Cyclocomputers.



B

Bill Baka

Guest
New subject really this time. I went out for a ride yesterday and had an
average into the headwind of 12.2 since I was trying NOT to sweat up 5
layers of sweat shirts and create a whole load of laundry for my wife.
When I stopped to look at something I took off my speedometer and
noticed that the longer I was off the bike my average speed kept
dropping about 0.1 MPH every minute. The damn thing won't shut off for
about ten minutes after a ride. I know it is a cheapie Schwinn but
digital should know better. It is an accurate clock, speedometer,
odometer, etc., but this one thing is just insane. I keep it in my
pocket when not on the bike mount as a pocket watch so I wonder if every
time I check the time my average speed goes down. Now I reset it before
every ride. I did hit a new maximum speed of 39.2 going down a 12% (?)
hill but ran out of cadence at 35 so it was nose to the bar coasting,
but fun. Nice road, very few cars.
Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
How about weird speedometers?
Bill Baka
 
Hi! This is my 1st post here so I will pretend to be civilized...

I ride a Vision R40 recumbent. I have lots of hills to play on around
here. One of them I have been down only once. Not sure about grade.
It is about a mile long. I was hitting 44mph before long at all! This
bike gets twitchy at those speeds and my attention was focused on the
road which had a bad surface. I was being fairly conservative in that
coast. I was reclining on the mesh seat, my pedals way out in front,
with my handle bars under my knees. I heard cars behind me but there
was no way I was going to try to twist my head around to see what they
were doing. My mirror had the shakes and was no help. I'll get off of
the brakes next time, if traffic allows, and see if I can hit 50 or 55.
With my skinny little 20" wheel in front!
 
Bill Baka wrote:

> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?


55 mph on an old MTB (my "road" bike)
Colorado has big hills.

> How about weird speedometers?


Mine realizes you've stopped fairly quickly. It didn't come from
Wallyworld. Oftentimes in life, you get what you pay for.

Rich
 
Bill Baka [email protected] wrote in news:sNnSf.44122$2O6.37213
@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com:

> New subject really this time. I went out for a ride yesterday and had an
> average into the headwind of 12.2 since I was trying NOT to sweat up 5
> layers of sweat shirts and create a whole load of laundry for my wife.
> When I stopped to look at something I took off my speedometer and
> noticed that the longer I was off the bike my average speed kept
> dropping about 0.1 MPH every minute. The damn thing won't shut off for
> about ten minutes after a ride. I know it is a cheapie Schwinn but
> digital should know better. It is an accurate clock, speedometer,
> odometer, etc., but this one thing is just insane. I keep it in my
> pocket when not on the bike mount as a pocket watch so I wonder if every
> time I check the time my average speed goes down. Now I reset it before
> every ride. I did hit a new maximum speed of 39.2 going down a 12% (?)
> hill but ran out of cadence at 35 so it was nose to the bar coasting,
> but fun. Nice road, very few cars.
> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
> How about weird speedometers?
> Bill Baka


54.2 mph, wind assisted.

I had an inexpensive Trek branded speedometer that stopped
calculating average speed and ride time within seconds of
stopping.
 
[email protected] wrote:
> Hi! This is my 1st post here so I will pretend to be civilized...
>
> I ride a Vision R40 recumbent. I have lots of hills to play on around
> here. One of them I have been down only once. Not sure about grade.
> It is about a mile long. I was hitting 44mph before long at all! This
> bike gets twitchy at those speeds and my attention was focused on the
> road which had a bad surface. I was being fairly conservative in that
> coast. I was reclining on the mesh seat, my pedals way out in front,
> with my handle bars under my knees. I heard cars behind me but there
> was no way I was going to try to twist my head around to see what they
> were doing. My mirror had the shakes and was no help. I'll get off of
> the brakes next time, if traffic allows, and see if I can hit 50 or 55.
> With my skinny little 20" wheel in front!
>

It does tend to raise the adrenalin factor over beating level pavement
all day.
Bill Baka
 
Rich wrote:
> Bill Baka wrote:
>
>> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?

>
>
> 55 mph on an old MTB (my "road" bike)
> Colorado has big hills.


Cheating compared California's little hills.
>
>> How about weird speedometers?

