Getting good grades

[Jeremy McCreary]

The compass I showed may do the trick for you. It has an inclinometer built in. Your frame is flat, just not level. With the compass the rotating bezel will do your math for you, just hold the compass‘ flat measuring side to your frame, rotate the bezel to zero, and you’re calibrated, now your readings are real time.

Thanks! Given the poor grade accuracy in RideWithGPS, and its inability to give real-time grades, this compass deserves a 2nd look.

 

[PedalUma]

I average 0% on my rides. Even though I live in a hilly area.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You have started this thread with the interest to measure road grades Jeremy. My brother Jacek has been recently obsessed with the road distance accuracy!

He drove his car over a route very familiar for him, having his Garmin Edge and all GPS apps vital to him on. Then, he rode over that route on his Giant Trance E+ with the Garmin on. Here are some of his findings:

Distance in km
- 20.40
Google Maps - 20.20
Strava - 20.16
RWGPS - 20.10
Garmin on the car - 20.16
Giant e-bike with Garmin - 20.10

I told him it was high accuracy for all methods save the car (it could be different wheel circumference of the car compared to the manufacturer's figure). I told him not to worry. He is still pursuing the top accuracy, even resorting to measuring the actual wheel circumference of his Trance under the load!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Man, does RideWithGPS burn up my phone battery! Third time it killed my phone in four 10-20 mile rides. And this Samsung Note20's got a pretty big battery.

Unfortunately, my display's USB charging port doesn't put out enough current to offset the drain. So I either turn off the app's always-on screen setting or leave with a fully charged phone and carry an external backup battery.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Well, I do not use the smartphone as a display for my rides Ever considered a Garmin Edge? I mention that specific make and line of GPS bike computers because Garmins are very good for the climbing information!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Well, I do not use the smartphone as a display for my rides Ever considered a Garmin Edge? I mention that specific make and line of GPS bike computers because Garmins are very good for the climbing information!

Thanks! I was really hoping to get by without buying a separate bike computer.

Found some initially misunderstood RideWithGPS settings that might help with phone battery drain. Will also try disabling adaptive screen brightness on the phone.

Yes, Garmin seems to have a following here, but I won't give them any more of my money. Two overpriced, poorly designed, and undersupported GPS devices I tried ca. 2010 left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. Both ended up gathering dust. Not willing to do the experiment to prove that things are any different now.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Found some initially misunderstood RideWithGPS settings that might help with phone battery drain. Will also try disabling adaptive screen brightness on the phone.

I was riding my e-bikes with the smartphone at the bars for a long time. Carrying a powerbank was necessary, and it looked kinda stupid to ride with the power cord extending from my pocket to the phone

I do not necessarily want to encourage you to buy a Garmin Edge but listen to this story:
My brother just became a proud owner of Garmin Edge 530 (he bought that model because of lower price), and we set-off for our mountain road e-biking vacation. Jacek got overexcited with Garmin Climb Pro feature! At the start of any ride, he enthusiastically was informing me on the number of expected climbs and grades On the ride itself, he was typically in front of me on the climbs. He was raising his hands and showing the grade value with his fingers. When I saw his both hands up with all fingers extended, and then he rose his left hand with three fingers, I felt bad. 13% grade ahead!

Honestly saying, I would feel better without that Too Much Information!

I am a fan of Wahoo ELEMNT but have never tested the latest climbing information features and am not sure whether these are as good as Garmin Climb Pro.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

I was riding my e-bikes with the smartphone at the bars for a long time. Carrying a powerbank was necessary, and it looked kinda stupid to ride with the power cord extending from my pocket to the phone

I do not necessarily want to encourage you to buy a Garmin Edge but listen to this story:
My brother just became a proud owner of Garmin Edge 530 (he bought that model because of lower price), and we set-off for our mountain road e-biking vacation. Jacek got overexcited with Garmin Climb Pro feature! At the start of any ride, he enthusiastically was informing me on the number of expected climbs and grades On the ride itself, he was typically in front of me on the climbs. He was raising his hands and showing the grade value with his fingers. When I saw his both hands up with all fingers extended, and then he rose his left hand with three fingers, I felt bad. 13% grade ahead!

Honestly saying, I would feel better without that Too Much Information!

I am a fan of Wahoo ELEMNT but have never tested the latest climbing information features and am not sure whether these are as good as Garmin Climb Pro.

