I really like my Forerunner 305. Lately I have been uploading my ride info to motionbased.com. For instance, my muni ride last Saturday is here.
I also downloaded SportTracks which lets you associate the ride data with a specific piece of equipment (i.e. unicycle). This allows it to tell you the total mileage accumulated over all of your rides.
For awhile, I just got some string and hung the unit around my neck. However, I’ve started wearing it on my wrist now that my riding is getting a bit more agressive.
Because I am way out of shape - I guess. I’ve actually talked to my doctor about it and he did an EKG and didn’t see anything wrong. So, I’m hoping just getting out and doing more muni will get me in better shape and help my heart rate settle down. If not, you may be reading about the guy who died riding muni.
Ehh…you have a cell phone, right? You charge that every night, right? There’s no difference. You just take it off, and plug it in at night…end of story. If you’re using one that takes batteries, you get rechargeable batteries, and it’s only SLIGHTLY more of a hassle to take the batteries out, and charge them everynight.
As long as it lasts a full day, there is no reason to complain about battery life. If you’re going camping for a week, then just buy a simple dyno power generator, and use that to charge it.
And the forerunner 101 may be SLIGHTLY older technology, but it’s not like their outdated. They are still being made and sold. And for the incredible versatility, they are much more of a deal than a cyclometer. In my MOST humble of opinions.
I think the thing is that you don’t use your GPS every day so you don’t get in to a routine of charging it, then you want it and it’s flat. The mobile you always know you’re going to want to the next day. And it’s still hassle, something else to think about, another charger.
No you don’t use it everyday, but on the day that you do use it, you should come home and plug it in. Simple as that. Put away your uni, put away your gear, plug in your gps. It’s just one more step in a ritual that you already do. And what’s your point about another charger…all the plugs in your house full up?
No, I deliberately have a not so high tech phone that lasts almost a week without charging.
Like, a lot of weeks, I ride maybe 12 times, maybe more, some for fun, some for getting around. It’s bad enough having to remember to charge my lights (once a week), let alone having to charge my cycle computer every day, upload the data to the PC etc, remember to turn it on at the start of a ride. The cycle computer is just there, so it captures every ride, whenever you do it.
Having said all this, I’ve gone ultra low-tech nowadays on my unicycles, my bike has a cycle computer, cos it’s fun to know that you’re going at 100km/h, but my unicycles I just go riding.
I just took like 15 minutes writing out a really detailed review of the new Forerunner 205 that I got…then I pressed the wrong button, and poof…all gone…That just totally burns my biscuits…
Well…suffice it to say, it’s very cool. I recommend it…I recommend using it for more than just speed/distance though. You can GeoCache with it quite well and easily. And you can plug it into you laptop and use navigation software to get turn-by-turn directions like a TomTom or similar. That’s something that I don’t see anybody talking about, and it pays for more than half of this cool toy for just that functionality.
So…really sucks losing all that info, but, oh well, nobody prolly cares anywho…so if anybody does, ask, and I or Terry will letcha know just how cool this thing is.
I got up to 10.5 on one of the super hairy, rutted downhills, fun stuff.
I haven’t taken it out on the flat yet to verify what I had previously said was my assumed max speed. I’ll have to do that today, and let everyone know how much of a liar I am.
I am looking for a cyclocomputer to determine average and peak RPM for some sprints.
It wont be on a unicycle with handlebars so it needs to be able to recall what was done after I get off and look at the unicycle neck (where I assume I would have to attach it)
Any ideas?
I literally only care about cadence but no idea what sort of money you need to spend to get this
Not many basic cyclometers will show you average and max cadence. You’d probably need to spend a reasonable amount of $$$ with something that supports ANT+/BTLE sensors for that.
Plenty of cheapies will show you your average and max speeds though, and since you’re on a fixed gear you can easily convert that to RPM. You can probably even get creative with the wheel size you enter into the settings so that the number is meaningful without conversion.
Take a look at some of the computers from CatEye and Sigma. The models that support average and max speed can usually be had for about $30 or less.
Basically when the wheel is turning they’re recording the trip. You don’t need to start or stop them, they just record when they see motion. At any point while you’re riding or stopped you can view the stats of the current trip or reset them to zero.
That will most likely be your cheapest option, as long as you don’t mind converting the speed values into RPM.
Often the problem with meters is their sample rate is too low. In a sprint they might only take a single reading.
I was working on setting up a digital recording laser optical tachometer that I bought from China for $14. It auto starts and holds fifty samples. It measures the time between reflections so can essentially take every revolution.
I didn’t quite get the mount finished but I found it could pick up a cateye type reflector mounted on the axle when it was mounted on the seat stem.
For as little as $2.69 USD with free delivery you can find a bike computer on ebay. It is a wired one that are reported to be more reliable. I have one on my exercise cycle and had it on my 36er, it is serviceable. The display is a little dim sometimes but I can always read it. It records average speed, max speed and a bunch of other things.
There is a graph and formulas to convert MPH or Km/h to cadence at:
Another option would be a Bluetooth cadence sensor like this. Pair it with your phone and use an app like Strava, Wahoo Fitness etc to record. You’ll get pretty graphs.
There are generic sensors like that one on Ebay for ~$15. No idea how well they work though.
At 14 kph my Sigma 5 stores a speed and cadence reading about every 40 metres. I assume it counting every revolution to get the distance but there is not a perfect correlation between the cadence and speed so I expect the cadence is taking a spot reading by measuring the time it takes to complete one revolution.
On my 36", I had to put a second magnet-pickup on the wheel because the cyclometer I have wouldn’t go above 30". As I had spare parts I saved from various dead cyclometers I had, it was an easy fix. Then I just had to tell the cyclometer that it was monitoring a 18" wheel!
If you only care about cadence, then you can adjust the cyclometer to give you an easier to read result. I did the math once but I forgot the size of wheel you should give it.
Yes the cheapo unit seems to work fine in the 36er with a single magnet. In fact the wheel circumference can be set from 1 to 9999mm. That’s over 10 feet diameter!
It adjusts the speed and max speed with every tire rotation based not how long between magnet pulses. It measures speed from 0.1 to 99.9 mph or km/h
