Equipment/Product Review (1982) Bike Computers
 

Digi-Speed, Cateye Cyclocomputer CC-1000, Entex Bike Computer, and Veltec Pacer 2000 are reviewed.

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I remember the Belt Beacon and the Patrick touring shoes. Both were great products.

Cheers

I'd love to see someone show up to a l'eroica event with that massive computer mounted on some classic European race bike with ornate lugs, full campy, drillium...:p​​​​​​

Also, the Giro helmet is so 80s. Robo-bike-cop.

The Pacer 2000H was "all the rage" back then. Yea, I wanted one. Didn't get it though.

I also had a Brancale 1022 helmet.

I had a Peugeot "Sport Computer" a couple years after this article was published. I think it was in 1984. By then, a lot of the issues identified in the article had been addressed. I used it on the bike until the sensor wire broke, then I put Velcro on the back and used it in my car as a rally timer for a couple years. The biggest drawback on it was the slow update time. It required 6 seconds of input before it would register the new speed.

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1980's Peugeot Sport Computer (borrowed from the internet)

Wonderful!
I love it when at least one person has one of these C&V items to provide a photo and some personal experience, especially if the Bicycling photo was in black and white.
And I just came upon the Peugeot Sport Computer reviewed a year later in the July 1983 issue.
Will post it today or tomorrow.

I remember a few of these, but others are completely new to me!
Overall, I'm impressed that there were so many folks working on ways to measure bike speed and distance. While we all know that Cateye would be the only one of these manufacturers to come up with a good, popular version, it would be hard to predict it based on what we see here.

Personally, I'm feeling better about skipping these initial designs and waiting for the Avocet 20 in the mid 80's. By chance, I've still got one on my Raleigh International, and it's great!

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Steve in Peoria

Love that Duopar ad. 😁

I thought I solved the reliability problem by installing a Huret odometer. I solved the cadence/speed problem by memorizing my gears and a range of speed-cadence relationships and doing the arithmetic in my head as I rode. The odometer was great, though I expect o-ring slippage made it less than perfect. That wasn't all that bad - I could take heart in believing I always rode farther than the odometer read.

I got a Cateye Solar in '84-'86; I still have it, and it worked until I replaced it a couple of years ago with something modern. I'm still using the magnet for sensing speed. The solar batteries are no longer made, but LR44s work.

I had one of these. I think they were the first good quality bike computer to come out. But I'm very happy running a Wahoo Bolt unit on my bikes now.

Digi-Speed looks great, can't beat that display, WTB