Dirt Cheap/Basic Cycle Computers
 

i use a Cateye micro wireless on my nicer, weekender bike. For my beater/daily driver im thinking about one of these really cheap wired computers on Ebay that go for $3-5 shipped. These vendors are all selling the same two button computer (one button white and one grey)

Anyone ever try one? thanks!:thumb::)

http://flic.kr/p/bunEPuhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/felipos...in/photostream

Uh this is what they look like:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/feliposphotos/6884657506/

I would go crazy and buy Cateye's cheapest wired computer for $15: http://www.amazon.com/Cateye-CC-VL51.../dp/B000R5NRDK

For an extra $10, you'll get something that will probably give you thousands of trouble-free miles. Even the cheap Cateye computers are well-made and reliable.

I've always used the Walmart specials for about $10-12; bought three of them, just because I get bored with tracking the data, take 'em off the bike, and lose parts.

Two that I bought about 4 years ago are going strong on my kids' bikes.

i have a fleabay chinese one ... haven't mounted it yet ...

My experience with chinese products is they can only take a few bumps :/

My cateye enduro 8 cost about $40 4 years ago and is still running on the same battery. They never give up.

They are ALL made in China nowadays....even CatEye: "designed in Japan, manufactured in China" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cateye

My experience is that the cheap ones die after getting wet a few times. I spent the money on a Planet Bike Protege. A Protege 5.0 is about $18 and will probably outlast at least 3 of the cheapies (in fact, maybe more than that - my 8.0 is now 6 years old and is going strong still - the cheapos all died in a year or so).

Cheap people pay twice... or maybe more.

Well then here in the dry desert, they should last. In most cities, anything flashy gets stolen. Forget to pull your $45 computer and you might pay twice as well....or maybe buy a FleaBay the second time;)

You have to separate the domestic products from the export products. It is true, all of them are sometimes exported and all are sometimes used domestically; however there is a design and intent.

The products intended for domestic consumption, computers, bicycles, you name it, are generally of extremely poor quality. Products intended for export, particularly those with foreign brand names, are of significantly higher quality as they have to meet the requirements of foreign specifications. However, they are generally extremely expensive in China.

Foreign branded goods, like cateye, even though they are made in China, cost more in China than they do in the US. In large part, this is due to very high taxes being levied on the foreign branded products. It is also due to Chinas very poor distribution networks.

All that said, there are definitely two major tiers of Chinese made goods the tiers are generally separated by the intended market for the goods, foreign or domestic.