CompleteStreets

Can anyone recommend a decent quality mechanical bicycle speedometer/odometer? I'd like to keep track of my total mileage without having to fuss with apps and electronics, etc.

Requirements:

1. Mileage should have a minimum of four digits (preferably five digits).
2. Compatible with a bike with quick release wheels (I've read that some mechanical odometers don't work with QR-wheeled bikes; no idea why).
3. Cannot be reset to zero. I'm only interested in total mileage.

Thanks!

fietsbob

Mechanical? Sorry, You're 50 years too late , just get a battery operated, wired one. the basic bike computer is a simple thing .

you tell it how big you wheel is, and with the spoke magnet pulse , it counts the number of times it goes around ,
and multiplies that count by the circumference of the wheel .

Little Darwin

Agreed. There is no such thing today as a quality mechanical speedometer/odometer. Even when they were around they usually wouldn't have gone well with QR wheels... but I was always partial to the odometers that hooked to the axle and had the little tab that was mounted to a spoke that would advance the odometer a partial turn for each revolution of the wheel. I think that type would be the least cumbersome on a QR wheel if you can find one.

If cost is an issue, I think the wired ones at *-mart are under $15.

Edit... I guess someone still makes the old style.

Here is one for a 24/26 inch wheel: https://www.treatland.tv/CEV-velomet...meter-7075.htm

fietsbob

A bike computer battery lasts about a year , total miles when you replace the battery it goes to zero,

so want to keep a long history of total miles? write it down to keep adding your total miles over several years ..

Juha

Some computers (all Sigma models I believe) allow you to set total mileage manually so with little effort you can keep track of total miles over battery changes.

--J

slorollin

I have what may be the cheapest, wireless bike computer made. It cost me 5.99 with free shipping about 5 years ago. It is still being sold, but they've jacked the price way up to 7.99. Even this cheapie allows you to re-set the odometer to whatever mileage you want.

CompleteStreets

Ahhhh! You really had my hopes up … until I saw that the mileage is only kept to THREE digits (I'm guessing the red digit is for tenths of a mile). Would it have really killed them to make it four or five digits?

About eight years ago I tried out a digital odometer. After about a year the computer snapped off from its cheap-o plastic bracket. I'm really not a fan of having to toy with resetting total mileage each time the battery dies, etc. All I want is the equivalent of what a car has. No need for manual calculations or writing crap down on paper.

VegasTriker

Some of the newest el-cheapo computers costing under $10 have a built in warning when the battery is getting low. It is very simple to reprogram the computer after you put a new battery in it and reset the cumulative mileage to the previous reading. I just looked at them today on a China site called banggood Online Shopping for Cool Gadgets, RC helicopter & Quadcopter, Mobile phone, Fashion at Banggood.com. Find the same computer on eBay for a couple bucks more and you can have it delivered in a couple days rather than three weeks for stuff ordered from China. The one I ordered in the past will keep mileage up to 9999.9 before resetting to 0.

Elvo

Just use Strava

Rogan

Get a bike computer that does not lose mileage or tire size when the battery dies. I have a Cateye that holds mileage and tire size when changing the battery. It takes two or three minutes once a year to reset the clock when the battery dies.

Jim from Boston

Early in my adult cycling career in the 1970’s mechanical odometers were the only devices around. The most high tech innovation I knew of was by a nuclear engineer who fashioned a hard plastic striker to silence the constant “click…click…click…”

fietsbob

what no Polonium emitter and radiation detector coupling for the replacement trigger?
'

Jim from Boston

Actually he was a grad student and probably couldn't afford it, and couldn't get away with pilfering them from the lab.

Looigi

Here's one: Mechanical Bicycle Odometer for 20" Lot of 5 New | eBay

You'd have to work out a correction for the actual wheel circumference for larger wheels.

Personally, I think an inexpensive wired cyclometer is the way to go.

Little Darwin

Yeah, I forgot about the continual clicking. Of course, as with any other repetitive or constant sound, I am pretty good at ignoring it and forgetting it is even there... unless something draws my attention to it, then it drives me nuts for a few minutes. At least they didn't impose a constant drag like the speedometers of that era did... and my guess is that they were more accurate.

In my wanderings yesterday, I did see someone selling an NOS French unit in kilometers, with a separate trip odometer along with the total...

CompleteStreets

I give up. Maybe I'll check back on ebay in a few months. BTW the main reason I don't want an electronic odometer is because I know it'll get stolen or vandalized eventually. No, I'm not willing to attach and detach a silly odometer every time I lock my bike up, just as I would never consider doing this for a car odometer. Even if I could prevent an electronic unit from being stolen I don't want to fuss with batteries and resetting the mileage when the batteries die.

Mos6502

None of the old cyclometers work well with QR wheels. The hub odometers that would are rare as hen's teeth these days. I seem to recall a roller drive odometer but again, it must be pretty rare these days.

CompleteStreets

My bike originally came with Quick Release wheels. I didn't mention it above, but I've since replaced the QR with Onguard locking skewers. Does the typical mechanical odometer work with my locking skewer setup? Thanks!

Looigi

With a wireless cyclometer or phone app, you can leave it in your pocket or bag and not attach it to the bike. A GPS phone app or cyclometer requires nothing on the bike.

fietsbob

True a wireless sensor on the bike can possibly in theory send its pulse to your pocket ..

I got a Bike computer a longtime ago for my Touring Bike , it came with the option to mount it on the fork Blade .

so It sits down under the cantilever brake , above the front low pannier rack, largely un seen ..



now just commuting around the area no data is needed to be gathered , so I Dont even buy a battery for the one I have.

given typical is a concept not applicable to something never seen but very-very rarely .

you are asking about the typical Unicorn on Atlantis..

First you have to have any in hand. did you find One?

Celticgirl

I couldn't agree more, there is nothing wrong with mechanical anything. I think this day and age we are going in the wrong direction; things are becoming too technical. Like the saying goes "Keep it simple stupid"

indyfabz

I'll take my computer controlled washing machine over a washboard and tub.

P.S. You quoted a post from 2014.

shelbyfv

Five years on, the choices of mechanical odometers have likely diminished.

Dirt Farmer

I've heard AliExpress is nothing to fear (part of Alibaba)

https://www.aliexpress.com/popular/m...eedometer.html

Caliper

You realize that the computer part on most electronic units is designed to be quickly detached from the bike? 1/4 turn to remove and you can slip it in your pocket. The only part that stays on the bike is a plastic mount for the display, the magnet on the wheel and the sensor on the fork blade.

What makes you think that a mechanical part will be any less likely to be stolen or vandalized?

Yes, I'm a mechanical engineer and love all things mechanical but the modern electronic speedometers are so inexpensive, reliable and lightweight that there's no reason to use mechanical unless you're restoring a vintage bike.