Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

il padrone wrote:For touring rides in the boonies, the Garmin GPS is invaluable. But bugger the Strava thing, I use it for navigation. Other than that I value the LED lights, the dynamo battery charger, and a good digital camera to record the riding images. That's about it.

check the PM I sent you yesterday!

I use the data from strava/garmin connect and a spreadsheet to keep track of component wear, maintenance time frames etc
I also on occasions ride by HR and make sure my cadence is in the good zone

Garmin addict I love HR, cadence and speed. I'd have power too if I could afford a crank based meter.

I currently ride with nothing but am very tempted to purchase a little device that will at least give me my speed. Mainly because I am curious as to how fast I am actually travelling when riding in mixed traffic.

wellington_street wrote:I currently ride with nothing but am very tempted to purchase a little device that will at least give me my speed. Mainly because I am curious as to how fast I am actually travelling when riding in mixed traffic.

The moment you get that, you'll have gone to the dark side. You won't be able to turn back.

The most useful bit of having a Garmin is on some streets with low speed limits where I can easily exceed the speed limit. It's also useful to have a track of how many kilometres you've ridden and where you went.

warthog1 wrote:Garmin addict I love HR, cadence and speed. I'd have power too if I could afford a crank based meter.

Havvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve you met Stages?
http://www.stagescycling.com/stagespower" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jason, I'm similar to you. But maybe a bit more in depth. I have codes written on all my tyres and tubes so I know the kms clocked up on each tire. It also enables me to keep check of spare parts and what's available to me. I can check the amount of kms each frame has clocked up. I can check out the kms put on key parts and components of the bike. I can check up the kms put on chains. I guess its not that much of an advantage if you have one bike but when there are multiple bikes hanging around all using different parts it really becomes an advantage.

Lukeyboy wrote:Jason, I'm similar to you. But maybe a bit more in depth.

nope - I have all of that too. Don't worry
chains, cassettes, tyres, wheels

Hahaha.

Lukeyboy wrote:Hahaha.

InTheWoods built the spreadsheet I use

Ah right. I built my spreadsheet that I use. Has everything from expenses to the milage on the bb.

OCD is apparently treatable (or so I've heard) - but I'm not sure if it is curable.

Likewise, I wanted basic odometer/speedo on my bikes. It was only marginally more expensive to get the Garmin 500 and run it on two bikes instead of getting a different unit for each bike (my old wireless only did one bike).

For the most part, I track distance ridden on each bike, and I log my rides into bike journal and use it purely for tracking components, tyres etc. It is nice to know the Marathon Plus tyre on my rear wheel has now covered 21,000km (moved from the front 1000km ago).

I only wear the HRM on long rides, and use it to gauge how much sustained effort I can handle on climbs.

On my daily commute I use the clock and the split timer to see how long it takes me to do the 10km M2 time trial. I am rarely in a rush on my commute and quite often just decide to go random new ways for a change in scenery. The GPS is only there for the odometer when I commute.

queequeg wrote:It is nice to know the Marathon Plus tyre on my rear wheel has now covered 21,000km (moved from the front 1000km ago).

you bugger

I got 8200 out of my first rear one. the original front is still going (over 12000kms)

jasonc wrote:

queequeg wrote:It is nice to know the Marathon Plus tyre on my rear wheel has now covered 21,000km (moved from the front 1000km ago).

you bugger

I got 8200 out of my first rear one. the original front is still going (over 12000kms)

I normally get about 12,000km from a rear tyre from new. This one has done only 1000km on the rear so far. On the front, the SMPs last forever!

I wish this Strava thing was around when I was racing back in the 70s/80s. I like to keep track of what little riding I do now and if I have improved along the way, so is good to keep me on my toes. Combine the tracking of Strava with a speedo and that is all that I need for the future, no speedo on the bike at the moment though.

Foo

Lukeyboy wrote:
Havvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvve you met Stages?
http://www.stagescycling.com/stagespower" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That is something to keep in mind thanks.

queequeg wrote:Likewise, I wanted basic odometer/speedo on my bikes. It was only marginally more expensive to get the Garmin 500 and run it on two bikes instead of getting a different unit for each bike (my old wireless only did one bike).

I don't know how much a Garmin 500 costs but I have a basic wired odometer/speedo/average speed/max speed/riding time on every bike in the shed. 5 X $20 each at Big W.
But if you don't like those untidy wires running up your fork you have to pay a bit more!

Mike

Mike Ayling wrote:

queequeg wrote:Likewise, I wanted basic odometer/speedo on my bikes. It was only marginally more expensive to get the Garmin 500 and run it on two bikes instead of getting a different unit for each bike (my old wireless only did one bike).

I don't know how much a Garmin 500 costs but I have a basic wired odometer/speedo/average speed/max speed/riding time on every bike in the shed. 5 X $20 each at Big W.
But if you don't like those untidy wires running up your fork you have to pay a bit more!

Mike

The 500s would be very cheap now after the 510 is out. I've got the 800 which I had from new. Both my bikes have the inbuilt wireless speed/cadence sensors in the frames, so the Garmin connects with them easy. I just start up the Garmin and choose from the profile list which bike I'm using and it does the rest. It's very simple and convenient.

If you want, you can use the Edge for running too. I've done that once. It's not ideal, but when you upload the run to Strava it seems to be fine.

Mike Ayling wrote:But if you don't like those untidy wires running up your fork you have to pay a bit more!

Mike

Aldi had wireless for $15 a couple months back. Work a treat.

All my bikes have some level of data-logging equipment. The two roadies (commuter & now only occasionally-used play bike) have quite basic Cateye wired computers with current, maximum & average speed, trrip & total distance and time (ride time & clock). That's all I need on those bikes.

The MTB & HPV share a Bryton Rider 50 GPS, but I'm not by any means a slave to it; on the trails speed, ride time & distance are all that's really noticed, more in-depth stuff is for looking at post-ride. On XC enduro courses and HPV racetracks, the auto lap recording comes into play, as lap time display is a good indicator of how we're going. It gives a quick & easy reference if the pace is good or not, and can help the rider decide if an early pitstop is warranted if the pace drops too much. We also track times in the pits, but the times relayed to the rider from the pit board are always a lap behind. The GPS fixes that 'cos it's an instant on-board reference for the rider.

The other bonus of the GPS in the trike is its completely self-contained construction; separate sensors are an absolute cow to set up in a position where they won't foul the wheel on one steering angle, then drop signal the other way. Rear wheel The back wheel is too far away from where the head needs to be mounted in order to be visible, so wired units can't reach, and wireless ones are invariably out of range. The only downside is that battery life won't see out a 24-hour race. To cover that, we have a second mount & one of the other guys puts a Garmin in, then we mash the two recordings together to complete the race data.