Cycle computer on Uni

[Igor]

@johnfoss

Instead, Santa Claus brought me a Garmin 305 a few years ago. Works with all my unicycles (and in cars, airplanes, etc.) and I can upload the data! The price has gone down quite a bit, probably because they now have the Forerunner 405.

Garmin does not tell you the actual length of the path traveled by the wheel. For those of us who wobble a lot, the difference may be quite large :o

[uniShark]

@Igor

Garmin does not tell you the actual length of the path traveled by the wheel. For those of us who wobble a lot, the difference may be quite large :o

Personally, I care a lot more about trail/road distance than the wheel-wobble distance. The trail distance is the actual practical distance you’ve ridden, and by using that measurement of distance, it’s much easier to compare to maps and route guides. I also think that calibrating for wheel-wobble gives you an artificially high calculation of your speed. I’ve calibrated all my bike computers with GPS for these reasons, and will do the same on the uni if I ever bother to put a computer on.

So far I have not, because I’m afraid the relative speeds and distances would be discouraging as compared to my biking experience. I ride the uni for fun, and not when I’m in a rush. If I want to go far and fast, I get on my recumbent (with a computer). For very rough average speeds to help me estimate how long an unknown ride will take, I’m starting to just sort of mentally keep track of how long various rides take me to complete. I also carry a GPS, but so far more for location assistance than tracking speed and distance, particularly because I tend to ride in lots of trees where I lose the signal.

[corbin]

@gunnstein

Yeah, the Sigma manual also mentioned angles and distances, but it worked just fine on my wrist despite that. I guess their wireless system is better than some of the cheaper alternatives.

If you’re going to put in on handlebars I see no point in wireless. I use wired on my bicycles, because I don’t want to have twice as many batteries to worry about.

Well, until you break the wires

I’ve gone through 3 or 4 cycle computers on various unicycles. I wish the wireless would work for me where I want to mount it.

corbin

[DavidHood]

Forerunner 405 Speed/Cadence Bike Sensor

@johnfoss

probably because they now have the Forerunner 405.

My wife runs with a 405 and heart rate monitor. I always wanted to try it on my Impulse but was worried the mount was only for bicycles because the instructions on Amazon talk about mounting the sensor to the chain stay so I thought it would only work on bicycles not unicycles!

It says “The sensor unit must be positioned along the chain stay such that it can “see” both the crank magnet as it passes by the cadence sensor (the round part on the side of the sensor unit), and the spoke magnet as it passes the speed sensor (the part that looks like a lever in the picture).”

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=1266

Will somebody who has successfully mounted this to a unicycle, please take a picture of the way you have it mounted so I can go ahead and order one of those bad boys. Her watch is awesome!

For now, I will have to settle for my #1 favorite iPhone app in the Cyclometer. It stays in my camelback hooked to my iHome mini speakers so I can hear it (interrupt my jams) talk to me after each mile with Max speed, Avg speed, distance and time. It will even send a tweet so my kids know where I am in my ride and when I will be home.

[Klaas_Bil]

@DavidHood

For now, I will have to settle for my #1 favorite iPhone app in the Cyclometer. It stays in my camelback hooked to my iHome mini speakers so I can hear it (interrupt my jams) talk to me after each mile with Max speed, Avg speed, distance and time. It will even send a tweet so my kids know where I am in my ride and when I will be home.

Cool.

[DavidHood]

Note to self, use search feature

@DavidHood

Note to self, use search function!

Note to self, use search function!

http://www.unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1249896

Lunicycle took a nice pic for us. He sold his no good for MUni better for something like my Impulse. Might have to check it out on eBay!

[johnfoss]

@Igor

Garmin does not tell you the actual length of the path traveled by the wheel. For those of us who wobble a lot, the difference may be quite large :o

To accurately include wobble in your measurements, you’ll need to be really, really exact on your tire roll-out setting. I’m happy to just know how far and how fast I went; big picture. Also on my 36", wobble is pretty minimal.

@DavidHood

“The sensor unit must be positioned along the chain stay such that it can “see” both the crank magnet as it passes by the cadence sensor (the round part on the side of the sensor unit), and the spoke magnet as it passes the speed sensor (the part that looks like a lever in the picture).”

I haven’t tried it, but really you only need one of those measurements since they’ll be the same on a unicycle. Unless you are geared up…

[baconm13]

If you want to get really cheep you don’t need any of these electronics, you can count how many revolutions one foot does in a 10 second time, you then multiply by 6, then 60, then your wheel diameter, and then by pi. It might be easer to just use a cell phones calculator, and if you want to keep track of distance there are other methods but a computer is the best way.

[Klaas_Bil]

Hurray for inches per hour.

[scott_ttocs]

David, have you considered mounting your iPhone on the handlebars of a 36" and using cyclemeter to track distance, speed, etc? The backpack option sounds interesting, but can I just use it to replace a cycling computer?

Scott