Siu Blue Wind

Moved to Brifters from C and V

sweeks

Earlier this year, my 20-year-old Flight Deck stopped working. I replace the batteries and verified the magnet's position. It would read speed up to about 5 MPH then go to zero. It would indicate shifts and gear combinations normally. On a 35-mile loop I ride regularly, I would see one or two miles on the trip distance function. I was pretty much convinced the sender was bad, but couldn't find a replacement. I have been thinking about finally saying "goodbye" to the system. I downloaded a phone app ("Ride with GPS") which looked interesting.
Yesterday in the late afternoon I went out for a ride. The Flight Deck was misbehaving as usual. At some point, I looked at the odometer function, and noticed that the total mileage was changing even though trip distance was not. Then things got *really* strange. It got dark enough for me to turn on my headlight (Light & Motion "Seca 800"). As soon as I turned it on, the Flight Deck came to life! The light head and computer are about 5" apart, and have worked well together in the past (I know that LED lights generate electrical interference that can interfere with wireless computers; this had not happened previously). So it appears that the light now serves as a "pacemaker" or "defibrillator" for the Flight Deck!
Fortunately, the phone app worked well. So, for now anyway, I can still keep stats on my rides, while viewing the gear combination. Plus I now can see elevation gain. It's just a little Rube Goldberg-ish.

masi61

Funny, mine is like this too. Some of the data functions well. But the trip distance & ride time date keeps resetting itself. I purchased a new set of genuine Shimano Dura Ace 7800 hoods since the rubber compound in the "Hudz" hoods is such that cracks develop if the hood is peeled back to access the Flight Deck wiring harness. I'm curious if the nubs on the underside of the Hudz hoods are different in a way that accounts for the frequent starting and stopping of the trip distance and time.

Carbonfiberboy 

I have a 9-speed one on our tandem, really like it. Lots better than asking Stoker what gear I'm in. Irrelevant on a single, I think. Rear gear choice is not as big a deal with half the weight to move and I can see the rings. I did have the change the left brifter to 10-speed, so I lost the front reading. I have a 10-speed unit but haven't hooked it up yet.

top506

I just picked up a 2006 Lemond with Flight Deck and 5600 brifters. Found the manual on line and set it up for the current cassette. Haven't ridden it yet but looking forward to it; looks like a cool bit of kit.

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masi61

I’m currently still sitting on both my Flight Deck bikes being in various stages of crap operation. I attribute it to my own poor set up and maintenance practices. I just seem too busy these days to follow up on all the tiny details so I fail to replace batteries and get clueless when I replace hoods with aftermarket ones that make the buttons wonky….

With this said, I do hold out that Flight Deck set-up will undergo a golden age of renewed appreciation and that some very patient person will publish an accessible user guide in the vein of the old Compleat Idiot’s Guide To Volkswagen Maintenance or one of Leonard Zinn’s bike maintenance books.

Having a accurate gear indicator that stays spot on and permits me to just set it on the cadence screen is such a powerful training tool for me. Unfortunately both mine are “auto-scrolling” through menus, stopping themselves with no input from me, re-setting to zero with no input from me, etc… so as you can tell, at this time I am Flight Deck nostalgic mostly and basically only able to reliably compare my trip and total mileage to GPS Strava measurements.

top506

I've got about 100 miles on my Flight Deck (SC-6502) and my sole complaint is that it's too easy to accidentally hit the reset button on the left brifter, canceling out trip and time data.

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bamboobike4

Get rid of that L thumb.
Just sayin’

cat0020

New (used) bike day, found on FB marketplace $850.

2004 Litespeed Tuscany, Ultegra 6400 all around, Ksyrium SL wheels.

Fully functional FlightDeck, Campy pedals, some vintage collector items.

In the process of re-routing the FlightDeck wiring & new bar tape.

Ubie

I'd love to have one for my Trek, but no idea what unit I would need for my 3x9 105 setup. Anyone confirm the model number I should look for?

Keefusb

I'm still addicted to the gear indicator on my two Flight Deck bikes. On both bikes the speed and distance functions have become flaky, so I picked up a Garmin Edge 530 with two 1/4 turn mounts to fill in the gaps.