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How to Measure Cadence?

post #1 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:10am
Thread Starter 
Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
a function on the cyclocomputer?

Thanks
EFR
Ile de France
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post #2 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:31am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

On 6/8/04 1:10 pm, in article 4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com,
"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com>
wrote:

> Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> a function on the cyclocomputer?

The rollout distance for one revolution of a cycle tyre is approx 2m
The number of revolutions such a tyre makes per hour at 24 km/h is 12,000.
Dividing this by 60 gives 200 rpm.

Now all you have to do is to know your gear ratio. 38x19 is 2 so would be a
cadence of 100 at 24km/h

A bit of mental arithmetic can then give you the approximate answer.

ie 25km/h instead of 24 would be an extra 4 pedals per minute to give 104.

38x15 instead of 19 would be about 20-25% less, or between 75 - 80.

Once you have one mark to go on the rest can be estimated by extrapolation.

Or you can program the relevant formula into excel and print out a set of
tables to tape to your map holder..

...d

>
> Thanks
> EFR
> Ile de France
>
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post #3 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:38am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:

> Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> a function on the cyclocomputer?

Can you estimate seconds fairly accurately?

1 revolution in one second = 60rpm (too slow)
3 revolutions in two seconds = 90rpm (probably a touch fast for you)
2 revolutions in one second = 120rpm (Lance)

--
Mark.
http://tranchant.plus.com/
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post #4 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:40am
Thread Starter 

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

David Martin wrote:

> On 6/8/04 1:10 pm, in article 4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com,
> "Elisa Francesca Roselli" <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> > a function on the cyclocomputer?
>
> The rollout distance for one revolution of a cycle tyre is approx 2m
> The number of revolutions such a tyre makes per hour at 24 km/h is 12,000.
> Dividing this by 60 gives 200 rpm.
>
> Now all you have to do is to know your gear ratio. 38x19 is 2 so would be a
> cadence of 100 at 24km/h
>
> A bit of mental arithmetic can then give you the approximate answer.

Oh dear. I think I'll go for the cyclocomputer.

EFR
Ile de France
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post #5 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:48am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

"Elisa Francesca Roselli"
<Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com> wrote in message
news:4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com...
> Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike
without
> a function on the cyclocomputer?
>
Well. there's the second hand on your watch. Pick one of your feet,
and count how many times it goes down in 15 seconds - it's usually
easier to count for only fifteen seconds than to count for a whole
minute. If you only count for fifteen seconds, remember to multiply
by four to get your revolutions per minute.

Jeremy Parker
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post #6 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:49am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

"David Martin" <d.m.a.martin@dundee.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:BD3938C8.1C5CD%d.m.a.martin@dundee.ac.uk...
> On 6/8/04 1:10 pm, in article 4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com,
> "Elisa Francesca Roselli" <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> > a function on the cyclocomputer?
>
> The rollout distance for one revolution of a cycle tyre is approx 2m
> The number of revolutions such a tyre makes per hour at 24 km/h is 12,000.
> Dividing this by 60 gives 200 rpm.
>
> Now all you have to do is to know your gear ratio. 38x19 is 2 so would be
a
> cadence of 100 at 24km/h

Unfortunately I think Elisa has hub gears, which complicate matters.

cheers,
clive
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post #7 of 84
8/6/04 at 9:53am
Thread Starter 

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Peter Clinch wrote:

> Count the number of times you turn the pedals in a set time while
> pedalling as you typically would. If you have (or can borrow) a
> stopwatch (better still a countdown timer with an audible alarm) then
> it's number of pedal revs divided by number of minutes to give you your
> cadence.

Now that's better. My watch _does_ have a stopwatch function with audible
alarm. I wasn't clever enough to think of putting it to this use.

EFR
Ile de France
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post #8 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:17am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli
<Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com> writes:
> David Martin wrote:
>
> > On 6/8/04 1:10 pm, in article 4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com,
> > "Elisa Francesca Roselli" <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> > > a function on the cyclocomputer?
> >
> > The rollout distance for one revolution of a cycle tyre is approx 2m
> > The number of revolutions such a tyre makes per hour at 24 km/h is 12,000.
> > Dividing this by 60 gives 200 rpm.
> >
> > Now all you have to do is to know your gear ratio. 38x19 is 2 so would be a
> > cadence of 100 at 24km/h
> >
> > A bit of mental arithmetic can then give you the approximate answer.
>
> Oh dear. I think I'll go for the cyclocomputer.

You could write down a handy table or memorise a few key values.

All you really need to know are the speeds you should use each gear
in.

A
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post #9 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:46am
Thread Starter 

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Paul Rudin wrote:

> Elisa Francesca Roselli <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com> writes:
>
> > Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> > a function on the cyclocomputer?
>
> Count how many times you turn your pedals in a minute?

