Bike Computers . . . For C & V Bikes
 

Not really a C & V item, but it will be going on C & V bikes and I'm hoping to pick a model that doesn't look too out of place on said C & V bikes and is cheap enough that buying 3 or 4 still leaves me with enough money to buy C & V goodies . . . The topic is bike computers.

Ideally I'd like wireless, cadence, rainproof, as visually unobtrusive as possible. And a pony too. Is there such a thing? Any models to recommend?

Or, does everyone here search out retro-vintage Avocets? Or use Huret hub mount odometers, Heuer stopwatches on the handlebar, and tuck a slide rule in the jersey?

While not vintage, I like my no longer made Garmin Foretrex 201, which can still be found used on Ebay and sometimes Amazon.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...00952MPHSm.jpg

I've bought mounts for each bike I use it on, so move it quickly from bike to bike. While it's larger than a regular bicycle computer (but not by much), it provides most of the same information, plus altitude, a cookie trail, compass, and a bunch of other features never found in bike computers. Plus it has a rechargeable battery.

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p...3/P7270037.jpg

Bike computers; like tyres and pedals (on my heavy use vintage bikes only - lighter use stuff gets the originals) are something that I don't worry about being period correct. I'm way more worried about ease of programming, ease of setting the clock (I've got 16 bikes, each with a full time computer - you can imagine what on and off Daylight Savings Time day is like around the house), and standardization (I'm using two different model computers between all those bikes). And if I'm going to show the bike, it's just a matter of clipping four zip ties to take the computer off. They're all wireless, and yeah, I'm a mileage junkie.

What kind do you use/like?

I used to install a computer on each of my vintage bicycles but stopped doing so a few years ago. I just can't see the point.

I do not care how fast I go, or how far. I am no longer interested in my average speed. I simply like to take my C&V bike(s) out for the pleasure of the ride.

As for what computer to use? The last styled used, fitted to an old Proctor-Townsend, was department store purchased wireless Schwinn branded unit that tended to work flawlessly...
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...Computer_1.jpg

I just realized that I do not have even one bike left that is fitted with a computer. Thanks for bringing that revelation to my attention. Perhaps I should install one on my newly upgraded Miele #17...
http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...9&d=1337220537

I used a Keuffel and Esser in the 70s but not for cycling - I just rode my bike. (Still do.)

I use Cyclemeter, an app for the iphone. I don't use it on every ride. If you have an iphone, this app is only $3. Pretty good for something that competes with a multi-hundred-dollar GPS unit. It's for more activities than just cycling, too.

http://www.abvio.com/cyclemeter/

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cycle...330595774?mt=8







http://www.abvio.com/images/Phone-Cyclemeter.png

I was given a gift cert. for Performance and bought the CatEye double wireless. It works really well, looks kludgy on the Colnago but I get the cadence that I want and speed with the same sensor unit. I recently downloaded "Map My Ride" to my Samsung smartphone. I will likely use the latter more than the former cause I always take my phone. It also store your rides and calculats the stats on their server. If your are willing to forego the cadence metric, the smartphone approach is the ultimate as you don't mount anything or just the phone if you need to see what is going on.

What I rode yesterday, 1962 Continental with 1962 VDO "Fahrrad-Uhr" ("Monitre velo"):

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7215/7...e04cb96e_z.jpg


Another favorite of mine is this "Peugeot Sport Computer" on my 1979 Super-Sport.
It's got 4 functions, plus scan mode, and has a full 5-second response time to keyboard input.
Fellow riders of the local peloton call it "the laptop".
It's AA-powered and I see still showing the mileage from my trip up to Nevada City last October.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7226/7...b7a2dabe_z.jpg

Here is a wireless device that will track much of your ride data includence cadence & heartrate, calculate calorie burn and plot your route via GPS. Just wear it on you wrist for any bike you ride. Oh, and it is also an MP3 player! No, really!!!

I am doing some testing of the device for Motorola and it is reviewed on my blog.

http://utahrandonneur.wordpress.com/...aining-device/

I either use a phone app, current one that I like is Move! Bike for Android. I also have period correct distance measuring devices on a couple of my bikes. The latest score was a NOS Huret Multito, not sure which wheel size it is for, but it is going on a 700c for now. I also have several of the old odometers that use the pin attached to the spoke.

