General Cycling Discussion - Inclinometer

Ive heard people talk about how to find out the gradients of the hills they climb. I just kind of stumbled onto to this. Anyone else think it would be useful?
Inclinometer (http://www.velimpex.com/about_inclinometer.php?pg=inclinometer&secpg=about_inclinometer)

I think they're pretty cool, but I just can't justify the price. I would like to have one when I do the 3-gap 50-mile ride in September up in the GA mountains.

Zack

I've got a inclinometer on my roadbike. It's not very fancy for the price but it works. I ordered it from Adventure Cycling. https://www.adventurecycling.org/cgi-shl/webc.exe/advsales/st_prod.html?p_prodid=554&sid=4p1mFCim

hillyman,

I'm interested in getting one of these. Do you ever find that some hills are too steep for this inclinometer? I live in Denver and I would like to use something like this in the mountains.

The steepest I've ridden up was 14% . Theres one hill thats suppose to be 20% but I haven't tried it yet. 20% is the max for the inclinometer. These are just hills around here,not too tall but some are steep. I bet you have some monsters were you are at!

I bought one of these things (AUD$50!!!).

And to be honest, they are not very good.

Some problems are -
1. the mount is very poor. It basically just uses a self tapping screw into plastic. After awhile, the plastic "thread" erodes out - and the whole thing is stuffed. If you do not unclamp the thing very often - ie just put it on the bike and leave it there - then it is probably ok. But this is a definite weak point.

2. It is VERY hard to align properly. When on flat ground, you adjust the thing back and forth on the handlebars so it reads 0. Even though I have the thing clamped fairly well, this seems to vary all over the place on every single ride.

3. Because it uses a bubble, it is affected by accceleration on the bike. You see it as you take off - the bubble moves back slowly (ie the angle gets less). This is not a big problem on hills are you are usually going at a steady speed. But it does affect the reading - especially if you are trying to zero the thing on flat ground as you are riding.

4. It is very hard to read unless you are right on top of the thing - not too good unless you are on a road bike (where you are bent over more).

I have found that the only real times I use it is when I am walking up a hill. I usually then remember to have a look - and also you have more time. I find that I rarely even look at the thing while I am concentrating on doing the climb itself - it is usually too hard to do anything else.

So while in theory it is a good idea, in practice I find that it is fairly useless.

You can build one yourself....... http://www-graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/bike-grade.html

Cute......now all I need is an automotive ball compass on the other side of the bar...

Originally posted by hillyman
The steepest I've ridden up was 14% . Theres one hill thats suppose to be 20% but I haven't tried it yet. 20% is the max for the inclinometer. These are just hills around here,not too tall but some are steep. I bet you have some monsters were you are at!

Thanks hillyman. Yes, the foothill and mountain roads can get quite steep. That's why I would like some way of knowing what the grade is on these climbs.

kneighbour, your input was very informative. I wonder if altimeters are any better?