Hot answers tagged bike-computer
13
I too contemplated using a smartphone as a bike computer and eventually bought a Garmin Edge 800, which I've been very happy with. Here are the advantages it has:
GPS is better. Compare these two GPS traces from a ride my friend and I did yesterday evening (taken from Strava). This is a 2.5km climb, part wooded and part exposed. The first is my Edge 800 ...
13
I have not had much luck with any of the preset settings (on my cateye computers) always using custom. Here is how I recommend to measure the circumference:
Inflate your tire to desired psi
Put a mark of chalk on the garage floor and bike tire
Sit on my bike and roll forward one revolution until the bike tire mark comes back to the floor
Mark the end ...
9
The answer is "both, depending." The majority of current bicycle cyclometers use a reed switch and timer, and measure the time between successive triggerings of the switch as a magnet passes by. An advantage of this method is its simplicity and low cost, though if the magnet is ill-positioned or if the rotational speed of the wheel is too high, the reed ...
8
Because the items are going to have to remain in close proximity, it's unlikely that there is anything that will completely solve your problem, but there are a couple of things you can try.
If the lights are wired, it is possible that the wire is working as an antenna, and you can use a Ferrite Choke or two on the wire.
Tape one near where the wire ...
8
Most of the Garmin Edge series GPS cycling computers can display grade. The Edge 500 and Edge 800 (not the Edge 200) have barometric altimeters to determine altitude. You can then change or add a display data field to show the current grade.
Funny you ask as I just put added the grade as a display field this morning on a hilly ride.
It updates the grade ...
6
I do think that an iPhone and ANT+ makes for a pretty compelling combination. One thing that the dedicated bike GPS hardware has all over a smartphone is battery life.
While you can get better battery life out of a smartphone when logging a ride than most people imagine, it's still not close to the battery life you can get out of dedicated GPS hardware. You ...
6
A wireless computer is capable of all the functions of any wired computer and often more, since any currently sold higher end computer will have wireless as a feature.
A wired computer is capable of most of the same functions. The principle difference is the need to run wiring around your bike. This is a minor issue if you only have a front wheel speed ...
6
Polar's higher end heart rate monitors now offer a foot pod for tracking running distance and a bike computer (wireless as well). The data can be downloaded via the data link. Again, like ttt notes, not inexpensive. But then this level of functionality is alas, never cheap.
I recall there was a Palm Pilot app that had an interface to some common bike ...
6
I use runkeeper app for iphone. The app has an option to pick which type of activity and cycling is an option.
I keep the iphone in my running armband. I didn't want to buy a mount just because of my luck with riding in poor weather and the running band does provide a small amount of protection
The one catch is batter power. On my old 3G I had to turn ...
5
Speedometer = device which measures speed.
Odometer = device which measures distance traveled.
Cycle computers can normally do both (plus many other features you may or may not need).
Are they absolutely necessary for cycling? No, but they can be quite helpful in many cases. When riding long distances (e.g. touring, randonneuring), it's often important ...
5
A lot of the jogging apps will work well for on the bicycle as well, since most of the data collection is done via the GPS. As for the mounts, I've seen this one used a bit and it looks fairly sturdy. Not sure about the attachment to the bars, though.
I would just be careful with the kind of riding you're doing. An iPhone costs $400 to $600 dollars if ...
5
Since you can't fine tune your wheel size, the bike computer likely is estimating your wheel to be larger than it actually is, causing this discrepency. This is because a larger wheel covers more ground per revolution, so over time that adds up to a sizable difference and probably scales pretty evenly with whatever distance you cover. You may need to get a ...
4
I can think of two possible reasons why you might want to use an odometer/speedometer. (Note: sometimes it is also called a cyclometer.)
A. Tracking fitness/training goals (especially if you are into racing).
If you want to compete in an endurance race, you will want to prepare for it by conditioning yourself to cycle consistently at a sustained speed for ...
4
I use my speedo/odo for training purposes.
