CADENCE

[bugslop]

I've been wondering about treating myself to a new computer and was wondering if i should purchase one with cadence? Does any body else use cadence on a regular basis if so what rpm should i be looking for and who makes the most user friendly?

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Depends what you are going to do on the bike. My computer has a cadence sensor, but I've never bothered fitting it. It is easy enough to estimate your cadence whilst riding, e.g. count revolutions for 15 seconds then multiply by four.

 

[bugslop]

Thanks never thought of that one, might be a bit cheaper. I'm doing a ride in July and would like to use it as a tool to set a standard by, so when on the ride to know whether i should be pushing harder or easing off.

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Your heart rate is a much better indicator of effort. If I'm on a long ride, I use a HRM to pace myself. Works for me.

 

[garrilla]

I've got a Polar cs200 with odom, hrm and cadence. To be honest the cadence monitor is a PITA and it needs to be real close to the magnet on the crank arm - within 4mm. A bit of a bumpy ride and its gone. When its working I rarely check the cadence anyway, but when I do occasionally check I'm rarely surprised and its roughly what I'd expect given the incline, the speed I'm at and the heart rate.

I'm now of the opinon that unless your doing spinning training for races it probably not worth the extra cost and hassle. However, the Odom and HRM are for me much more instructive and help me to regulalrly beat my PBs

 

[marinyork]

It's much easier than that. As your gears are fixed just print out a cadence chart for all your gears or the ones you use most often. You'll soon get a very good idea of your cadence.

Use sheldon brown's excellent gear calculator http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/

 

[Crackle]

Get one. It's a right arse counting your cadence or memorising a gear chart for certain speeds. Having one revolutionised my riding. In conjunction with an HRM it's all you need; short of a powermeter that is but that's slightly OTT for me.

 

[marinyork]

It's not complicated. If need be just remember a target cadence for your favourite gear. Remembering them isn't hard, linearity means you could even guess them rather than remembering.

 

[Crackle]

It's not complicated. If need be just remember a target cadence for your favourite gear. Remembering them isn't hard, linearity means you could even guess them rather than remembering.

I tried it. I've got a gearing spreadsheet which shows me cadence and speed for any gear but nothing quite beats glancing down as you hit a tough spot to see what your cadence is doing and shifting accordingly, especially if like me, you've a tendency to grit and dig. The trouble is I've only got so many grit and digs in me.

Saying that i could probably do without one now as it's had the desired effect of programming the 'feel' into me.

 

[Joe24]

I dont bother. Not something i pay a huge amount of attention to. On the fixed i know roughly how fast my legs are going by the speed. And it sort of the same with some of the gears on my Giant.
But other then that, it doesnt bother me, i just ride. I go by average speed over the terrain and conditions.

 

[marinyork]

I tried it. I've got a gearing spreadsheet which shows me cadence and speed for any gear but nothing quite beats glancing down as you hit a tough spot to see what your cadence is doing and shifting accordingly, especially if like me, you've a tendency to grit and dig. The trouble is I've only got so many grit and digs in me.

Saying that i could probably do without one now as it's had the desired effect of programming the 'feel' into me.

I agree it's a useful feature, even more so if you are doing things wrong . They are a lot of extra money and I gather from other people the reliability can be iffy, it's not just me that had that problem.

 

[MacB]

I like Marinyorks idea, I've already got a little sheet with my gearing on it, easy to add say, 3 columns, with mph rating at different cadences. Then all I do is glance at the speedo and it'll tell me what cadence I'm doing. I think I'll tape this to me stem until I get them memorised properly.

thanks Marin, simple, effective and no hassle of fitting sensors etc.

 

[Crackle]

I tried it, taping to the stem that is and it wasn't big enough to see without riding with my nose on the stem. Any bigger and it blows about and deforms. I'll be interested to know if you get it to work for you.

Never had a problem with my computer, it's a cateye wired one with a rear wheel sensor for speed. I went for that because I could use it on the turbo as well. Cadence sensor has never flickered, though occasionally I've had to adjust the wheel sensor, as you do.

 

[MacB]

I tried it, taping to the stem that is and it wasn't big enough to see without riding with my nose on the stem. Any bigger and it blows about and deforms. I'll be interested to know if you get it to work for you.

Never had a problem with my computer, it's a cateye wired one with a rear wheel sensor for speed. I went for that because I could use it on the turbo as well. Cadence sensor has never flickered, though occasionally I've had to adjust the wheel sensor, as you do.

Ah, I'm looking at fitting a little square palstic map thingy to my stem and so it would be inside that.

 

[marinyork]

If there are size issues just start with the gears you're most likely to use. It's just nice to have an indication sometimes of what you're doing. I mostly find it useful for hills to try and get a decent cadence on them rather than letting it creep down .