Cadence counter/sensor

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R

RidingBSOisnotacrime

Regular
Hello good people,

I would like to buy a basic cadence display or sensor (android). I currently use a Btwin speedometer but it has got no cadence info. At the moment I cycle about an hour (20k or 30k) a few times in a week. I am slightly overweight and I would like to burn some fat and work on cadence. I would love to finish at least one 100km ride before the summer ends. I have installed strava on my mobile phone (galaxy s10) but I am not sure if I could pair a cadence sensor with that? I would probably buy Garmin Edge kind of a gadget when I start riding 100kms regularly may be next year? I would appreciate if anybody could provide me a product name or link . Many thanks.
 
wheresthetorch

wheresthetorch

Dreaming of Celeste
Location
West Sussex
This might do the job:

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/ble-ant-speed-pace-sensors-id_8487041.html

I have a cadence sensor linked to my Wahoo and find it really useful. I really only bought it on a whim thinking I'd largely ignore it, but I find myself watching my cadence nearly as much as my speed - in the same way I found the rev counter on a motorcycle one of the most useful instruments.
 
OP
OP
R

RidingBSOisnotacrime

Regular
Thank you for your reply. Yes, cadence is probably more important than speed for a beginner. I am trying to stay around 90 RPM. and I choose my gear according to my cadence. I will download wahoo app and I will try the sensor that you mentioned. Do you use your phone as a display while riding? Can you easily upload the exercise to Strava after you finish your riding? I normally carry my phone in my jersey pocket to log my ride via Strava and I watch the distance info from the Btwin speedometer just to make sure I haven't gone very far beyond my fitness level.
 
wafter

wafter

I like steel bikes and I cannot lie..
Location
Oxford
Can't offer too much info as I've only skimmed over it myself, however a few things of potential note:

- Most cadence sensors use either / both ANT+ or Bluetooth connectivity, so it's worth seeing which of these your phone supports (if any).
- It appears that as long as the standards described above are supported, cadence sensors can work with various devices (not just those of the same brand).
- As much as I generally like Polar products, don't buy their cadence sensor as the battery is non-replacable so from environmental and cost perspectives it's a wasteful POS.

If you like additional numbers you might also want to look at heart rate monitors - which are arguably of much more use for understanding / improving your rides from a fitness / training perspective ;)
 
figbat

figbat

Slippery scientist
Location
South Oxfordshire, UK
I have a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt bought as a bundle with speed, cadence and HR sensors. I have the cadence sensor on the crank of my MTB and it always shows and records but of all the information available to me, cadence is the one I rarely look at or use. It's a nice curiosity but doesn't add anything to my riding (caveat: I ride for general fitness and leisure, I don't "train"). Of all the sensors, the HR is the one I 'use' most - I always wear the TICKR and regularly look at my HR when out, although again this is more for curiosity and comparison with previous rides than for any genuine training feedback.

Also, Strava won't pair with external sensors via the app - they dropped this capability a while ago to allow the app to be more stable; you need an intermediary device such as a watch, computer or whatever to do this. Or you could use another app to record your rides then have it sync to Strava (eg Wahoo Fitness, Ride with GPS or others).
 
si_c

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
Currently you cannot use any sensors with Strava as they withdrew support for that recently so you will need to use an alternative app - ridewithgps is a common choice and you can link it to strava so your activities show up there if that's your preferred choice.
 
wheresthetorch

wheresthetorch

Dreaming of Celeste
Location
West Sussex
RidingBSOisnotacrime said:
Do you use your phone as a display while riding? Can you easily upload the exercise to Strava after you finish your riding?
Click to expand...

No, I use a Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt which downloads my rides onto Strava.
 
RoubaixCube

RoubaixCube

~Tribanese~
Location
London, UK
Hmmm. Do those £13 ebay options really work?

The decathlon looks legit but I paid around £20-23 or less for a proper Garmin one from Halfords. I have two bikes so i got two different sets of sensors. First lot i bought off ebay for £35 combined (both speed & cadence sensors) and after that i bought them separately as i hadnt planned on kitting another bike out will all the sensors.

My halfords purchased sensors may or may not have been during a sale period and with the 10% British Cycling discount on top. so YMMV

::EDIT::

With Halfords in mind. They do their own sensor for £18 which has exponentially more reviews than the Garmin branded one.
 
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C R

C R

Guru
Location
Worcester
RoubaixCube said:
Hmmm. Do those £13 ebay options really work?

The decathlon looks legit but I paid around £20-23 or less for a proper Garmin one from Halfords. I have two bikes so i got two different sets of sensors. First lot i bought off ebay for £35 combined (both speed & cadence sensors) and after that i bought them separately as i hadnt planned on kitting another bike out will all the sensors.

My halfords purchased sensors may or may not have been during a sale period and with the 10% British Cycling discount on top. so YMMV

::EDIT::

With Halfords i mind. They do their own sensor for £18 which has exponentially more reviews than the Garmin branded one.
Click to expand...
I have one of those eBay ones and it works fine with my garmin watch.
 
OP
OP
R

RidingBSOisnotacrime

Regular
Thank you very much everyone, I have got plenty of information from different cyclists now. I have ordered some sensors. Let me try them first and I will let you know what/how I am doing. It seems like a personal app development would be the best option but I don't know much about developing apps. I really wish to have an app where I can set max-min cadence and the app gives me an audio warning if I am under or over the set cadence value so that I don't need to watch the screen all the time. At the moment I am not concerned about my speed as I know that my speed is slow anyway. I average about 22-24km/h. I will keep this post updated. Stay safe everyone. Many thanks.
 
Venod

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
RoubaixCube said:
Hmmm. Do those £13 ebay options really work?
Click to expand...

My three have functioned faultlessly for 2+ years, only new battery changes required, I used to use the old combined speed and cadence sensors, but I don't use a speed sensor anymore I just use GPS for speed, can be a problem with heavy tree cover but its very rare.
 
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