The trick is knowing when the time-phase begins and ends, since I cannot look at my
watch and remain balanced on a bike at the same time. Peter Clinch in the UK forum
has reminded me that my watch has a stopwatch with an audible time-out alarm. It's
just a little fairy sound, so I will have to test this evening whether I can
actually hear it in traffic.

Thanks all,

EFR
Ile de France
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post #10 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:48am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com> writes:

> Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> a function on the cyclocomputer?

Count how many times you turn your pedals in a minute?
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post #11 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:49am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
>
> David Martin wrote:
>
>
>>On 6/8/04 1:10 pm, in article 4113751D.10269B3@quadratec-software.com,
>>"Elisa Francesca Roselli" <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com>
>>wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
>>>a function on the cyclocomputer?
>>
>>The rollout distance for one revolution of a cycle tyre is approx 2m
>>The number of revolutions such a tyre makes per hour at 24 km/h is 12,000.
>>Dividing this by 60 gives 200 rpm.
>>
>>Now all you have to do is to know your gear ratio. 38x19 is 2 so would be a
>>cadence of 100 at 24km/h
>>
>>A bit of mental arithmetic can then give you the approximate answer.
>
>
> Oh dear. I think I'll go for the cyclocomputer.

Or you can simply count your pedal rotations for 6 seconds and multiply
by 10, to get a rough estimate. Counting for 10 seconds and multiplying
by 6 is a bit more accurate. And so on.

-km

--
the black rose
proud to be owned by a yorkie
http://community.webshots.com/user/blackrosequilts
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post #12 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:51am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

On 06 Aug 2004 14:17:40 +0100, Ambrose Nankivell
<firstname+n@gmail.com> wrote:

>> Oh dear. I think I'll go for the cyclocomputer.
>
>You could write down a handy table or memorise a few key values.
>
>All you really need to know are the speeds you should use each gear
>in.

It's an awfully Rube Goldberg way of figuring something very easy:
count the number of times your leg completes a circle in a given
interval of time: maybe six seconds. Multiply that by ten. Cadence!

The musically-inclined can do it by feeling the beat of their own
footsteps. There was a thread here on RBM recently about that--I seem
to recall that "andante" corresponded to a comfortable and reasonably
efficient cadence for most people, while racers going full-out might
dance an aleghretto on the pedals.

Riding a bike is easy. Let's not make it any more complicated.

-Luigi
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post #13 of 84
8/6/04 at 10:58am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Cadence is simply beats per minute, so count the number of revolutions
in, say, 10 seconds and multiply by 6.

On a related matter:

A long time ago I published an article about gear seconds. A gear second
is a value which gives your speed in terms of revolutions. For example
if your gears are 52/18, then counting the revolutions for 14 seconds
gives your speed. (This assumes a 27" wheel). The formula is

gear seconds=R*pi*405/264,

where R is the gear ratio, such as 52/18 = 2.9, and pi is 3.1415.

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
> Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike without
> a function on the cyclocomputer?
>
> Thanks
> EFR
> Ile de France
>


--
Bob Wheeler --- http://www.bobwheeler.com/
ECHIP, Inc. ---
Randomness comes in bunches.
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post #14 of 84
8/6/04 at 11:51am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
|| Peter Clinch wrote:
||
||| Count the number of times you turn the pedals in a set time while
||| pedalling as you typically would. If you have (or can borrow) a
||| stopwatch (better still a countdown timer with an audible alarm)
||| then it's number of pedal revs divided by number of minutes to give
||| you your cadence.
||
|| Now that's better. My watch _does_ have a stopwatch function with
|| audible alarm. I wasn't clever enough to think of putting it to this
|| use.

I suggest the computer. Cadence is a nice function to be able to get without
timing anything. It's what I look at on my bike 99% of the time.
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post #15 of 84
8/6/04 at 11:52am

Re: How to Measure Cadence?

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
|| Paul Rudin wrote:
||
||| Elisa Francesca Roselli
||| <Elisa.Francesca.Roselli@quadratec-software.com> writes:
|||
|||| Is there any rule of thumb method to estimate cadence on a bike
|||| without
|||| a function on the cyclocomputer?
|||
||| Count how many times you turn your pedals in a minute?
||
|| The trick is knowing when the time-phase begins and ends, since I
|| cannot look at my watch and remain balanced on a bike at the same
|| time. Peter Clinch in the UK forum has reminded me that my watch has
|| a stopwatch with an audible time-out alarm. It's just a little fairy
|| sound, so I will have to test this evening whether I can actually
|| hear it in traffic.

Er, be careful. A cheap computer is better if you need cadence in traffic,
imo.
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