I am a newbie - just bought my first road bike (Giant OCR-1_ yesterday. I want to buy a computer pretty quickly but there are a bunch out there :-) So, here's what I am looking for...
Wireless. Well, I THINK I want wireless! Frankly, I'd like to avoid running wires but not at the cost of reliability.
Altimeter. Seems to me that an altimeter is important to be able to record and judge any ride I do. So, I would really like something with this feature.
Rear-mount. I am almost certain that I'll be putting my bike on an indoor trainer in the winter. I am very left brain (need numbers!!!) for motivational purposes. So, being able to use the computer on a trainer will be important.
I'd like to keep the cost to $150 or less if at all possible.
Check out the Ciclosport CM434. It is wireless, has an altimeter and also gives you power output (this based on speed, your weight and degree of incline/decline). Retail is in the $150 neighborhood, but you can probably find it even cheaper than that if you look harder. I used a Ciclosport for a while and found it to be good. I like data too and eventually upgraded to a Polar HRM/cyclecomputer.
Originally posted by martin_j001 Check out the Ciclosport CM434. It is wireless, has an altimeter and also gives you power output (this based on speed, your weight and degree of incline/decline). Retail is in the $150 neighborhood, but you can probably find it even cheaper than that if you look harder. I used a Ciclosport for a while and found it to be good. I like data too and eventually upgraded to a Polar HRM/cyclecomputer.
Jeff
Thanks Martin. The problem I am seeing with a bunch of these computers is that they don't specifically support rear wheel mount. Am I right in saying that, unless otherwise stated, they are designed for front mount? This one doesn't seem to say anything about rear mount either. Aside from that, though, it looks very attractive.
Not sure about rear wheel mounting that one. On the Polar HRM/computer I have, it makes no mention of rear wheel mounting, but I have done it anyways and it works great for me (you can increase the power of the signal being sent from these sensors to the watch--in my case the speed sensor is sending the most powerful signal since it is farthest from the bars/watch. This may be a question to ask the manufacturer (Ciclosport)--how far does it have the capability to transmit a proper signal.
Not sure if you have a heart rate monitor yet, but if not they are worth looking into, especially the hrm/cyclecomputer ones. If you are considering spending $150 on a computer alone, they are worth checking out. For about the same amount, you can get a heart rate monitor with cycling functions all in one unit. Check out the Polar S150 (~$110 retail), S520 (~215 retail). These are nice since they download to a computer and give you lots more numbers and data to work with.
