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Genuinely new products are rare these days, but as the first fully integrated smart handlebar, Flitedeck will supposedly bring something completely different to high-end cycling. This carbon-fiber handlebar has a 180 x 70-millimeter IP68 waterproof, hi-res touchscreen and cycling computer with GPS navigation, linking with fitness and cycling peripherals, security, crash detection, lights, smartphone connectivity, and even training modes.
Yet, looking beyond the achingly cool, future-forward design, we're struck by the fact nobody has thought to invent it before. Yes, the latest electric bikes often have digital displays, and as a child of the 1980s all I ever wanted was a Raleigh Vektar (complete with sound effects, speedometer, and FM radio), but even the most premium race bike still relies on a rather inelegant handlebar-mounted bike computer.
Not so with Flitedeck. It looks to be an altogether more elegant solution. By using Wi-Fi and an E-sim, downloads such as GPS navigation and training data can be done wirelessly and from anywhere with a phone signal. The specially developed wireless chip (Bluetooth ANT+), like the bike computers it’s looking to replace, will support all common cycling sensors, including power meters and those measuring speed, cadence, and heart rate. Compatibility with products such as the Garmin Varia radar also mean you can be alerted to approaching traffic from behind. Early plans to feature a rear-view mirror camera have been shelved though for now.
After getting hooked on road cycling in 2020, cofounder Sabrina Fischer was annoyed that she had to mount ugly bike lights and computers to her beautiful aerodynamic bike—so the idea for Flitedeck was born. Together with her cofounder, Matthias Huber, she started to investigate, as Fischer explains to WIRED: “We asked ourselves, why couldn’t handlebars function like a car’s cockpit? We thought there just had to be a more integrated, more connected solution.”
When asked why the cycling industry hadn’t done this seemingly obvious upgrade already, Huber says that “electronics just isn’t their focal point. They understand carbon-fiber manufacturing, aluminum, and quality control, but there’s rarely an electronics department, and when parts are required [with EV bikes, for example], they just buy them in from brands like Bosch.”
What makes the German duo think they can build state-of-the-art racing handlebars, let alone one with an integrated smart computer? Well, Fischer interned at BMW and wrote her thesis on race car electrification while working at Porsche, where she helped develop the front axle of the Porsche 911 GT3, no less. She has also worked for Automobili Pininfarina, Roborace, the now-shuttered autonomous EV racing arm of Arrival. Huber has also worked at BMW, Porsche, Roborace, and Blackwave, a carbon-fiber manufacturing specialist.
“There will be a manufacturer for most of the electronics, but for the composite parts of Flitedeck, we will manufacture ourselves in Germany, as this gives the most freedom with prototyping,” says Huber. “With our background it’s relatively easy for us to engineer carbon fiber parts, and the same goes for software development. There is not an external partner involved at the moment.”
At an estimated 28 ounces (800 grams) the Flitedeck handlebar isn’t especially light. A carbon fiber race-bike handlebar can weigh as little as 5.6 ounces (160 g), but it’s worth remembering that the popular Hammerhead Karoo 2 bike computer weighs 8.5 ounces (241 g), including the mount, while separate lights will add a little more to the weight. It’s not ideal for a weight-obsessed industry, but Huber admits that the predicted weight is “quite pessimistic,” and they hope to shave off as much as 80 g before launch.
Charging the Flitedeck requires a USB-C, and battery life is expected to be 20 to 30 hours. Having to plug the bike into a socket might seem like an inconvenience to most, but this is a premium kit designed for serious cyclists who, chances are, already have electronic gear shifters that need charging. What you can’t do, however, is swap the handlebars between road, MTB, or gravel bikes like you can a standard bike computer. Or, for that matter, upgrade to a new device when you fancy trying something different.
Fischer and Huber may well have the engineering chops and electronic know-how to build a Flitedeck prototype and market it with superb quality renders. But as the 51 percent of Kickstarter projects that fail to hit their funding targets will tell you, a good idea is only the start. Making a success of it requires funding, and lots of it. And for this, Flitedeck’s financing has come from an altogether more unusual route: OnlyFans.
“When we first started to take the project seriously, we knew that a solid presence on social media would be crucial,” says Huber. As such, Fischer’s Instagram page was launched four years ago—long before any prototyping—as a way to build an engaged audience. It’s a slow-burn approach, but one helped by the fact Fischer takes her cycling seriously, and, as they soon discovered, there’s quite a thirst online for content involving chainsets, lycra, and leaving little to the imagination.
The pair analyzed the available funding options and, wanting maximum control without losing equity to investors, decided to give OnlyFans a try. And as it turns out, Fischer has a knack for it. In the year and a half since joining she has made her way to the top 0.19 percent of creators worldwide. What does that equate to financially? According to this post on Medium, the top 10-percent of OnlyFans content creators make more than $1,000 a month, and the top 1 percent make more than $6,000 every month. The top 0.1 percent? Over $100,000 a month.
OnlyFans takes a 20 percent commission on all earnings. Compared to Kickstarter and Indiegogo, both of which take a 5 percent fee from the total amount raised for successfully funded projects, plus a processing fee close to the same again, it is perhaps a simpler way to raise funds. If you can, and are prepared to do what it takes to make it work, the Flitedeck route offers no restrictive rules and no need to give up equity. Yes, it’s unconventional and clearly not a funding path for the many, but for Fischer and Huber it works.
And while Fischer was building her now sizable online presence, they were both working on the prototype for Flitedeck: tooling carbon fiber, negotiating with cycling brands and chip and screen manufacturers, and writing software for what is essentially a proprietary smartphone lodged into your handlebars.
How has the cycling world taken to Flitedeck's approach? “Let’s say it’s been 80 percent positive,” says Huber. “Obviously there’s the odd comment, but every comment, good or bad, gives you reach.” The corporate social media accounts for Flitedeck don’t reflect Sabrina’s more specialist content, and they’re happy to admit that “it’s just a way to get it going, and importantly, we still have 100 percent equity. Most tech startups sell 20, 30, 40 percent within the first one and a half years, but we’re able to go to market without ever going into the red.”
Which leads us neatly back to the prelaunch and Flitedeck’s modest goal of selling 500 preorders to be able to fully kick off production for delivery in Q2 2026. They haven't hit 500 yet, but Huber says that, regardless, the product will be made. “Even if we don't achieve the 500 direct-to-consumer sales, we will be able to finalize Flitedeck development thanks to our B2B orders,” he says, adding that Flitedeck now has a “well-known” bike brand associated with the UCI WorldTour as an investor, though they are not yet ready to make the announcement.
At $1,694 ($2,382 expected retail, and about the same in USD), Flitedeck isn’t a cheap bike peripheral, but in an industry where people happily spend thousands on seat posts, wheels, and groupsets, it’s surprisingly within reach.
However, before next year's deliveries, Flitedeck’s corporate coffers could get significantly healthier if enough Sabrina stans opt for the $26,400 Ultimate Adventure package that includes Flitedeck plus four nights luxury accommodation, a bespoke after-movie, exclusive Sabrina phone and PC wallpapers, and a personal cycle with Fischer.