It has a cadence sensor, so I can keep my cadence at 90rpm.
It has a lap timer, so I can track my pace on the 5k loop I ride on.
It accumulates mileage, so I have a sense of my weekly distance.
The fancy ones have wireless sensors so you don't need to route wires, built in GPS, a heart monitor, a computer ...
4
I'm assuming that when you say the "wheel" has a size of 622x15c listed on it, you mean the rim and not the tire. As others have mentioned, the tire size is what you need. Almost any 700c tire will fit on your rim, assuming that your frame has the clearance to accommodate it. Once you've got your tire on there, check the size listed on it and match it up ...
4
It largerly depends on how you are marking the route in Google Earth and how you actually ride it. There are a couple of factors that introduce small diferencies when measuring distances and their effects are multiplied over distance, so the longer the route, the bigger the difference.
The straight line effect
For example, if I plan my route drawing a line ...
3
Most applications that claim to measure calories burned use a simple equation of your body weight, the time spent at the activity and a (very approximate) number of calories burned per time unit of the activity. I suspect that's where the different results come from.
To get a better estimate of how much energy you have used I'd suggest a power meter. They ...
3
The chief advantage of the wireless is that it doesn't have wires that you have to route, and which can get snagged. In fact, that's probably the only advantage.
When my old wired Cateye gave up the ghost (the cadence sensor basically fell apart), I bought a new Cateye Strada wireless unit, and it's been a bit of a PITA. First unit didn't work at all, ...
3
I've only ever used wired computers because they seemed more reliable. However, I have a friend who uses a wireless computer.
The biggest problem I've observed is that when he starts riding after a rest he has to make sure he 'wakes up' his computer otherwise it won't track the ride until he does. He's forgotten (and lost ride data) often enough that this ...
3
As a plus for Smart-Phone apps, they are likely to progress quicker, add features faster, fix bugs faster, and provide more frequent version updates than GPS units.
Another plus for smart-phones is that I'll take my cell phone on a long road ride anyway in case of emergency. Carrying 1 device is easier than 2.
A plus for a GPS unit is that it is probably ...
3
The three main advantages of a dedicated bike computer is battery life, reliability, and visibility.
Only a handful of smartphones I've used can consistently run for 5+ hours with the GPS on. It would really suck to be 30 miles from home with a dead battery. Cycling computers can often run 10+ hours with a GPS.
Some smartphone/app combos have questionable ...
3
The most detailed account/details I've come across for building your own bike computer is here on PIClist.
Those pages contain detailed instructions for building a bike computer using a PIC microcontroller linked to a Hall Effect Sensor (it detects the magnet attached to a spoke as the wheel spins). In addition to the build details it also features a ...
3
I use a Cateye Strada Wireless on my mountain bike. It's taken quite a bit of abuse and hasn't let me down yet. My only complaint is that it's easy to reset your trip info by accidentally leaning on the computer for a few seconds. This can be seen as a benefit as well, as it's easy to reset your distance if you're navigating and need to know how far until ...
3
I won't ever go back to not riding with a non GPS bike computer.
I've used the Garmin Edge 500 for almost a year and have used a Garmin wrist watch to record before that. Having the computer on the stem is much better than my wrist.
I have never used a bike GPS for navigation, just as a bike computer to show speed, distance, cadence, HR and power (ANT+ ...
3
Think of a cyclocomputer as a hardwired combination of a calculator, a quartz-clock, and a dedicated CPU working with a buffer.
EDIT TO A MORE PLAUSIBLE ALGORITHM:
Each time the magnet closes the reed-switch, a request is sent to the clock to capture a time-stamp, a time-stamped event is sent to a buffer, and the wheel circumference is added to the current ...
3
Cell phones, usually not. Some applications will attempt to massage the data using elevation information provided from third-parties, but its a crapshoot at best. A dedicated GPS with a barometric altimeter is probably your best bet. I can't really speak to their level of accuracy, but it's certainly better than other practical options.
If you just want ...
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