>
>
> Mine realizes you've stopped fairly quickly. It didn't come from
> Wallyworld. Oftentimes in life, you get what you pay for.
>
> Rich


For $10 I can't complain too much since average speed is only a minor
function to me.
Bill
 
Little Meow wrote:
> Bill Baka [email protected] wrote in news:sNnSf.44122$2O6.37213
> @newssvr12.news.prodigy.com:
>
>
>>New subject really this time. I went out for a ride yesterday and had an
>>average into the headwind of 12.2 since I was trying NOT to sweat up 5
>>layers of sweat shirts and create a whole load of laundry for my wife.
>>When I stopped to look at something I took off my speedometer and
>>noticed that the longer I was off the bike my average speed kept
>>dropping about 0.1 MPH every minute. The damn thing won't shut off for
>>about ten minutes after a ride. I know it is a cheapie Schwinn but
>>digital should know better. It is an accurate clock, speedometer,
>>odometer, etc., but this one thing is just insane. I keep it in my
>>pocket when not on the bike mount as a pocket watch so I wonder if every
>>time I check the time my average speed goes down. Now I reset it before
>>every ride. I did hit a new maximum speed of 39.2 going down a 12% (?)
>>hill but ran out of cadence at 35 so it was nose to the bar coasting,
>>but fun. Nice road, very few cars.
>>Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
>>How about weird speedometers?
>>Bill Baka

>
>
> 54.2 mph, wind assisted.
>
> I had an inexpensive Trek branded speedometer that stopped
> calculating average speed and ride time within seconds of
> stopping.


Unfortunately for me the wind was headed up the hill. I still want to
break 50 but that seems destined for the summer and the big uphill rides.
54.2, sigh.
Bill
 
> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
> How about weird speedometers?


Wireless computers (mine included) often invent ludicrous max speeds.
Mine usually says I've done 70MPH or something.

This guy had a really steep hill and got up to 172KMH
http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1275/

but I don't think he'll be doing it again
 
In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
([email protected]) wrote:

> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?


64.5 mph descending Killhope Cross into Weardale, County Durham, on a
Kingcycle recumbent with front fairing, tailbox and wheel discs:

<URL:http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/images/gto/Mermaid.jpg>

But without the BoB, natch.

> How about weird speedometers?


The Mity 8 on my Speedmachine told me I was doing 225 km/h down Lambeth
Road in central London last summer. This was traced to an
injudiciously-place cable tie having neatly removed the insulation from
both wires...

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
We had that Maurits C. Escher in to do some building work once. I
haven't been able to leave the house since.
 
Dave Larrington wrote:
> In article <[email protected]>, Bill Baka
> ([email protected]) wrote:
>
>
>>Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?

>
>
> 64.5 mph descending Killhope Cross into Weardale, County Durham, on a
> Kingcycle recumbent with front fairing, tailbox and wheel discs:
>
> <URL:http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/images/gto/Mermaid.jpg>
>
> But without the BoB, natch.


That is fast, but I think recumbents are cheating. Even I could have
gotten 50 instead of 39.2 on that hill on a recumbent. That said I might
still buy one.
>
>
>>How about weird speedometers?

>
>
> The Mity 8 on my Speedmachine told me I was doing 225 km/h down Lambeth
> Road in central London last summer. This was traced to an
> injudiciously-place cable tie having neatly removed the insulation from
> both wires...
>

Mine is wired right and the mini CPU inside is so underloaded that it is
bored, not to mention bad programming, since it should stop when I take
it completely off the bike. THAT is a defect, so all I can do is reset
it and measure trip by trip so I will never have an accurate account of
how many miles I have gone on that bike. Maybe a daily addition to an
Excel style spreadsheet would be it.
Bill Baka
The digit part is accurate since the calculations are so simple and the
clock crystal is the master timer, but it is function poor.
Bill
I have seen computers in the $100 range, but not for me.
 
On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:02:49 -0700, Rich <[email protected]> wrote:

>Bill Baka wrote:
>
>> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?

>
>55 mph on an old MTB (my "road" bike)
>Colorado has big hills.
>
>> How about weird speedometers?

>
>Mine realizes you've stopped fairly quickly. It didn't come from
>Wallyworld. Oftentimes in life, you get what you pay for.


I've got two of the cheapy walmart schwinn speedos and they stop calculating
average speed when I stop.

More strange phenomena in Bakaland.

Ron
 
RonSonic wrote:
> On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 19:02:49 -0700, Rich <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>Bill Baka wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?

>>
>>55 mph on an old MTB (my "road" bike)
>>Colorado has big hills.
>>
>>
>>>How about weird speedometers?

>>
>>Mine realizes you've stopped fairly quickly. It didn't come from
>>Wallyworld. Oftentimes in life, you get what you pay for.

>
>
> I've got two of the cheapy walmart schwinn speedos and they stop calculating
> average speed when I stop.
>
> More strange phenomena in Bakaland.
>
> Ron


I really have to take it of the bike. The resistance of the pickup loop
must keep it active. What was bad was that I was sitting on a rock under
a tree and enjoying the sights when I saw it go down. I guess that is
what I get for buying at Wally world.
Bill
 
POHB wrote:
>> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
>> How about weird speedometers?

