Road Cycling - Thing that measures Hill grades

I am losing my mind.... nothing new there:D

What are the things called that you can get for your bike that measure the grade or steepness of hills? and are there any good cheap ones out there?

Thanks
Charlie

it's called an inclinometer I believe... I'm not sure how accurate they are, or price.. I've never used one... they are interesting though

Jeff

ya thats it! here is one for 29.95

http://www.velimpex.com/about_inclinometer.php?pg=inclinometer&secpg=about_inclinometer&PHPSESSID=a1dedbfab2a739be25de03d72cb27e1c

Personallly I just use degrees of pain ;)

Originally posted by Richard D
Personallly I just use degrees of pain ;)

ya I am thinking that too;) but there are some hills that I go on that I would love to know what the grade is

usually the more stories you tell about them, the steeper they get.:D

Originally posted by chaztrip
ya thats it! here is one for 29.95

http://www.velimpex.com/about_inclinometer.php?pg=inclinometer&secpg=about_inclinometer&PHPSESSID=a1dedbfab2a739be25de03d72cb27e1c
Ah, yes. I've seen those. They look quiet dorky. Are there any electronic ones?

Yes, there are electronic ones but are they better than that $30 one... Can't really say, they all generally need about 50meters to give you an indication of %grade, which is not as instant as your simple bubble in water!.

For example, you can get a $150 Ciclosport CM-434 which has an altimeter, and a % grade indicator on it, as well as temperature and the usual cyclocomputer functions and it'll tell you % up or % down, the total climbing and descent. Honestly, I think the $30 inclometer is more accurate just by knowing that the $150 one uses barometric pressure to measure altitude. I trust the distance but the rise may be suspect.

Having said that, the % climbing and descending is a great feature but I would allow for a decent margin of error.

Jay

I think I'd prefer not to know. When I find out that what I haul my butt up isn't straight vertical but a 6% grade, I'll be crying myself to sleep.

In that case, you should definitely buy the $30 inclometer but you should install it in such a way that the Angliru turns into a freewheel descent!! :D

Jay

I think the simple is the best. If your worryed about being a dork, don't use one. Then again, thinking about it is probably a dork thing so I guess it is too late :)

Just kidding...

If you want to go non-simple, get a GPS instead... That way you go 100% the other way. Something like the Garmin This won't give you percent grade immediatly, but it will record the data and then you can plot it later.

Personally I do it off-line using Delorme's TOPO USA and simply plot my route and then do a "profile" of the area which will tell me all kinds of info... Average grade, miles of climbing, max altitude and so forth...

I think the simple is the best. If your worryed about being a dork, don't use one. Then again, thinking about it is probably a dork thing so I guess it is too late :)

I wasn't telling anyone to follow my philosophy! I just said that I think that it looks dorky to me, and yes i do think it is dorky. Why does it make you so uncomfortable? I'm not criticizing your way of thinking of "simple is the best". i might as well say that if you like "simple" you can go back in time and live in the stone age. Will that be simple enough for you? :)
Just kidding..........

I accept your "just kidding" Didn't mean anything about the dork stuff either.

But I am a DORK :) :p