Cadence for very little

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Bike computers with cadence tend to be a bit expensive, so if, like me,
you're a bit financially challenged but you want to keep an eye on your
cadence, here's an idea.

Today I got an Aldi £5 cycle computer - this may work better with others
and indeed others have done it with other computers. The Aldi one
doesn't have cadence on it, but the plan was to set a wheel
circumference of 147mm on it and put the sensor and magnet between the
chainset and the frame. That was a tight squeeze to clear the
chainstays, but it worked. It turned out that the settings didn't go as
low as 0147, but that the display always shows one digit after the
decimal point, so I could use 1474 and ignore the point, which would be
a bit more accurate but for the fact that the computer only displays to
the nearest .5 Km/h, which translates as to the nearest 5 RPM. At least
that means its not jumping about all the time.

Bonus points are that you can view average and max cadence, with the
sensible display option being to show average and current at the same
time. One of the bonus points gets taken back for the convoluted
procedure for setting 1474, which involves first setting 2474, then
going back and setting the 2 to a 1 and exiting the setup procedure
rather than continuing and have the second digit change to a 9, which
can't be changed until you change the first back to a 2 ...

Anyway, after rotating the mounting 180 degrees so it mounts on the stem
(there's a headlight and a normal cycle computer fitting on the bars
already), I now have cadence monitoring as well as clock, stopwatch and
temperature monitoring on the bike for a fiver. Bargain.

--
JimP
No I don't work for Aldi.

"Jim Price" <d1version@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:fvd6r5$i7o$1@aioe.org...
> but it worked. It turned out that the settings didn't go as low as 0147,
> but that the display always shows one digit after the decimal point, so I
> could use 1474 and ignore the point, which would be a bit more accurate
> but for the fact that the computer only displays to the nearest .5 Km/h,
> which translates as to the nearest 5 RPM.

With my quick calcs I got an equivalent wheel circumference of 1667mm giving
10.0km/h at 100rpm.
I got an Aldi computer today too, but it's for my son's bike, his crappy
Kellogs one can go on my trainer for cadence.

Jim J

Jim wrote:
> "Jim Price" <d1version@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:fvd6r5$i7o$1@aioe.org...
>> but it worked. It turned out that the settings didn't go as low as 0147,
>> but that the display always shows one digit after the decimal point, so I
>> could use 1474 and ignore the point, which would be a bit more accurate
>> but for the fact that the computer only displays to the nearest .5 Km/h,
>> which translates as to the nearest 5 RPM.
>
> With my quick calcs I got an equivalent wheel circumference of 1667mm giving
> 10.0km/h at 100rpm.
> I got an Aldi computer today too, but it's for my son's bike, his crappy
> Kellogs one can go on my trainer for cadence.

Well, my calculations were quicker it seems, and appear to have included
a mistake.

--
JimP
To err is human, to really foul things up it only takes a human granted
authority, not a computer as previously thought.

On May 1, 8:50 pm, Jim Price <d1vers...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Today I got an Aldi £5 cycle computer - this may work better with others
> and indeed others have done it with other computers. The Aldi one
> doesn't have cadence on it, but the plan was to set a wheel
> circumference of 147mm on it and put the sensor and magnet between the
> chainset and the frame.

I reckon you paid over the odds there. I got a Lidl £3 one a month or
so back with the same plan.

Haven't got it working yet though. Sensor + magnet won't fit between
crank and chainstay, so I'm having to fix a bracket from the downtube,
which makes life a bit complicated.

Rob

<leandr42@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:3a4677a8-17df-4262-a4a9-8b8e2694ec84@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
On May 1, 8:50 pm, Jim Price <d1vers...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Today I got an Aldi £5 cycle computer - this may work better with others
> and indeed others have done it with other computers. The Aldi one
> doesn't have cadence on it, but the plan was to set a wheel
> circumference of 147mm on it and put the sensor and magnet between the
> chainset and the frame.

I reckon you paid over the odds there. I got a Lidl £3 one a month or
so back with the same plan.

Haven't got it working yet though. Sensor + magnet won't fit between
crank and chainstay, so I'm having to fix a bracket from the downtube,
which makes life a bit complicated.

Rob

The difference of course (beside the £2) is that his is working and you are
having to buy extra bits and spend more time to save the £2. :-)

Dave

Dave wrote:
> <leandr42@googlemail.com> wrote in message
> news:3a4677a8-17df-4262-a4a9-8b8e2694ec84@j22g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...
> On May 1, 8:50 pm, Jim Price <d1vers...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Today I got an Aldi £5 cycle computer - this may work better with others
>
> I reckon you paid over the odds there. I got a Lidl £3 one a month or
> so back with the same plan.
>
> Haven't got it working yet though. Sensor + magnet won't fit between
> crank and chainstay, so I'm having to fix a bracket from the downtube,
> which makes life a bit complicated.
>
> The difference of course (beside the £2) is that his is working and you are
> having to buy extra bits and spend more time to save the £2. :-)

The nearest Lidl is 40 miles further from here than the nearest Aldi, so
its £2 for a significant amount of time to get there and back, plus the
time machine ...
For the first time ever with a kit of parts to mount on a cycle, I
actually had no spare bits at the end and the cable was exactly the
right length.

--
JimP
The worst mover ever made? Pram 9 from outer space.