Originally Posted by
AzTallRider
And how do you improve your pedal stroke? The two exercises most commonly used are One Legged Pedaling, and spin ups. For a one legged pedaling drill, you normally want to maintain a specific cadence, and increase that over time. Spin ups are all about cadence, and maintaining the fastest smooth pedal motion you can. How fast you can pedal without bouncing off the saddle is a basic measure of how well you pedal. My point is that having cadence improves your pedal stroke - much harder to improve it without cadence.
A modern wireless computer with cadence has a single sensor you attach with zip ties, a magnet on a rear wheel spoke (easy as pie) and a magnet you just let stick itself to the end of the pedal spindle. That's it... you are done. Nothing complicated about it. IMO, a computer without cadence (and HR) is likely to be one of those items that ends up in a ziplock in the garage, along with the other "I should have bought the more complete solution in the first place" items.
I don't know, I have two computers (on different bikes), one has cadence, the other doesn't. I find cadence is much more useful on the bike that goes on the trainer, because it's harder to tell, when cadence is low on the trainer, then it is on the road. I have been riding a bicycle on and off for almost my entire life, saddle time, I think at this point is over 25 years, and I think we make far too much of needing to be training for racing, when it actually doesn't matter. Way to much is made of the perfect pedal stroke, and having to be at exactly the right cadence when "training". Lots of people get way into the numbers and then one day, we nearly all get to the point of realizing that the only thing you really need to track is distance, in order to know roughly when things like chains and tires should be budgeted for replacement. Even that, if your within 100 miles or so, that is close enough, the computer on the mountain bike has been wonky lately, I think there is a loose connection inside the unit, and think it would cost more to fix it, then replace it. I am currently thinking the best thing to do, is to put the sensor on the rear wheel and put the computer on the back of the seat post, because I don't need speed on that bike, I don't need cadence, I just need to know the total distance covered. In some ways I think the best computer for that bicycle would be a simple counter that counts wheel rotations.