Shimano Flight Deck



B

Bob Chambers

Guest
Thinking of fitting a Flight deck to my 105 Groupset. Anyone any comments
appreciated.

Bob C
 

> Thinking of fitting a Flight deck to my 105 Groupset. Anyone any comments
> appreciated.


I have one.
Expensive, the cables for the "cable free" kit (huh!) cost as much as the
unit itself.
More work and more complicated to fit than other units due to integration
with buttons in the brake levers. I had mine fitted by the bike shop.
Some people don't like the virtual cadence method for working out your
cadence, but I have never found this to be a problem. It is really only an
issue when you are travelling faster than you can pedal, ie down veeerrryy
steep hills. I don't care what rate I am peddling down hill anyway!
Overall, I like the unit. I like the convenience of being able to change
functions without moving my hands from the hoods.
It has all the functions I need, although, I kind of wish I had considered
looked at speedos that include a heart rate monitor (I think Polar make one,
if I could bother googling . . . . .)

bjay
 
"Bob Chambers" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Thinking of fitting a Flight deck to my 105 Groupset. Anyone any comments
> appreciated.
>
> Bob C
>

I like mine - connected to my Ultegra shifters. It's a good unit while
having some issues like navigating through certain functions found on
different screens but I got used to it. Best thing over others I've used is
the gear display. It's been ages since I've actually looked down at the
rings and cluster to see what gear I'm in, and I'm now way more aware of my
gear selection - it tells you how many teeth each gear has as you shift into
it (eg "53x14").
It's nice to use all functions from the hoods, too.
It's not perfect, but I like it. Expensive, though.
 
"bjay" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:eek:[email protected]...
> Some people don't like the virtual cadence method for working out your
> cadence, but I have never found this to be a problem. It is really only

an
> issue when you are travelling faster than you can pedal, ie down veeerrryy
> steep hills. I don't care what rate I am peddling down hill anyway!


But how do you set your "max cadence" records? ;-)

> Overall, I like the unit. I like the convenience of being able to change
> functions without moving my hands from the hoods.


I like this idea, but isn't it difficult to swap bikes with it?
How much is another mounting harness?
I can reach my polar with my thumb for a few functions
but others need both hands (not the common riding ones!!)

> It has all the functions I need, although, I kind of wish I had considered
> looked at speedos that include a heart rate monitor (I think Polar make

one,
> if I could bother googling . . . . .)


Polar S series. S5xxx and up have the bike stuff last
time I looked.

My mate loves his Flightdeck but..
<Tam baiting> he is a pesky triathlete </Tam baiting>

hippy ;-)
 
Bob Chambers said:
Thinking of fitting a Flight deck to my 105 Groupset. Anyone any comments appreciated.

The bikeshop fitted mine, I don't want to think about doing it myself. A road wired harness is the cheapest at $69.
Apparently the virtual cadence can be useful for changing gears before you start pedalling again.

My beef, why does the cadence(labelled rpm) have a decimal place - just makes it harder to distinguish, the subdisplay is smaller than the Astrale8 on my other bike.
 
"aeek" <[email protected]
> Bob Chambers Wrote:
> > Thinking of fitting a Flight deck to my 105 Groupset. Anyone any
> > comments appreciated.

>
> The bikeshop fitted mine, I don't want to think about doing it myself.
> A road wired harness is the cheapest at $69.


Ouch! Yeah, expensive exercise when I'd probably swap bikes
once or twice during the life of a computer..

> Apparently the virtual cadence can be useful for changing gears before
> you start pedalling again.


Meh.. if you have to look at a computer to tell you when to
start pedalling again, you need to ride more! Not every car
has a tacho and people still manage to use them ;-)

Mmm.. I'm thinking about power meters from the other thread :)

hippyatworknotlongnow
 
Been using Flight Deck for 5 years now and wouldn't have anything else.

The 'virtual' cadence is very accurate! (unless you're not pedalling) I have a Polar 720i as well and have found the 'genuine' cadence of that to be within .5 of Flight Deck's cadence at worst. So, I pretty much only use my HR monitor for my HR.

The gear display means you never have to look back at your cassette to see what gear you're in. I used to do it all the time before I had Flight Deck installed - and have found myself doing it over the past week because my FD battery ran out and I haven't replaced it yet - the looking back at my gears is driving me crazy and can be dangerous.


If you can afford it - just do it!

The bike shop should fit it - and the only other expense is usually new handlebar tape.

Otherwise... Christmas is only a month away!