What is Flight Deck?
06-15-16, 09:20 AM
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What is Flight Deck?
After seeing a craigslist posting for a bike that was 'Flight Deck equipped' I googled Flight Deck. It seemed to be a line of bike computers from Shimano. Today, I saw a picture of a Shimano brifter that had 'Flight Deck' printed on it. That's not a computer!
So, what is Flight Deck?
So, what is Flight Deck?
06-15-16, 09:23 AM
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Flight Deck was a Shimano computer that integrated into the brifters. It had indicators that told you which gears you were currently using, in addition to the standard functions. The brifters had to be Flight Deck compatible, which is what you are seeing on that labeling on the brifters in that photo.
06-15-16, 09:23 AM
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i think you figured it out - marketing spiel from Shimano for stuff on your handle bars. oops. i mean "cockpit". i must be old. still call the handle bars, handle bars....
06-15-16, 10:42 AM
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Flight Deck was a Shimano computer that integrated into the brifters. It had indicators that told you which gears you were currently using, in addition to the standard functions. The brifters had to be Flight Deck compatible, which is what you are seeing on that labeling on the brifters in that photo.
Thanks to everyone for the replies!
06-15-16, 10:58 AM
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Flight Deck was a Shimano computer that integrated into the brifters. It had indicators that told you which gears you were currently using, in addition to the standard functions. The brifters had to be Flight Deck compatible, which is what you are seeing on that labeling on the brifters in that photo.
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06-15-16, 11:07 AM
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one of the problem with the Flightdeck system was it too expensive, for what was just a glorified bike computer, when a Cateye could do all the same for much less (remember this was a pre-GPS product)
06-15-16, 11:22 AM
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Garmins have made Flight Decks obsolete but they had one feature I really liked, virtual cadence. By calculating your speed with the gear you were in, it would tell you how fast you should be pedaling. So descending a hill I could shift into the correct gear to maintain my momentum. Wish my Garmin would do that for me.
06-15-16, 11:34 AM
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I still use a flight deck computer on my tandem. (The gear indicator is really convenient).
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06-15-16, 01:34 PM
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Flight Deck was a marketing scheme by Shimano to sell proprietary computers and make their STI road shifters just another level of more complicated than they ever needed to be.
06-15-16, 03:15 PM
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Yeah, we had one on our tandem too. I liked the gear indicator and I liked the virtual cadence function on the tandem. I seem to remember an annoying feature if you had the speed and distance displays on at the same time but I don't remember exactly what it was.
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11-18-21, 05:52 PM
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Flight Deck is still active on my Airborne and is a great little cycle computer…. Using the buttons on brake levers makes it easy to navigate screens while controlling the bike. The gear and cadence functions are to die for. Yes, the GPS computers showing route are great but they lost something if they didn’t learn anything from the Flight Deck. It’s a shame Shimano dropped!
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