Bike RADAR - for other bikes

[rob feature]

Anybody use any of these units - like the Garmin Varia or Wahoo, etc? I know they're designed for cars, but do they detect bikes? Our bike paths are overrun with motorcycles, scooters, onederwheels and anything else folks can think up (electric or otherwise) & I've been thinking I'd like a way to tell when they're sneaking up on me without constantly monitoring my 6. Or the Chance Armstrong road types. Will these devices reliably see these types of things?

 

[Aushiker]

Anybody use any of these units - like the Garmin Varia or Wahoo, etc? I know they're designed for cars, but do they detect bikes? Our bike paths are overrun with motorcycles, scooters, onederwheels and anything else folks can think up (electric or otherwise) & I've been thinking I'd like a way to tell when they're sneaking up on me without constantly monitoring my 6. Or the Chance Armstrong road types. Will these devices reliably see these types of things?

I have a Wahoo Trackr Radar and in my experience it is very hit and miss on detecting bicycles. More miss than hit. With motorcycles they get detected as well as cars, which is pretty much 100%. Not sure what you mean by scooters, as we consider them motorcycles (so they get detected) and I have no idea on 'onederwheels" are so cannot comment on them.

 

[rob feature]

I have a Wahoo Trackr Radar and in my experience it is very hit and miss on detecting bicycles. More miss than hit. With motorcycles they get detected as well as cars, which is pretty much 100%. Not sure what you mean by scooters, as we consider them motorcycles (so they get detected) and I have no idea on 'onederwheels" are so cannot comment on them.

Scooters could be anything from fast standup scooters to actual motor scooters that you might buy at a moto shop. Most of the motorcycles I see are Sur Ron types - smaller than a traditional motorcycle, but way too fast for bike paths. By onederwheels, I mean one-wheel devices that use electronic balancing measures. A lot of these are capable of 50MPH or better & can catch you off guard on a bike path where you don't expect those kinds of speeds. I don't see these conditions improving in the future.

Looks like the nicer Garmin units may be capable of tracking bikes & smaller micromobility vehicles.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Sometimes they work for bikes but it depends on the speed. it does seem to work better on the cheap e bikes.

 

[edobici_forza]

On my ride today. I was surprised by the radar hit being a very fast SUV Aventon type eBike riding in the middle of a road traffic. I was riding in the middle of a shoulder bike lane at a decent speed (in Eco mode) He was flying... approx 3x my speed.
I have Garmin Varia RTL515 and it does detect anything moving towards the radar. i.e. If I am stopped and a runner is approaching, they are detected, so a bicycle would be too. There needs to a difference in speed to be detected. If someone is following me closely they will not be detected. (all of this was true for the last 5 years, for Garmin) They just release an updated model that has more advanced radar 820 and can detect the vehicle size and represents them with different icons on the newest Garmin GPS units.
Check out Shane Miller videos on YouTube ( link ) he reviews all of the bike radars and has many screen examples.

 

[Aushiker]

There needs to a difference in speed to be detected. If someone is following me closely they will not be detected. (all of this was true for the last 5 years, for Garmin)

That is an interesting point. One I will have to watch for and see if that explains the lack of detection with my Trackr Radar.

 

[stompandgo]

I have an original Garmin RTL715. It will detect a bike if they are closing on you.