Daniel4

I'm posting here because most of us old folks may still remember these things. You attach it onto the front fork of your bike and as the wheel turns, the spinner advances the numbers. Simple. Nowadays, everything is electronic. I just hate the thought of having to turn on or fully charge one more thing when I go for a ride and that includes another app to map my ride - which I don't do anymore.

Anyways, I have three bicycles that I use for the year. It would be nice to have three of these odometers so that after one full year, I can add all the readings to see how far I actually rode.

I Googled, looked in Amazon and ebay and even found an old thread in BikeForums but I can't find these odometers anymore.

If anybody knows of a place that still has them, let me know.

SalsaShark

The basic wired (or wireless) computers are essentially a mechanical odometer. There is a magnet attached to a spoke which passes by a sensor with each wheel revolution. Input the tire rollout on the display, and it will track speed, distance, and other things (i keep the time of day displayed on mine). Uses a battery that might need to be replaced every other year or so (i ride daily all year round, so most people probably get even better battery life than this). Nothing to turn on or off, as it is triggered on by the wheel magnet sensor. Only drawback for you is that the display is digital, not mechanical. However, this does help it become more versatile than the mechanical displays of the vintage odometers.

Wildwood 

If you care, then you can:
pay the cost of leading edge electronics, or
the zero cost of a phone app, or
the cost of acquiring obsolescent antiques.

or guestimating - who's gonna fact check you?

you choose


no distracted driving with my vehicles.
i fly neat and clean.

skidder

You must not be looking too hard, as I found about 20 (all new) for sale on Amazon. Prices range from $12-$35. I don't have any mechanical or digital ones on my bicycles, but if I did it would be something like what Salsa Shark describes above.

Daniel4

Nope. I just googled. Couldn't find what you found. Can you give me the link?

freeranger

Not the one who found them, and could see if you were riding a bike for which it would be "period correct' that you might want one. Anyway, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mechanica...b_sb_ss_i_2_19

Retro Grouch 

I haven't seen one of those things in decades. I can still remember that the constant "tick, tick, tick" sound used to drive me crazy. Do you suppose that might be what happened?

Lemond1985

I think he means these:



I found 3 on Ebay, all used and in rough shape, except for the one above, but it's only for a 26" wheel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-bic...cAAOSw0BVee9TD

jlaw

As found on a bike purchase from a couple years ago. It's fun in an old-school way, but the ticking is noticeable.

If you have a smart phone the Ride with GPS app. is free and easy to use. All you do is start it before your ride and 'Finish' when your done. It will keep track of all your riding from the comfort of your pocket - no need to mount it on the bike. It will also track the various metrics of your riding if you are interested.

You can visit the website first to see for yourself and then load the app. from whatever app. store you have access to.

https://ridewithgps.com/

Ogsarg

Here is a new mechanical odometer. 10 bucks. Can't vouch for the vendor though. Who knows whether they are legit.




https://www.treatland.tv/CEV-velomet...meter-7075.htm

Flip Flop Rider

buy a gps and 3 mounts. There is nothing more simple than that. No wires or mounting things on your fork or wheel. Oh and they are 100% accurate too

on the flip side of that, don't use anything. Wear a watch and ride by time not distance

OldTryGuy

IMO, spot on. Utilize the information that one wants and just ignore the other stuff. Just 10 days ago I was on a midnight 100 mile road ride when a 150lb wild hog came up and side swiped me resulting in a crash. I know exactly how far into the 100 I was(33.4miles), wear this happened, the speed I was riding at when it happened(20.1mph) and down to 0, how far I managed to stay upright before I hit the ground and cracked my scapula + cracked 2 ribs + punctured left lung, how long it took to gather my wits about me almost passing out going into shock while waiting for my buddy to come back to me(10 minutes), then ride the 4.5 miles home not knowing my injuries. Looking at the results to me is neat but then if all I wanted to know was speed/distance I had that also.

Iride01 

You do make a good point. Last year I wrecked on a solo ride with no witnesses. Cracked my skull in three places and have no memory of what happened, nor do I remember any of the ten or fifteen minutes prior to arriving at the scene of my accident.

With my bike computer, I was able to determine how fast I was going, where I stopped pedaling, where I crashed, When the bike was moved afterward, and quite a few other things. Going back and walking to those points which I'd put on another handheld GPS gave me a way to make some sense of it as I still to this day have no idea what exactly happened.

BCDrums

I remember those.

Tink...tink...tink...

Daniel4

Flip Flop Rider and jlaw:

I already have a GPS. Stopped using it as well as smartphone apps. Too many things to turn on and off. Too many things on my handlebar.Freeranger:

I found those too. Not interested in speedometers. Too many things on my handlebar. That's why I wrote to BikeForums 50+ in case older riders will remember exactly what I'm describing.


Ogsarg: Thanks. I'll look into it.

Thank you for all your input.

79pmooney

I take a totally different approach. Nothing on the bike. (Well, I have a computer so I can ride the trainer and motivate myself to actually do something.) But on the road its nothing. But I've lived the same place 22 years. I have regular routes. All mapped on on Thomas guides and entered into an Excel worksheet. Then I make a page for each year, line for each day and columns for bike, mileage, elevation, route, comments, mechanics or fix gear ratio. Sum each bike separately plus fleet totals.

Most of the time, it is just a small amount of work, but every once in a while, I get to have real fun in a geeky sort of way. 5 years ago I realized that I was within a year or so of hitting three milestones, 200,000 lifetime miles, 100,000 geared miles and 100,000 fix gear miles and that if I stepped up my fix gear riding just a little, I could hit all three on the same day. June 4 years ago I rode about 40 miles, roughly half on each bike and did it.

I cannot keep track of bike computers. keep them charged and working and keep 5 bikes equipped. One Excel worksheet works.

Ben

Daniel4

Thanks. I'll be investigating Sach-Huret odometers.

big chainring 

The Huret Multito. Its a belt drive, no ticking or clicking. Has cumulitive as well as resetting trip OD. I've bought them on ebay. Accurate also. Did a 75 mile ride group ride from the Waterford bike factory and compared mileage with another rider with computer speedo. HIS computer was off by a 1/10 of a mile after 75 miles.😁

Mounted on front hub.

jlaw

Brand new - in the box for $34.99!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Vintage...-/274146634539

JohnDThompson 

That's why I preferred the belt-driven Huret "Multito:"

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=huret%20multito

DW_Thomas

Wa-a-ay back (1970s?) I had one of those little shiny jobbies with the metal star wheel and a post clamped to the spoke. It was fine most of the time but every now and again on a fast descent I would occasionally get a >>CLUNK!<< in the middle of the clicks. Careful checking of the various alignments would appear to be correct. I finally decided it might be inertia carrying the star wheel a bit past where the post left it and the post would hit right on the tip of the star on the next pass. It was rather unnerving -- visions of the unit plummeting into the spokes and away I go. So I far preferred the Huret belt drive when I discovered it. Put close to 10K on one of those, although the thin O-rings used for a belt were somewhat fragile. At the time I had the good fortune of working at a place where a suitable replacement O-ring was available to me from lab stock.

Wanderer

The electronic ones are so accurate, and cheap. Tons of them on ebay for between 3-7 dollars apiece. Buy em by the dozen at that price.