Aaron :)

For a C&V bike? I asked a similar question two years ago, ended up putting a wireless Cat-eye, of course the least expensive, on my Raleigh Gran Sport. I like knowing mileage, and occasionally knowing speed. The only downside to wireless is that it is subject to interference occasionally, not so that it affects distance but that it affect maximum speed. I've registered up near 200mph once or twice. But since I really don't care about that it doesn't bother me. The extra processing required for wireless means that the inexpensive models don't compute average speed, but that not terribly important either. The bike just looks nicer without all the wires. I'm thinking I may move that unit over to the Masi though.

Avocet 20 for anything from the 80s!

Funny you should write that ;)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7255/6...80bc93c6_b.jpg

DD

Show-off!

Hmm. I have a stopwatch somewhere, not a Heuer. If I could mark my front tire somehow, so that I could count revolutions, then with just a bit of mental math the stopwatch could be a speedometer. And of course it could be a cadence counter too. They say that doing math in your head helps fend off senility.

I will use this later in the summer to time a couple of TTs (as per its intended use, as described by the minute subdial) to see how I'm "improving". rootboy would understand that now, but I'll be letting the cat out of the bag to everyone else in a few more months.

Failing that, I've simply timed intervals lately. She's holding up great; haven't scrambled her brains yet and she's not popped out of the clip and onto the road, knock on wood.

DD

Sweet.... I need some stop watches and if needed... will have to build some brackets.

My first computer was a Cateye bought in '83 and it cost a small fortune... to this day would still be considered rather compact.

I only have a computer on my Proctor which is a Filzer wireless model I won as a door prize and a wired Filzer I have on my folder

^ Thank you :)

If I were to go "modern", I would go with an Avocet 45. IIRC, it registered top speed, average speed, current speed, trip distance and accumulated distance.

Myself, I wouldn't find myself needing any more information than that.

DD

I've got a Sigma 1609 on my bike. Its wireless, has Cadence, is rainproof, has a nightlight, can be transferred and used on 2 different bikes and can hook up to a computer (with additional stuff). It can be bar or stem mounted.

It like how it looks, but it wasn't the cheapest out there. I don't bother with a lot of the functions. The cateye wireless models look pretty nice and are small.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8020/7...a5b38b3b_c.jpg
DSC04430 by mkeller234, on Flickr

Still working on a handlebar mount for this:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/images/pro...E106157_S4.jpg

THIS is the slide rule for doing time/speed/distance calculations:
http://www.sportys.com/source/images...large/9280.jpg

Old school way: used to use a watch and count cadence over a minute. With a small chart - memorized or taped to the handlebars, you could convert cadence in a gear to speed. I never taped anything, but did have a couple of gears pretty well memorized at one point. In the midwest it's even easier, as many of the roads are at 1 mile intervals. 6 min = 10mph, 5 min = 12mph, 4 min = 15mph, 3 min = 20mph, and much above that I'm working too hard to calculate.
For distance, for me until around 1985 it was always the map.

As an aside, the first computers I recall seeing were advertised in B*c*cl*ng magazine around 1982. They were about the size of a small router and did speed and distance, and were about a hundred and seventy clams. Cateye came out around 1983/4 - neither these nor the Cateye Solar (with cadence) turned out to be particularly good in rain. I never knew of one to go more than a thousand miles or so on a tour without wiping itself out. It must have happened somewhere, just not wherever we were.

The computer brings up an interesting question. If I ride from my town to the next town and back, it's a neat 20 miles.
If I ride 15 circles in my driveway and two loops of the parking lot in the high school at the turn around point, I've still connected the exact same two points but now it's 20.5 miles. Only it isn't 20.5 miles - and I know that deep down. I don't use one now. Actually, every once in a while I'll put one on and check the distance along some route or other, but I'm happier without it. YMMV, of course.

Garmin Edge 200 with Garmin Connect to chart your progress. Very simple and installs in minutes. No need to have computers on all your classic and modern bikes. Just have the mounting hardware on each bike and attach the Garmin when using your favorite stallion. Another great feature is calorie count after the ride, this way you can justify eating a pint of Häagen-Dazs, or go to Mc Donalds to get super sized:)