This may be an obscure question...I gather the use case is limited, because I haven't found much using the Googles.

I used to use Strava and have nothing against it, other than I just quit wanting to mount my large phone to the handlebar all the time. I moved to separate bike computers, but that got expensive/annoying to have with multiple bikes. So I'm interested in going back to a phone-based app, and I have a much smaller phone at my disposal to use expressly for this (a 3.3" Palm phone).

I don't care about the social aspect of apps like Strava, or setting routes/tracks/goals, etc. I know where I like to ride and my motivation comes from within, not from a phone app. All I'm looking for is the ability to establish bike "profiles" in an app and have the app track mileage on my bikes separately. Maybe I'm riding a 10 mile loop on my hybrid today...I want to select that bike in the app and track the mileage for that bike. Or maybe I'm doing some mountain biking...I want to select that bike in the app and track mileage for it.

As I recall, Strava used to do this, but Strava also has all the social stuff and I don't care for that if I don't need to use it. I've found a few apps like Bikeometer and Ride with GPS, but neither seem to let me establish different bike profiles in the app and choose the piece I'm riding that day.

Is Strava the only app that allows me to create equipment profiles and keep the "odometer" separate for each bike?

Many thanks in advance. (And I will pay for an app if it has the functions I want.)

Are you wanting the bike to automatically be selected? Or happy with just selecting it yourself?

I can't say about their phone apps, but I use RideWithGPS. Although they have ability to sync or do auto uploads with various devices I prefer to maintain control of that myself and only do manual uploads. When the upload completes, you have a chance to select your bike then, or anytime later you can change it. You can also review each bike or piece of equipment individually and see totals for it as well as what rides where done with it.

I thought MapMyRide, RideWithGPS, Strava and others had been doing this for a long time. I can't see how it wouldn't be part of their phone apps. But maybe not. As for other phone apps I don't know.

Now that you say that, I do remember that with Strava -- having to go on the website retroactively and editing the equipment used for a particular ride.

I'd like an odometer/GPS app that will allow me to tell the app which bike I'm using. I'd like it selectable in the app page, so I don't have to log in to a website every time I ride a different bike.

I acknowledge this is probably a very limited and uncommon use case, but I'm hoping someone out there knows of a solution.

Still can't help you for phone app, but it seems like some of the Garmin devices newer than my Edge 500 could select what bike they were on based on the sensor ID's it connected to at startup. If you didn't have a speed sensor that was unique to each bike, then you couldn't do it.

I haven't heard it discussed in years, but maybe some others know. A phone app certainly does get Bluetooth and some ant+ info about what it's connecting to, so they should be able to do similar. Whether they do..... I don't know.

I did download both the RideWithGPS and Strava apps to my phone, and it looks like I can choose the equipment in the app with both of them, but only after the ride is complete, when I'm saving the ride. This functionality is fine for me, as I don't have to login to the server separately and do that. This functionality is also not apparent when just testing the app -- I had to go through a complete (simulated) ride cycle before finding it.

I think one of these will work for me. Thanks!

Cyclemeter should do that. Unfortunately the free trial version is so limited you can't really get a sense of how many features the app has. But it's a good value for around $10/year. I keep thinking about subscribing again -- I used it in 2018. I mostly use Wahoo Fitness now on both my Android and iPhone. It's free and works well but has few features. It records complete data but needs another app, software or website to show all the data.

As FYI, the Garmins have Activity Profiles, which you can define as a particular bike. That data stays with the device, as Garmin never set it up for the Profile to get ported up to the Connect website. So it’s not at all helpful for what the OP (and I) would like to do. I also use RWGPS and just edit the saved ride with a particular bike.

I've recently got a Garmin Edge 25 that I switch between bikes, and I've discovered that the Garmin Connect app lets you define "gear" - in my case, 5 different bikes. You can then select what "gear" you used for the particular activity, and it seems to be tracking the mileage on each bike accordingly. After each ride, I select which bike I used (there's one as default, but it's easy to change).

Might be a workaround for what you want to accomplish.

Cyclemeter does do that! You can go to Settings>Bike and add however many bikes you want to the list. From the Stopwatch (main) page, tap the little gear next to the Start bar, go down to Bike and select which bike you are using for this particular ride. When you end your ride, selecting the ride from the History page, Calendar or anywhere else that ride data can be displayed, will show the bike used on that ride on the Info screen. Once you place a bike in the list, Cyclemeter will keep track of all the rides you have done on the bike and the number of miles you've ridden the bike. If you enter the data when setting up the bike info, it will also show you the date the bike was put into service or the date you added the bike to the list and it's wheel circumference; which comes in handy when setting up new bike computers.

If you haven't used Cyclemeter since 2018, you may want to reconsider using it again. They have done quite a lot to the app since then. A new feature that was just released is the ability to trim your ride from the app without having to go to a website to do it. The Trim feature allows you to remove part of your ride in the event you forgot to Stop the ride and the GPS kept on tracking while you're driving home. As a beta tester, I can tell you that we are testing a new feature to Cyclemeter that no other cycling app has and that none of the Garmins computers have. I can't tell you what it is but it will be worth while waiting for.

Why wouldn't you just use the same computer for multiple bikes? It is not expensive, OR annoying. With a simple twist you can pull your computer off the bike its on and lock-it on to the mount of another bike, literally takes a few seconds.

Some bike computers offer a feature that estimates calorie burn based on bike weight, as well as rider weight. Some folks may want that calculation. Particularly if they don't use Strava or another app, website or software to track data.

I've entered that data to my bike computer but Strava recalculates the data anyway using the info users plug into Strava. And my computer has spaces for multiple bikes, but seems to have a glitch that limits it to one bike at a time and assumes all bikes weigh 25 lbs.

Recall that I'd like to keep track of each of my bikes' mileage (odometer) individually, which wouldn't be possible if I used the same unit on multiple bikes. I also have a variety of bikes with different tire circumferences, so I wouldn't get an accurate reading with some of them.

Take a look at Cyclemeter. As I stated above, it will use the wheel size of the bike that you are currently riding. And while the app's odometer will only give you the total number of miles for all rides on all bikes, the app will show the number of miles ridden on each bike and the number of times the bike has been ridden, in the bike list.

The obvious answer is to give most of your bikes away.