Maybe there have been other companies who have done it, but Cateye is now selling a bike computer with bigger numbers-the Padrone. I am surprised it took so long to see a need for this, considering all the 50-60-70 year olds that now ride

I'll be looking in to one of these, thanks!

Just the other day was thinking about it - I have no problem reading my Strada in bright daylight, but have a hard time in low light. This looks much easier to read.

Dang!

And I was looking at riding glasses with bifocals!

Now which way do I go?

I got a Schwinn bike computer with big, big readout for 14 bucks. BTW, I ride with tri-focals. Progressive lenses compromise periferal vision.

How do you change a flat and find the cause without glasses?

Thanks for the heads-up on this! I was going to get some new glasses because last time I cleaned air-conditioner coils the wind shifted and drifted a small cloud of cleaner onto me. The tiny droplets took off the anti-glare coating in tiny spots , just enough to make the entire lens light-up when the bright sunlight hit them, as if they had been "bedazzled".

+1. Glasses are part of my flat-fixing kit!

I carry fixing (reading) glasses. But I did not like bifocals on riding glasses at all. You look down at the tires or gears or bike pieces and see horrible blurrrr.

I normally ride with single vision sunglasses. On my new Garmin 800 I find I can see the 3-item display OK. The 5-item is a little tough without looking closely. For flats or detail work I do OK with taking off the glasses, as long as distance isn't too much. That's actually how I'm typing right now, even though I have progressives.

scott s.
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I have bifocals I made just for bicycling. I set them up so that the bifocal was just right for the distance to my cycle computer. Instead of going back to the optometrist to get a bifocal prescription with the right parameters I simply Photoshopped the prescription to say what I wanted it to say. I also worked with the glasses place to get the placement of the bifocal so that it works well for the bicycle computer but doesn't get in the way of my "road" vision. I've been very happy with them.

It has been done before...

I keep a small, fold up pair of cheapo reading glasses with me in case I need to fix something. They are about the size of a lighter.

I wear progressive riding glasses which work very well for me. No issues with peripheral vision or distortion beyond what you get with any other glasses and I can clearly see the road, computer, bike parts while riding, the tiny shard that cause a flat... How well they work can certainly depend on the amount and type of correction you need. I've had bifocals with discreet near vision sections in the past and really didn't like them for any purposes.

I've worked very hard not to pay attention to my cycle computer while riding. In fact, during the early stages of this effort, I put tape over it so I would stop looking down to see stuff. These days I only use my cycle computer to gather information that I look at after the ride. So, the size of numerals isn't an issue for me.

I used a Cateye Strada (wired, no cadence) for years. Worked great for my needs (mph, odo and trip distance, clock).

Unfornately I dropped it during a ride and it was crushed my a car - I wanted to buy a 1:1 replacement so I could use same already installed base, but the Strada is discontinued.

So I just bought a Padrone. The big numbers will be nice (I need to take off glasses to see anything near me), but the wireless concerns me a bit given stories of loosing or bad data during rides - at least older gen wireless had this issue, does the Padrone also? How real an issue is this? I still have 6hrs to cancel my order.

I wear single vision glasses for cycling and driving. The one place being 7 diopters myopic comes in handy is that I can adjust for close focus simply by sliding them down my nose. My progressives have "office" partitioning, with allocates only the top 20% or so for distance.

As for large displays, in the early 1970s the shop manager at one of the Bikecology stores got a bicycle computer predecessor, which comprised the usual magnet-and-pickup for cadence and another for speed, along with two large analog gauges reminiscent of stereo tape recorder VU meters for the display. I suspect the entire system was analog, with a simple frequency-to-voltage conversion function between the Hall effect sensors and the displays. I have never seen another like it, and it was not long before the first digital displays began to appear.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I detest digital speedometers and tachometers in cars, so why should bicycles differ?

I seen one of those, was kinds cool being able to read this guys computer while riding along side

Wife/stoker has that on her top tube. Easy to read, but limited function. Good for speed and distance mainly.

I have zero problems reading my computer. Well actually that's not true. If I want to see it, I have to go to the store and it is still in its packaging, but that serves as a very effective deterrent.

But on bike vision? I could do single vision and hold repairs very close to my eyes but I don't. Bifocal sunglasses, tri regular. I use a helmet mirror in the upper left corner of my vision. Makes progressives useless. Besides I hate having to turn my whole head to see things clearly. That's what those ocular muscles are for.

Ben

I was doing that too. Then I noticed my avg speed slowed down a little. From about 15mph to around 13mph. Not sure why. Now I glance at the speed every once in a while to decide if I need to kick it up a notch or not.

Go with the bifocals anyway. Makes it easier to change tubes, read maps (and menus), etc.

Bike computers with bigger numbers have been around for a while. I'll probably get a Cateye Velo 9 for my next computer for that reason, as my near vision keeps getting worse. Ironically, my distance vision has improved with age, but near vision continues to degrade.

I decided again bifocals for cycling glasses because it adds so much to the cost, and not really needed except for reading my bike computer. I've found that I can read the computer better by looking under (or without) my eyeglasses.

No need to do that. At least not in NYS. Opticians are allowed to adjust reading section (and intermediate section for tri-focals). Mine has even sent me home with a set of lenses to see which worked best for my computer.