Using a Bike Computer on Your Rides

With today's technology fueled society people want to know what's going on at all times in regards to everything they are doing, and even everything their friends are doing. It seems that people want statistics on just about anything they can get statistics on. And thanks to smartphone apps such as Strava this now applies to mountain biking as well.

One of the more old school ways of tracking your ride which is still widely used today is the use of a bike computer to track things such as mileage, speed and time. Bike computers have been around for a long time and are an effective way to track your performance if you don’t want to enter the world of Strava and other smartphone applications.

Today's bike computers are more advanced than earlier models and also have a few additional features such as temperature sensors and the ability to read your altitude. And if you want the best of both worlds there are models by manufacturers such as Garmin that have Strava built into them so you can share your ride experiences with your friends.

But if you just need the basics then a cheaper computer should do the job just fine. Most have measurements for current speed, top speed, average speed, trip distance, odometer, ride time, moving time and so on. Some of the more popular brands are CatEye, Avenir, Garmin and Sigma. These computers can run anywhere from as cheap as $40 to as expensive as $300 if you want a built in GPS and Strava.

Once you find the computer you like then you can install it yourself or have a bike shop do it for you. Most computers have a wireless receiver that you mount on the fork that has a magnet that gets mounted on a spoke. The magnet rotates with the wheel and when it passes by the receiver it counts as a revolution. You will have to program the computer to the size of your wheel and tire for accurate results. The computer and receiver will most likely have watch type batteries that will need to be changed from time to time.

Now that you have your new computer installed you can go out and hit the trails and track your distance and other performance statistics. Most people use bike computers for mileage more than anything else. It’s also nice to have the odometer to track the total miles of all your riding, or at least the mileage since you got your computer. Ride time is also a nice feature since it will track moving time and you can compare that to your total ride time to see how much time you spent on breaks. After each ride you can reset the time and distance (but keep the odometer settings) if you want to start the stats over for each ride.

If you start out with a basic computer you can always upgrade later to something with more features or built in GPS like the Garmin models do. It’s nice to be on the trail and look up your location on a map and see where you are and where you should be going. Or if you want to swap to using a smartphone then you can go that route and track your performance with an app instead.

Posted by Mike Treiber