Getting data out of a Bosch e-bike
 

Hi,

I recently got a Canyon Grizl On:Fly e-bike and I love it, but I'm having trouble getting data out of it.

The Bosch flow app on my phone has all the data I need, except heart rate. I don't see how to get heart rate data into the Flow app. My Garmin head unit connects easily to my heart rate monitor, but I cannot get it to see any of the data produced by the Flow app. So I end up with two data files, one with heart rate and nothing else, the other with everything BUT heart rate.

I know there are websites that stich .fit files together. Are there any that you recommend? Alternatively, is there anyway for my Garmin unit (840) to connect to the bike and get the data it needs? Both support Bluetooth, but I can't see how to make them talk to each other, or to aggregate their data. It can't be this hard to just get all your data in one place, surely?

I'd rather not have my phone on the handlebars, because the battery will get even more tired than me. I was hoping/expecting/being delusional that my Garmin would just connect to the bike and off we'd go, but it doesn't seem to be that easy. Can anyone help?

- Pasta

Your Edge must be able to tap into the Bosch interface and 1. display ride data in real time and 2. upload the summary into Connect.

My TQ drive does that and it's an obscure brand compared to Bosch. TQ does not offer an equivalent to Flow, just the on-bike display.

Yes, I'm afraid that's what I thought too, but it looks like Bosch take a walled-garden approach. Their app will give me all the data from the bike, but will not connect to a heart rate monitor, which is flat-out stupid in my opinion. I really hate it when manufacturers en****tify their products to force you to use their solutions, and then do not offer a workable solution. Ho-hum, first-world problems I guess.

- Pasta

You should be able to connect both, I have an e-bike that has connected a ton of sensors together and works fine. I haven't tried it on my Bosch bike yet but I know talking to the Bosch rep a few years ago it would have worked but sadly they couldn't connect the Nyon to the Radar systems yet but Smart System should be good to go on that front. I would see if your local Bosch dealer could reach out to one of their level 2 support people for you.

Yes, I too have bikes and e-bikes that connect easily to Garmin, but it does seem that Bosch are deliberately making it difficult. It shouldn't take a level-2 tech support person to make Add Sensor...E-bike actually work, and the fact that it works with non-Bosch bikes but not with Bosch makes me angry with Bosch, despite the product itself being excellent. They really should have said 'does not work with Garmin and other third-party vendors' if they are deliberately making that the case. It would certainly have influenced my buying decision. There is no reason, beyond a corporate en****tification strategy, for this state of affairs. But, 'tis a first-world problem, caveat emptor

Woah, relax...I said level Two simply because they are knowledgeable in their field and make it easier for a shop that knows what they are doing. It wasn't some screed about needing them to make it happen and level one couldn't figure it out. It is a simple Bosch level 2 support is really excellent and level 1 is great but is the 10 steps method which we would have already done. Plus they did our Bosch Training and were always there for our questions. It was just nice knowing a name and face. Nothing against level 1 and I bet they probably could help answer the question but I prefer the level 2 folks because I could go a bit deeper in my questions.

I have a feeling your bike would probably work just fine and if I had the opportunity to work on it we could probably get it all talking together. I know when I set up my Wahoo heart rate it was relatively painless but then I would just forget to use it so I never really got a ton of data from it.

Not really a first world problem at all since Bosch E-bikes and Garmin heart rate monitors didn't exist in the Cold war era which has been over for 30+ years. Bosch was a company but not making e-bikes yet and Garmin started at the absolute tail end of the cold war but wasn't doing cycling products yet. I know people use that in common language but it is always so silly using old cold war terms to describe things that are unrelated to the actual terms.

I completely feel your pain on this one! It is incredibly frustrating when you spend good money on a premium bike and a top-tier Garmin unit, only to find out they refuse to play nicely together because of a "walled-garden" software approach.It definitely feels like a step backward when older or lesser-known systems manage to integrate just fine. Fingers crossed Bosch eventually pushes a firmware update to open up their ecosystem to standard Garmin/HR sensors, but like you said, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Hope you manage to find a decent .fit file stitcher in the meantime. Hang in there!