>
> Wireless computers (mine included) often invent ludicrous max speeds.
> Mine usually says I've done 70MPH or something.
>
> This guy had a really steep hill and got up to 172KMH
> http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1275/
>
> but I don't think he'll be doing it again


When I used to be a mountain biker, and used to use a cyclometer on it, AND
used to night ride, I used to get crazy readings due to battery/light
interference. Could come to a complete stop and it would show, like, 42 mph
or something.

Those were my fastest average speed rides ever!

Bill "move over, Tinker" S.
 
Sorni wrote:
> POHB wrote:
>
>>>Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
>>>How about weird speedometers?

>>
>>Wireless computers (mine included) often invent ludicrous max speeds.
>>Mine usually says I've done 70MPH or something.
>>
>>This guy had a really steep hill and got up to 172KMH
>>http://www.compfused.com/directlink/1275/
>>
>>but I don't think he'll be doing it again

>
>
> When I used to be a mountain biker, and used to use a cyclometer on it, AND
> used to night ride, I used to get crazy readings due to battery/light
> interference. Could come to a complete stop and it would show, like, 42 mph
> or something.
>
> Those were my fastest average speed rides ever!
>
> Bill "move over, Tinker" S.
>
>

That just mostly proves that Japanese record holding events are NUTS. At
high elevation there isn't enough wind resistance to slow you down.
Besides that is over 100 MPH, (on a bike??), no way, not me, not ever.
40 MPH now seems just enough. I think if he was standing up the bike may
not have broke but then he could have and the force on the bottom
bracket did it.
Bill Baka
 
Bill Baka writes:

> Anybody else got any steep hills to play on or max speeds to report?
> How about weird speedometers?


The difficulty with high speed descending is that sufficiently steep
roads are not straight and straight roads are not sufficiently steep.
Tioga Pass in the Sierra is often mentioned as a fast descent but
reports of actually reaching high speeds are rare. The reason is that
this road, like other high altitude passes, is not steep although it
is straight enough for high speed. Over 60mph is possible only with
wind assist in addition to taking a flier off a camper going at least
50mph.

True high speed, no-wind descents exist, but the only ones I know
aren't around here. The east side of the Fedaia Pass in the dolomites
into Malga Ciapela at 13% grade. The straight section of this old
road is not wide but it will get 100kph+.

http://tinyurl.com/g4sfp

Another such road is the first descent of the Timmelsjoch (Pso Rombo)
into the Obergurgl and the Ötztal into Austria. This one is pretty
safe because the 13% straight stretch has an uphill runout that you
get to pedal over. The rest of the descent is fairly tame although,
as most of these roads, amazingly scenic with hanging glaciers.

http://tinyurl.com/okbyw

It is my experience that it takes at least a 13% grade to reach 60mph
without assistance and well crouched with a hands-on-the-stem aero
position. Descending jackets won't do, flapping in the breeze.

Jobst Brandt
 
RonSonic wrote:

> More strange phenomena in Bakaland.


Bakaland. That explains it. He buys a cyclocomputer and, surprise
surprise, it shows him data that is lower than what's in his mind. So
he makes up some reason for it. That makes perfect sense.

And now he's going to flame me.....

Rich
 
Bill Baka wrote:

> That is fast, but I think recumbents are cheating.


Cheating?

That's bizarre. It wasn't a test Bill. Or even a contest.

You asked about top speeds. You didn't say "Top speed on a Wallyworld
MTB on a hill no steeper than the one I was on, by people that weigh the
same as me"

Rich
 
[email protected] wrote:

> It is my experience that it takes at least a 13% grade to reach 60mph
> without assistance and well crouched with a hands-on-the-stem aero
> position. Descending jackets won't do, flapping in the breeze.


That sounds reasonable. The road I hit my top speed on is aroud 16 or
17%, but not perfectly straight and not very long.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?B24B250DC

Rich
 
In article <[email protected]>,
Rich <[email protected]> writes:
> RonSonic wrote:
>
>> More strange phenomena in Bakaland.

>
> Bakaland.

^^^^^^^^
For some reason that reminds me of the Oort Cloud.

> That explains it. He buys a cyclocomputer and, surprise
> surprise, it shows him data that is lower than what's in his mind. So
> he makes up some reason for it. That makes perfect sense.


At least it's calibrated to 0.010 mile (+/- ?) precision.

> And now he's going to flame me.....


Nah, Bill's too mellow to do any flaming.


cheers,
Tom

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