Originally Posted by
egranlund
Also, regarding the issues with your current cycle computer, try to futz around with the adjustments a little bit. I'm not familiar with your particular model, but I suspect it probably uses a wheel magnet to track speed/distance. If that's the case, try to get the sensor as close as possible to the wheel magnet and also make sure you have the sensor mounted very securely so it can't vibrate away from the position you have it set at.
I've had issues with my speed/cadence sensor slipping on a previous bike and in the end I just put a layer of duct tape under the zip ties and sensor to give it a bit more of a grippy surface to stick to.
I'm the sort with always a slew, of unfinished projects; so usually end up with compromises between barely functional, and ugly: Even when a concept's inspiration, is truly elegant.
My bike has an inexpensive Bell computer from the local Rite-Aid; with once attractive plastic yellow tape, now a ragged mess covering a wire, to access a magnet on the spokes-the way the thing counts revolutions: From plenty of all weather use, with countless carries on the fronts of a multiplicity of commuter buses.
The computer worked okay a brief while; though mostly registers as on, while giving up no data whatsoever: Which, besides I'm sure a strong Luddite streak within me too; is why having a more simple, reliable mechanical mileage counter, has such an attractive appeal.
I've no idea in the electrical end of things, how many components and processes go into even that cheap little Bell gadget making the thing work; though even its mechanical apparatus, the wire, magnet, mounting and computer itself, contribute a gaggle of things more, than a mechanical counter. There must be some incredible difference in the ratio of middlemen, from one type device to the other.
I'd done an especially nice job on mounting the little computer on my handlebars, improvising nicely with available items wholly unrelated; fabricating what is a truly attractive, neat one of a kind module directly above the top of the headset: All for naught, which sits there mocking me for my efforts.
I also post as "bobstad" at the FordFestiva.com website; and have to say that some of the people there, seem to make their cars their life's work.
The amazingly vast array of products a person can become conversant with, in caring for a car; mirrors my concern with bicycles, similarly becoming incredibly complex concerns-when their capacity of increasing eight fold a person's mobility, seems worthier without so much going on.
I like the ethics involved in DIY; where for instance there seems to be a rough division between two camps of professional mechanics, those who appreciate my doing jobs they don't have to-and career predators, for whom I'm some sort of malign, deviant threat.
I think the latter type may also contribute far more, to the complexity involved in mechanical apparatuses; which increasingly seems to defeat anyone, into DIY.