canklecat

Title pretty much says it all. I want to mount the sensor for a wireless bike computer on the rear wheel seat stay for feedback on the indoor trainer. Helps with repeating sustained efforts, intervals, etc.

Nothing fancy or expensive, thanks. Just able to reach the usual handlebar/stem mount display. And, no, I'm not buying a power meter.

I already have one of these generic computers that sell for $12-$15 on Amazon under various names. Works fine. But the signal won't reach from the rear wheel to handlebar. I'd need to mount it on the middle of the top tube. For now I set the display unit on the table next to the trainer, close enough for a readout.

I'll probably switch to a wired computer but I'm hoping someone has already found a wireless computer that reaches from the rear wheel.

jadocs

Not sure I understand what you mean by mounting a bike computer to the rear wheel. Are you looking for a wireless speed sensor for the rear wheel that will display on the bike computer mounted up front?

canklecat

Yes.

UniChris

No idea, though unicycle friends have told me range often is an issue when mounting the sensor further from the bars than it would be on a traditional front wheel install on a bike, so you are probably right to be concerned.

What I can tell you is that the cable on a $12 Bell 150 is 35 inches long, I think that might reach if your trainer has a conventional rear wheel the cable actually needs to go in the forwards edge the display not the rearward however, so allow a little for that routing.

I can also caution they are somewhat fragile, and not to think you are going to cut and splice the cable if you break or wish to extend it, because under the rubber jacket it is nasty hair thin enamled wire, evil stuff like earbuds use. Eventually I'll chip out the gunk in the bar base and replace the entire run in my first, for the moment hoping my 2nd holds up a little while.

Iride01 

I'm not sure why you think range of the wireless sensors will be an issue. Most have a range of seven to eleven feet if not more.

Though I never found out for certain, many people had trouble using some sensors and gps devices with their stationary bike. There was a suggestion by someone on the Garmin forums that when the device sensed it was stationary, or perhaps when the gps was disabled, it would fail to use data from certain sensors such as wheel speed.

Perhaps you are not asking about using a gps device as your display though. But still, I'm not aware of any wireless sensor where the distance from any point on the stationary bike to the display device will be an issue?

jadocs

A wahoo ELEMNT Bolt and Wahoo speed sensor will do what you want. Wireless range is not an issue and the computer can be turned to “indoor mode” for use on a trainer.

88Tempo

@canklecat

I know you asked for wireless, but the Cateye Strada Cadence is supposed to be able to reach the chainstay for speed and also has a cadence measurement.

It was recommended at the following link which has an excerpt from the manual.

https://bicycles.stackexchange.com/q...the-rear-wheel

philbob57

You may be way ahead of me, but I used a Wahoo BlueSC speed/cadence sensor, a smartphone, and the Wahoo app to monitor my trainer time last winter.

I didn't enjoy using the smartphone on the road, so I bought a GPS 'puter a month or so ago, but the smartphone was great on the trainer.

canklecat

Thanks, all.

Yup, I'll probably go with a wired bike computer for this chore. Ditto, those tiny wires. I've tried splicing them before for other electronics projects, or to salvage a favorite set of headphones. PITA.

These cheap wireless bike computers have a very limited range, about 18"-2'. No GPS, no connectivity with Strava, Wahoo, etc. Just a basic speedometer, odometer, trip meter, etc.

I'm considering those. My only hesitation now is that the recent "update" to the Wahoo Fitness app was a downgrade in reliability. Several users have complained. Hopefully Wahoo will fix the problems soon. At the moment my iPhone is practically useless for running Wahoo Fitness with my Tickr heart rate monitor. Either the GPS tracking is wildly inaccurate, or the app crashes and loses the entire trip.

For now I'm mostly using my Android phone, which is too large for handlebar mounting so it's in my jersey pocket. But at the moment Tickr won't share with both the Android and iPhone simultaneously, although supposedly Bluetooth allows sharing to two devices.

Thanks, I'll put that on my list of doodads to consider.

Yeah, I quit using the phones on the handlebar last year. Too much stuff on the bike. I had to choose between the phone and video camera. After being hit by a car last year I decided the video camera is more important. I used to mount it on my helmet, but my neck and shoulder were injured when I was hit so for the past year the camera goes on the bike to minimize weigh on my neck.

A small, lightweight and cheap computer did what I needed -- just a basic speedometer, trip odometer, etc. The phone goes in my pocket.

I took the computer off the road bike that I also use on the trainer about a month ago to clean the bike thoroughly, and never got around to putting it back on. Haven't really missed it for outdoor rides -- I mostly go by feel, not what devices tell me.

But it's handy on the indoor trainer. I set goals for maintaining a heart rate range and speed range for 20-60 minutes. For now I can do that by mounting the sensor on the rear wheel seat stay, and set the receiver and phone on the table next to the bike. Good enough.