Gadgets

One look at my bike and you know I have a problem: I like gadgets. I have a GPS and a cyclometer, a map case, a bell, and an inclinometer. (That last is not even a word, but it measures the grade of the hill with a little bubble.) I've tried a lot of different gizmos and several different designs of the same gizmo over the years.

I find it interesting to ponder the evolution of the cyclometer. This is a mileage- and speed-measuring device. In the deep past, we used to have an odometer mounted on the front fork. It had a little gear that would be rotated by the spokes. It was purely mechanical, and I think you had to convert revolutions to miles.

We pretty quickly switched to little electronic devices that were connected to the front wheel magnet pickup by a small wire. These became available about the same time as the digital watch. (Yes, I can remember the days before the digital watch!) They could record speed, trip distance, and overall distance (odometer), along with average speed.

Today, cyclometers have done away with the cord and are almost all wireless. I remember the problems we had in the 1990s with the early wireless cyclometers. Stray electronic signals would activate the device. I would sit at a traffic light, and the cyclometer would read 50 miles an hour. It turns out that the red light sensor would transmit on the same frequency as the computer. Another early wireless device did not like being mounted next to the early GPS. Every now and then the speed would go haywire.

I had been using a wired cyclometer for many years, mostly for the above reasons. Early this spring, it bit the dust. So, I have been trying out a new wireless cyclometer. Happily, the new generation does not seem to be influenced by all that interference. Thus, my gadgets are in harmony and I can ride, again, with a smile on my face.