Originally Posted by
Raptor1956
A digital level, or for that matter, any level, is not going to work as you would like if the bike is moving. A level is fine if the bike is stationary, but as soon as it begins to move the measurement of inclination will be effected by acceleration and a moving bike is ALWAYS accelerating.
You exaggerate the problem.
Yes, acceleration and deceleration will affect the results. But not very much -- you get up to speed and while you'll speed up and slow down a bit with each pedal stroke, the meter will find an average value. (This might become a problem if you're standing on the pedals in a high gear and a low cadence powering up the hill, but it might not too.)
The meter
will be inaccurate as you accelerate and brake, but most of the time you're trying to go a pretty average speed.
Some of the cycle computers calculate grade (inclination) by measuring the elevation change over the distance change but they are not going to be accurate to any supper fine degree over a short distance.
Yes, my Garmin Edge 705 does this. Its reasonably accurate as long as the hill is long and steady and I'm going reasonably fast, but there's a significant lag.
Something that actually measure the angle your bike is at is likely to be more accurate with less lag. Depending on how it's designed, it may require a few seconds of pretty constant speed to settle, but most hills that you'd really care about take more than a few seconds to climb anyways.