noglider 

My lovely wife is decidedly not a gadget freak or a data lover. In time, she has come to like her little wired bike computer, because she's trying to build her stamina and average speed. I've also interested her in cadence, since I told her that a faster cadence would be good for her stamina and long term health. She made great progress this year in increasing her cadence though her computer doesn't display that. She still needs me to remind her to zero the thing at the start of each ride.

Zinger

^^^^^

Yeah a cadence meter of some sort might be good for a newbie who still rides solo a lot. I had the advantage of riding partners to acclimate myself to a faster cadence but that's usually the first thing that a newbie has to get used to in order to keep up with the Jones'es.

gaucho777 

I like having a computer, but I'm not obsessed by it. I like my old, simple Avocet 30 because it's period-correct on my Look and reminds me of Greg Lemond. I do sort of play mind games with myself, such as use it as motivation to keep above a certain speed. Mostly I just ride at my own pace, but every once in a while I get the impulse to mix in some interval training, in which case the clock option is handy. When riding in unfamiliar areas, it can also be a helpful navigation tool. For example, I may memorize a route (e.g. go 10 miles then turn right on Main St.), and it can help clue me in when I should expect my next turn, without having to constantly pull up the map on my iphone. It's also fun to see how fast I was going down a hill. And if I notice that I'm going 50+mph, I think of my young daughter and decide maybe I should slow down. But I don't have computers on all my bikes, and I don't really miss it on those other bikes.

PhilPub

There you go, I've learnt TWO things today!

RubberLegs

I use Cyclemeter on my iPhone, always have it with me, tracks my ride and collects data well, just past 1,100 for the year at an avg of 15.66 mph.

Lenton58 

My Bulova is the Oceanographer or so-called "Pepsi" model. The dark blue and red bezal is frozen up so I can't mark the time. I freed it up myself the last time I had the movement overhauled, but it's gone done stuck again.

Michael Angelo 

I'm old school when it comes to bike computers, analog all the way....

Lenton58 

What a great looking machine, and that splash of blue from the computer's casing is perfect.

roccobike

I ride with computers on all my road bikes. I like to put vintage computers on vintage bikes, so the oldies are usually wired. Went wireless on the new rides. No computers on my MTBs, but there will be one exception next year, I'm adding a computer to the vintage Nishiki I use on MUPS.

tcs

I find it interesting that bike 'computers' go back to the very earliest days of cycling. I like the 'fraction of mile' hand on this little clockwork:



Combined with a pocket watch, the rider would have distance, elapsed time and thereby average speed.

callig

I use to ride with a cycle computer but I know i'm not as fast as I once was and I don't need a computer to tell me that.

Chombi

Avocet 20 "wireless" cyclometer, Circa 1984/5!







Well,........almost wireless.
Did the internal fork leg routing of the sensor wires when I got the Avocet computer sometime right after I got my 84 PSV because I couldn't stand messing up the looks of the fully chromed fork on the bike with wires and zip ties. Took a bit of patience and time to guide the end of the sensor wires through the fork leg, but I was a young college kid then, and I had lots of patience and time during that lazy summer break from school. Funny thing is, I saw some pictures of some pro bikes in big races about a year later doing the same thing with their Avocet computers! Those little little holes on steel forks have some good use after all!
Dang!, I just remembered, I have to get new batteries for it!

bici_mania

That mounting system looks like it might be a little wobbly, is vibration an issue? I do like that it is both wireless and "vintage"

Howard

I recalibrated the auto-start/stop timer to stop timing at 15MPH instead of 0. It did wonders for my average speeds.

rhm is right, I think. It's fun to put one on, but after a while it loses a little. I used to run one on my commute bike, but I found myself tempted to do stupid things (tempted, just tempted) involving short cuts, faster roads, and lights, all to get the average speed up over some arbitrary number. I yanked it.

It was always more sporting to try and follow cue sheets without one too.

So, every once in a while, I'll use one for a couple weeks, then lose interest and wonder why I did that. Maybe the last time cured me. Let's hope. There are more fun places to put money.

Edit: I did install an old Huret Multito this afternoon after reading this thread. I kind of like it.