bike computer

In article <[email hidden]>,

KM said:

Folks,
Just returning to the road bike scene after many years away. I am looking
for advice on buying a bike computer (speedometer). It would appear that Cat
Eye is one of the leading companies. Good units? Any better equipped units
on the market?
Can anyone give me some advice as to what I am looking for? Wired vs.
wireless?
I will be riding 4-5 times per week. No competition just personal biking.
I am a little overwhelmed with the many units out there.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks!

Kyle

Buy the cheapest one.

No, seriously. There's not much that screws up on these things, except
maybe water resistance. The current value leader seems to be a Filzer
computer available in three versions, which locally go for about
C$15-25. The top model, amazingly, is a wireless computer with wired
cadence.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

Group: rec.bicycles.misc
Date: Sun, Sep 24, 2006, 2:31am (EDT+4)
From: [email hidden] (KM)

Quoted message said:

It would appear that Cat Eye is one of
the leading companies. Good units? Any
better equipped units on the market?

Quoted message said:

Can anyone give me some advice as to
what I am looking for? Wired vs.
wireless?

Quoted message said:

I will be riding 4-5 times per week. No
competition just personal biking. I am a
little overwhelmed with the many units
out there.

Quoted message said:

Any help would be appreciated.
thanks!

Quoted message said:

Kyle

I have never hab any luck with CatEye, but that was quite a while ago. I
like the CicloSport altimeter bike 'puter's, but that's mainly because
it shows road gradient (steepness). But it's way too complex a unit for
your stated needs.

They do make simpler units, both wired and wireless (note: most wireless
units do not have a cadence (pedal RPM) function). CicloSport and Avocet
are the ones I've use(d). both served me well.

- -
Comments and opinions compliments of,
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

My web Site:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

Messages sent to the above "E" addy will be lost forever
to E-mail me:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

KM said:

Folks,
Just returning to the road bike scene after many years away. I am looking
for advice on buying a bike computer (speedometer). It would appear that Cat
Eye is one of the leading companies. Good units? Any better equipped units
on the market?
Can anyone give me some advice as to what I am looking for? Wired vs.
wireless?

Another vote for going with the cheapest. Wireless is easier to deal
with, but wired is less likely to be influenced y overhead power lines or
other riders' computers. Mine sometimes reports a bogus max speed
because of this kind of interference. OTOH wired units have wires, which
need to be routed to the sensor, and can sometimes get caught in branches
or while putting the bike in your car, and break.

Other than that these things are great. They actually work, are accurate,
and do not interfere in any way with your riding. IMO don't bother with
cadence unless you are training for something specific, too many wires to
mess with.

Decent ones cost $20, more or less. You pay way more for heart rate, or
altimeters of dubious accuracy. Most have many more "functions" than you
will use.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | Let's not escape into mathematics. Let's stay with reality. --
_`\(,_ | Michael Crichton
(_)/ (_) |

In article <[email hidden]>,

David L. Johnson said:

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 02:31:51 +0000, KM wrote:

Quoted message said:

Another vote for going with the cheapest.

The cheapest of all is no computer at all.

Cycle-computers are useless, except for
satisfying passing, casual interest.
If you want to time your commute to work,
a cheap ol' $10 wristwatch and a map does
the trick.

If you really wanna be rated while doing crits
or sumpthin', a trainer with a clipboarded
checklist & stopwatch is the thing.

cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

"KM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Folks,
Just returning to the road bike scene after many years away. I am looking
for advice on buying a bike computer (speedometer). It would appear that
Cat
Eye is one of the leading companies. Good units? Any better equipped units
on the market?
Can anyone give me some advice as to what I am looking for? Wired vs.
wireless?
I will be riding 4-5 times per week. No competition just personal biking.
I am a little overwhelmed with the many units out there.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks!

Kyle

Well the bike-computers techincally all work OK.
The first problem is figuring out how to setup the suckers. Some bike
computers just do not seem to be intuitive at all (poor instructions?),
whereas other models, one can set up no problem at all.
The second is the wired versus wireless models. Wireless models tend to run
down the batteries much faster than the wired models. A wireless model may
get 40 hours or so before you run down the battery but it depends. The wired
models are like wristwatches, they tend to run for over a year. The
batteries that ship with the computers are the cheapest lowest quality
batteries they can get, so those batteries run down on you very fast. be
prepared to replace those batteries really soon.
A final minor problem is radio interference with the wireless ones,
sometimes radio and TV transmitter antennas, high tension lines, amatuer
radio, a construction maintenance truck and so on near to you can cause
erratic readings. I just had this happen last week with a city electric
utility truck stopped near me and it made the computer read 10mph when I was
stopped at a traffic light. Then when the batteries get low, you may get
problems with high speed readings. When I was doing the Muenster, Texas
Germanfest ride, my computer stated I was going 139 mph down the big hill on
the ride. It was one good hill though, much more fun going down than to have
to go up it.

Great feedback!

I will take all of the replies into consideration. Hopefully I can be of
some help to one of you in the future.

Kyle
"KM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Folks,
Just returning to the road bike scene after many years away. I am

looking

Quoted message said:

for advice on buying a bike computer (speedometer). It would appear that

Cat

Quoted message said:

Eye is one of the leading companies. Good units? Any better equipped units
on the market?
Can anyone give me some advice as to what I am looking for? Wired vs.
wireless?
I will be riding 4-5 times per week. No competition just personal

biking.

Quoted message said:

I am a little overwhelmed with the many units out there.

Any help would be appreciated.

thanks!

Kyle

On Sun, 24 Sep 2006 00:08:05 -0400, [email hidden]
(Chris Y.F.N.W.) wrote:

[---]

Quoted message said:

I have never hab any luck with CatEye, but that was quite a while ago. I
like the CicloSport altimeter bike 'puter's, but that's mainly because
it shows road gradient (steepness). But it's way too complex a unit for
your stated needs.

I also like the Ciclo units.

Quoted message said:

They do make simpler units

This one:

<http://ciclosport.de/eng/html/katalog/cm211.htm>

(wired, 11 functions) may be close to what the OP is looking for.

i use a Garmin Fortrex 101 - GPS [under $100 on Ebay]

good information on Amazon.com

easily straps to handlebar with foam

waterboy