Getting ready get a cat eye for this newer bike. Is there anything better out there?
I'd like
* something that shows up at night
* waterproof of course
* on-board bell or horn
* accurate
* reports rear cassette gear

I don't need a heart monitor attachment but GPS would be nice!

Keep dreaming... Specialized makes one that has a backlight, cadence, is waterproof and accurate... but can't report rear cassette gear. Shimano's Flight Deck gives you all of the above minus a backlight and the bell/horn. I have a Cateye Astrale which doesn't show up at night nor does it have a bell/horn nor does it report the rear cassete gear. I think you're asking a bit much. ;) Only shimano's Flightdeck and Campy's Ergobrain (which actually tie into the shifter) will be able to report what gear you're in.

Hi,

* something that shows up at night
- Somebody makes a little light designed to do this. A light in the computer will drain the battery too fast

* waterproof of course
There are degrees of waterproof-ness. Few have problems with rain.
* on-board bell or horn
-battery drain, if anybody did such a thing I don't think anyone does
* accurate
- accuracy depends more on a good wheel measurement than anything else. These are computer chips, and the math is simple.

* reports rear cassette gear
-this will limit your choices. Personally, I don't see the point


I don't need a heart monitor attachment but GPS would be nice!
- Start looking at GPS websites, and see if you can't find guys who have them on their bikes.

-- I have a Planet Bike speedo. It's cheap, especially if you get an older version. It shows a ton of info on the screen at all times.
Best of all, it turns itself on. Having 'lost' a bunch of miles from forgetting to turn the computer on; I refuse to buy a computer that doesn't turn itself on. I don't want to fiddle with it in traffic; so having the pertinent info on the screen at all times is a real plus.
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/...tegory_ID=4110

Sigma make that little "dashboard light" - my housemate has one. Nice green LED glow, lasts for ages. Neat piece of trick kit, that.

I've NEVER heard of a computer with an onboard noisemaker. Just get the bell you like - or an Air Zound.

If you're looking at one that tells you about your current gear, you need to get something that's tied into the shifters - Campag ErgoBrain or the top-end Shimano toy, depending on what you have. Do you *need* that? Could you instead fit inline indicators?

The horn would be nice for an occasional honk...I'm not sure I need a whole separate unit/can for a 1Xmonth honk. My point is that if everything is so simple why can't one unit "do it all".

The shift indicator would be helpful instead of constantly looking down to compare speed with the current gear. I find that looking back at the cassette confuses some drivers into thinking I'm going to shift lanes.

What is a fit inline indicator?

I have a Cateye speedometer with altimeter - it has a button on the side that lights the display for a few seconds. When the battery isnt new the current taken by the light kills the display, so I dont bother with it when riding at night. It does however have nice large numbers on the display. I think you will do better with a light on your helmet which will also show you where you are going, and make you visible to cars. It doesnt matter which gear you are in. If your legs hurt change down, and if your lungs hurt change up.

perhaps a car??

As for showing up at night, I have an LED headlight on my helmet, so I can see what I look at.

My GPS gives distance, speed, lit screen, time to destination, is waterproof, is bike mountable, and lets you see exactly where you are on your route. If you really want all that. With GPS, you can store multiple routes, too, if you want. Kinda geeky, but fun too. Rear wheel accuracy is a non issue with something that's accurate to about three feet. No horn though.

DocJ, What GPS do you have?

I think the poster was asking you if you couldn't just simply install inline optical gear displays. These are small cylindrical units that mount inline with your shift cables and positioned near your shifters. The look like the "bubble" inside a level. Inside them is a little red indicator that moves back and forth based on cable pull. The housing of the clear cylinder is graduated to allow you to determine what gear you're in. They are available for both front and rear shifters and work with both nine and ten speed setups.

Take a look at this Exploded View of the Shimano ST-7800 shifter and note item #14.

I just bought a Cateye wireless model for around $50. It works great, but I was disappointed that the size of the type indicating the modes (odo, av. speed, etc.) was so small I could barely read it. The numbers were ok in size, but some of the numbers are so close to the edge of the display, they are hardly readable, especially if it's a 1. Before you buy one, check out the size of the type and how close to the edge it is. Having had mine a while, I can look at the numbers and pretty much tell what mode I'm in, but I'd prefer to see the type designations too.

I still can't recommend the db4lw enough as a wireless unit. Massive LCD display with massive digits, multi-line display... and CHEAP.

$22 CDN at MEC.
http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_d...Eprd_id=748239

I would only buy a better comp if it had wireless cadence as well. But I don't need cadence so.

You can get clamp on led snake style lights for that

Most if not all already are.

Seperate loud ass ringer is about $2.

As Late said depends on how well YOU calibrate it for your own setup. They're essentially the exact same thing on every bike comp, some display more decimal places. Db4lw reports down to the meter

No idea why you need this...

Over the weekend, I bought the Cateye Astrale...$40 disappointing.
Ideally, it would have been nice to see the correlation between MPH, Cadance and the gear. This unit shows cadance OR mph, not both.

Guess it's better than nothing.

My girlfriend's got the same one. She says you can set it up to show both cadance and mph at once.

By "shows up at night" I'm assuming you mean you want it to be backlit and visible to oncoming traffic.
So here's what you do, get a specialized turbo pro computer with backlight, cadence, is waterproof, accurate, then you tape it over a shimano flightdeck so it blocks everything but the gear indicators.
Then you buy a sigma bike computer light and mount it next to that to show the gear indicators. Then under the flightdeck you duct-tape a cateye EL400 blinker onto it. Next to the blinker, you zip-tie an airzond air horn.Now you take the whole package and duct tape it next to a Magellen GPS and zip-tie that onto the wrist band of your Polar HRM cyclocomputer and wear it on your wrist.
Oh god, you better have one helluva beefy wrist..

Mine seems to toggle between MPH and Cadance. Hmmm... I better have a look at those directions again.

I have a Magellan Sportrack Pro. There are newer models with more bells and whistles and color screens, also altitude and such, but mine if great for me.

It toggles between mph and cadance. But you have 2 lines.
Have the top line (the big #) show cadance, and the bottom line show speed.
Pressing the start-top button switches the large number between speed and cadance. Then you cycle the lower one to show either speed or cadance (it's the opposite of the big number) with the mode button.

kuhl...can't wait to check this out on the return trip...if it's still light out.The MPH relationship to cadance (and just looking down to see the gear) is good enough.