achoo

Alcohol-induced is best.

Homebrew01

Yup. And since I'm not racing now, time is the only thing I glance at before I leave, and when I get back.

dralways

Distance, time, temp, wind, maybe elav. In that order, nothing else really matters.

OldsCOOL

Elevation readout helps explain the subtle temptation to downshift.

achoo

It comes down to why you're using the bike computer.

If you're using it for training with power, especially intervals, I'd say you need 3s power, avg lap power, cadence, and lap time. Nothing else really matters for interval training with power. Cadence can be needed because certain intervals can be done at a specific cadence, too. For longer base rides, total time or time of day is nice so you can get to where you want to finish your ride when you want to finish it.

During a race, the only thing that matters is when you cross the finish line. But I use power and HR numbers to make sure I don't blow up and get myself dropped. Sometimes it even works. So to keep my screen consistent so I know where to look when I'm O2 deprived, I put HR on my interval screen and use it during races too. I don't like HR zone at all because HR really isn't fixed. Some days it runs high, and some days it runs low.

For non-competitive just riding around, whatever you want.

TrojanHorse

That's why it's so handy to have multiple pages.

cellery

EXACTLY. More zero is always more relevant zero.

cellery

If/when I get around to buying a power meter, I plan to print out readings from the previous ride and peruse them while on the current ride. Meditate on THAT.

TheSame

Speed, distance, cadence, time, elapse time, Elevation, Grade %.

I don't like using multiple pages. so.. I put all the stuff I look at 1% of the time on the 2nd page.
Totals.. averages.

Hoping to have a power meter one day.

ovoleg

in a race:
-time elapsed
-speed

If I know the time elapsed I can better gauge how much longer till the lap cards come and wether or not I want to make a big effort. I turn all the other crap off cause its pointless, I don't look down at my headunit during a crit very often other than to glance at time. I don't use speed but I look down at it if I feel like we're going slow or way fast.

training:
-3 second power
-instantaneous power
-Lap NP
-Lap Avg Power
-Elapsed Time

^^ this is what I have on 90% of the time and I don't switch from it. Once in awhile I'll switch to the other screen to glance at overall NP/overall avg Power/distance/overall time/elevation.

People get too caught up in dumb data such as cadence, elevation gain, distance etc.

velocity

Just saw that they came out with a Garmin 1000 now. Wifi and larger screen.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/own-ro...110000815.html

dtrain

^ nice. That's like salmon compared to your carp.

velocity

LOL No shizzat...
For those guys with Di2 that can't remember what gear they are in, there is a gear read out on the screen. OK... isn't that like electronic Sora?

Dave Cutter

When I started cycling.... everyone would ask "How far do you ride?" or "How many miles have you ridden [so far] this year?". So I bought a cheapie simple computer to find out the answers to the questions that actually made me curious. Soon afterwards... I started a paper log that allows me to further breakdown the numbers. I have separate cheapie computers on my winter and my back-up bicycle.

I've thought many times about switching to an app of some sort run on my smart phone. I am very techie in most areas. Even my home is automated and runs via computer control [which I can also control by my phone]. But with the bicycles... I really appreciate the simple old ways.

Wrenchy Veloski

Pages 1-3 of my 500. I leave it on the first page while in motion. If I ever get a power meter it's readings will replace 'time of day'. I will then use all five pages! *Dr. Evil face*

turky lurkey

In the past I haven't used a cyclometer, but I just put a cheap wired Cateye Strada on my bike this morning. After riding 45 miles with it, I have to say that thing is like some kind of little devil telling me to hurry up. It has the basic features, speed, avg speed, max speed, distance, elapsed time. That's pretty much good enough, though I think it would be nice to also know the elevation gain since I am trying to ride as many hills as I can, and I would like to know if my elevation gain is comparable to the event I am training for. The feature I dislike the most is the fact that the thing stops counting average speed, (I think it also stops elapsed time) when you stop. I know many people probably like that because it helps you feel faster, but it's nice to know what the actual average speed is if you are training for long rides and want to set goals for century's and things where you will be stopping to go to the bathroom, eat, whatever. I guess for racers it's nice that it stops because races don't stop for lights or anything else. Of course you can always figure it out by noting the time you start, but it's easy to forget to do that.

Drew Eckhardt 

I have

Speed
3 second power, distance
heart rate, cadence

on the first screen.

On my interval screen

speed, lap time
lap distance, distance
3 second power, lap power
heart rate, cadence

Speed isn't too useful but old habits die hard.