otto, VanderZanden is vice president of product development at DW Fritz Automation, a precision manufacturing company. Otto DesignWorks is currently a unit of, and principally owned by DWF.
The Tuning System is currently sold consumer direct from Otto's website and via a few national specialty retailers, including Art's Cyclery and R&A. Otto exhibited at Interbike last month and is evaluating whether to begin sales through distributors. VanderZanden said he's had discussions with companies that sell complete bikes online; the Tuning System could presumably help consumers set up a new bike's shifting.
"Rear derailleur adjustments are well understood by some, but not understood by others. There are some people that just don't understand it," he said. VanderZanden said the app's visual alignment technology is capable of considerably more accuracy than is practical for derailleur cable adjustment, since cable tension adjustment is limited by the index clicks of the adjuster barrel. "A good mechanic could get within that range (of the app)," he said.
But he said when it comes to setting the derailleur's limit screws, the tool is capable of more precise adjustment than can be done by the human eye.
VanderZanden said shop mechanics who visited the company's Interbike booth came away impressed.
"We get some negative feedback from comments online, from people who say, 'why did they possibly need to come up with this?' At the show, where people could actually see it and use it, all the comments were positive. Service techs came away saying, 'this is something I can use,'" VanderZanden said. He said some mechanics told him they would like to sell the tool to consumers who frequently pester them for quick, free, derailleur adjustments.
The Tuning System gauges each have six visual indexing points, or targets. The app uses the phone camera to check the alignment of the derailleur relative to the cogs, then tells the user, with the iPhone Siri voice, which way to turn the cable barrel adjuster to improve shifting. The app also can tell the user if the hanger is bent; if it is, the app will suggest that the user bring the bike to a professional mechanic to have it aligned and/or replaced. Otto claims the app can provide barrel nut adjustments in under a minute and complete limit screw verification and adjustment in less than 10 minutes.
Because each iPhone model camera lens is slightly different, the product includes a QR code that assists users in calibrating their phone camera.
VanderZanden, an avid road racer himself, noted that the product is useful when switching between wheelsets on his bikes. It's designed to work with Shimano or SRAM 9-through-11-speed derailleurs, including road and mountain bike derailleurs.
The company is developing tools that use similar visual alignment technology for other challenges on a bike, such as aligning handlebars and saddles.
More information at ottodesignworks.com.
