By Samantha Kupiainen
An avid bicyclist, Carmel resident Paul Huang was frustrated that Indiana winters don’t always allow for riding outdoors. So, he engineered an indoor bike – called Allerbi – that makes him feel like he’s riding outside from the comfort of his basement.
Huang started working on Allerbi in November 2019 and quickly realized he’d have to leave his full-time job in engineering if he wanted his bike to hit the sales floor. So, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began in early 2020, Huang went all-in with Allerbi. Four years later, he plans for his latest model, Allerbi Upright, to hit the market in late spring or early summer.
Some of Allerbi’s features include resistance designed to make riders feel like they’re outside. Allerbi’s resistance can match road slope and wind speed for whatever route the rider selects. The overall goal is to mirror a realistic and immersive outdoor riding experience.
The bike also has real-time, two-way interaction. The road responds instantly to the rider pedaling, and the road movement speed changes as pedaling speed changes. The rider feels all the resistance changes, further adding to the immersive experience.
Allerbi Upright has dual displays, with the main screen projecting on the user’s television.
For now, Allerbi is only available online. In the future, Huang wants to sell it at retailers. For now, Huang said it’s hard to believe that the bike he’s been working on for four years is finally launching.
“It feels pretty complicated,” Huang said. “I’m really excited that the product is at this stage, and we know it’s good and we love it and we’re confident. I’m feeling anxious because we’re doing the external funding to make this happen because it involves hardware, and it will have other things like manufacturing and supply chain; that’s some pretty expensive work to the investors. I’m very happy and very excited about this, but at the same time, I feel anxious, and I know there’s still a bunch of work to do to make this bike successful and to get it in people’s houses.”
Allerbi is available online at allerbi.com for $2,395.
