Roller races

[Mark Hickey]

"Per Elmsäter" <[email protected]> wrote:

>Mark Hickey wrote:
>> Ray Heindl <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> My Flight Deck reads up to about 150 mph. That's still a long way from 240, though.
>>
>> I'm almost scared to ask how you know it will go up to 150mph though...

>Simple. Put a magnet on every spoke! Actually I am almost doing this at the moment. My Cateye
>Cordless II got reset a couple of weeks into the new year due to battery changes. I added another
>magnet and will run double speed and distance until it shows 340.

And here I was out training hard to try to get faster. If only I had known it could be so easy! ;-)

Mark Hickey Habanero Cycles http://www.habcycles.com Home of the $695 ti frame

 

[Dirtroadie]

"stu" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> Do these rollers use a flat belt or a round one(just like a big "O" ring)? If its flat "maybe" you
> could glue a magnet to the outside of it. At a rough guess the belt would do about as many rpm as
> the wheel. If its a round belt maybe you could crip a ring of steel around it and glue a magnet to
> that. Does anyone know if round belts roll while they are turning?????? Easy enough to try,
> depending on the cost of a new belt and how long it takes to replace. just an idea

Yes, I had thought of something along those lines but I think that despite the possible benefits,
there are too many potential problems to allow that to work very well. The belts are round
polyurethane (probably quarter inch diameter) and fits fairly snugly in the corresponding grooves on
the rollers. I don't think anything encircling the belt could be used. And since the rollers can
turn 3000 rpm or more and the belt can be moving at 40ish mph, it is pretty wildly active. I think
there would be a significant problem of keeping anything attached to it in any reliable fashion.

DR

 

[Ray Heindl]

Mark Hickey <[email protected]> wrote:

> Ray Heindl <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>My Flight Deck reads up to about 150 mph. That's still a long way from 240, though.
>
> I'm almost scared to ask how you know it will go up to 150mph though...

In a fit of anality and/or boredom, I built a gadget to add to the Flight Deck odometer the miles
that I ride on non-FD-equipped bikes. It uses a computer printer port to drive an electromagnet that
triggers the Flight Deck's sensor. It didn't take long to find the max speed I could drive it at,
though I don't know if the limitation is in the reed switch or the debounce circuit.

From what I understand, newer FD's have built-in capability to set the odometer reading, but mine
doesn't. Hence the gadget.

--
Ray Heindl (remove the Xs to reply to: [email protected])

 

[Rick Onanian]

>[email protected] (DirtRoadie) wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
>> The bicycle related part of this is the roller races, an event with a long standing history
>> http://snowdown.org/wednesday.htm#roller
><snip>
>> So I'm seeking proposals of a good way of setting up an accurate

I just figured it out. I was rewiring a treadmill to run backwards for some experimentation in being
ultra cheap (trying to avoid paying for rollers or a trainer) when I noticed that the treadmill's
speedometer is just like a bike speedometer, but it's magnet is mounted no more than two inches from
the axle of the roller.

Then I also remembered a speedometer I had on cheap bike as a child; it was a mechanical, cable-
driven speedometer. Those would certainly work, although they will probably require a reduction gear
somewhere between the roller and the speedometer head.

Maybe those two ideas can help.
--
Rick Onanian