Trainer & cyclometer

[SouthernBelle]

The talk of mileage has me thinking. I have a basic Planet Bike computer which doesn't track the rear wheel & so doesn't give any info when I'm on the trainer. Trying not to spend any $$ right now, so is there any reason I can't move the magnet and the wired thingie to the back wheel?

[LBTC]

You should be able to run the magnet on the back wheel, if you have enough wire to reach! Good luck!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[SouthernBelle]

I think there is enuf wire. I want to make sure I run it UNDER the tob tube. I one of those people whose legs will occasionally brush the tob tube when pedaling & I have enuf chafing problems!!

[DebW]

They are more typically run along the downtube to the chainstays but would work either way as long as you can locate the sensor close to the wheel magnet. Check if your seatstays are close enough to the wheel.

[SouthernBelle]

I will take a look this evening (at the office now :mad: ). I was thinking in terms of keeping it as far from the chains as possible, as well as the length of the wire.

[wannaduacentury]

Hi Sb, I'd run it underneath the bar. I just bought a Cateye w/ speed/cadence sensor and going to tackle putting it on tonight on my bike. Mine is wired as well. Jennifer

[IFjane]

If you don't want to go to all that trouble, you could use your average MPH & assign yourself that many miles for each hour on the bike...(being mechanically challenged, that's what I have opted to do)

[SouthernBelle]

If you don't want to go to all that trouble, you could use your average MPH & assign yourself that many miles for each hour on the bike...(being mechanically challenged, that's what I have opted to do)

No way to be sure of my Av MPH on the trainer without the sensor on the rear. I'm hopefully going to improve using the spinervals :confused: & want to give myself credit when and if it's due.

[mimitabby]

No way to be sure of my Av MPH on the trainer without the sensor on the rear. I'm hopefully going to improve using the spinervals :confused: & want to give myself credit when and if it's due.

boy, I can relate to that. The miles indoors don't feel anything like the ones outdoors and i need that little meter to keep in contact with reality!

[SouthernBelle]

FYI for all. There's not enough wire on my puter to do this. :mad:

[LBTC]

Sorry about that. The Cateye Astrale is what I put on my road bike for the trainer, and for all riding, as the pickup can go on rear or front wheel. It has plenty enough features for me both on the road and on the trainer: cadence, speed, timer, avg spd, max spd, odometer....

Here's a review of it:
http://www.mtbr.com/reviews/Computer/product_20700.shtml

Sorry that you'll have to spend some $$ if you want an accurate measure of your indoor efforts, but hopefully these $$ are low enough that it won't hurt too much. And you could do what I did and sell the computer you have now.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[SouthernBelle]

You are right. That is reasonable. Didn't realize one with cadence could come that cheap. :)

Thnx,

[TsPoet]

I bought a really cheap computer on sale at one of the on-line shops - paid $9.99 for it, I think. Then I set up a mount for it on my trainer with Joe33's help. I think it could be set up with spit and bandaids, if it had to be. It is only for indoor miles and my main, front wheel drive, computer sits idly by.
I got the idea from Joe33 at bikejournal, he posted instructions for his fancy system on his blog.
Here's his blog address, but I can't find the specific post

http://joesieracki.blogspot.com/

Anyway, you can't see it while you are riding, but I ride indoors by HR and cadence. After you are done, you can hop of and see how many "miles" you have ridden. The cheap computer I bought gives elapsed time and miles - doesn't even give average miles/hr, but that can be divided out easily enough.

[SouthernBelle]

Poet! that's genius. Esp since I have an old Bell spinfit sitting out in the garage attached to my old beater bike. You and Joe both rock.

[SouthernBelle]

In my enthusiam, I moved the bell over at lunch. Seems to work perfectly. I put the base unit on the seatpost. So I can probably sneak a peak at it when I want. Not when I'm on the road though. People will wonder what I'm looking at. :eek:

[RoadRaven]

When we used a bike on a trainer, we set up a cycling computer to the rear wheel - that worked well.

We bought a spin bike last year which comes with its own computer (which does HR, speed, distance, average etc etc) ... but we added another so we could monitor cadence.

[TsPoet]

Susan,
I'm glad the rear wheel bike computer is working for you.
I know this was quite awhile ago, but I emailed Joe33 and asked him to send me a link to his blog with his trainer computer mount and he answered me right away - but my email decided he was spamming me and hid the email :o
so, if anyone else is interested, this is a neat idea of Joe's to mount a cheap computer to your trainer to see training miles.

http://joesieracki.blogspot.com/2006_01_25_joesieracki_archive.html

[SouthernBelle]

Thanks Poet. My cheapo computer is on the seat post, where it can be ignored or not.