Agree, sometimes the grade info is TMI, but it goes both ways. Several hills near my house seemed kinda steep till I started with RideWithGPS. When I saw that they were all under 5%, they somehow got a lot easier.

My desire for real-time grade info is receding. It's enough now to plan a route, note the grades on the steepest parts, and have that data in mind when I get there.

If I end up going the bike computer route, I'll probably try the Wahoo first. But if I can get around the phone battery issue, RideWithGPS will probably meet my foreseeable needs. Thanks again for encouraging me to try it.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

Just to finish my marketing talk, Jeremy!

Although I believe a smartphone is the ultimate e-biking tool... A GPS bike computer:

• Has great battery life. Say, 17 hours!
• Is small, compact, made to be used on the bike, hard to damage and well visible
• Unsusceptible to precipitation! (Oh well, you are in So-Cal...)
• GPS navigation and other features not the subject to subscription
• (e-bike specific) Can connect to some e-bikes and to all HR monitors

Even the battery life alone would be the reason for me to go for it. On the other hand... My rides are typically long and I need the GPS navigation.

 

[6zfshdb]

Man, does RideWithGPS burn up my phone battery! Third time it killed my phone in four 10-20 mile rides. And this Samsung Note20's got a pretty big battery.

Unfortunately, my display's USB charging port doesn't put out enough current to offset the drain. So I either turn off the app's always-on screen setting or leave with a fully charged phone and carry an external backup battery.

I have the same problem with my bike's USB port. It's only good for .5A which isn't enough to power all my handlebar equipment.

If you can access the battery wiring, you could do what I did and install one of these USB ports:

Ebike add a handle bar USB, 36 volt to USB 5volt, 48volt to USB port converter | eBay

Our attractive power converter is easily spliced into any eBike battery. The universal USB outlet should work with all eBike batteries, which include, but are not limited to: 36V, 48V, 52V, 72V, and 100V.

www.ebay.com

I put one on each side of the bars and they've worked out well so far.

 

[fooferdoggie]

if you don't want Garmin then this is the way to go for a good grade reading its much faster to give you the grade then Garmin.

Karoo - Shop Now

Enjoy every ride without compromise with the world's most advanced yet intuitive cycling computer. With industry-leading navigation and visualizations, next-gen usability, and advanced connectivity with your favorite cycling tech, Hammerhead Karoo makes every ride better than the last.

www.hammerhead.io

 

[Stefan Mikes]

if you don't want Garmin then this is the way to go for a good grade reading its much faster to give you the grade then Garmin.

Karoo - Shop Now

Enjoy every ride without compromise with the world's most advanced yet intuitive cycling computer. With industry-leading navigation and visualizations, next-gen usability, and advanced connectivity with your favorite cycling tech, Hammerhead Karoo makes every ride better than the last.

www.hammerhead.io

Does Karoo 2 know all the climbs on your route and their grade in advance?

 

[fooferdoggie]

Does Karoo 2 know all the climbs on your route and their grade in advance?

yes. it has a graph it wil actually give you a graph even if you have not setup a route.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

yes. it has a graph it wil actually give you a graph even if you have not setup a route.

I have never checked the long promised/upgraded "Climbing" Wahoo feature as there are no hills around me...

 

[mschwett]

...

Found some initially misunderstood RideWithGPS settings that might help with phone battery drain. Will also try disabling adaptive screen brightness on the phone.

...

this is another reason i don't like rideWithGPS - last i checked, it did not have a dark mode, nor did it have selectable map providers. some of the related options were disguised as "handlebar mode" previously, not sure about the latest version.

the battery on my bike iphone (iphone 12 mini) is just about half the size of your note, but i get around 8 hours of constant use from cadence. good for 100+ miles rides. i can stretch it further if i occasionally turn the screen off. the primary contributors are 1) iOS instead of android, 2) dark mode on an OLED screen, and 3) selectable native mapping provider, which is much more optimized than most third party apps.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

this is another reason i don't like rideWithGPS - last i checked, it did not have a dark mode, nor did it have selectable map providers. some of the related options were disguised as "handlebar mode" previously, not sure about the latest version.

Thanks! All those things still apply. Would like a dark mode even with no phone battery issue.

My initial handlebar mode settings may well have been the problem. Based on 2 test rides, phone battery drop seems to be much better after adopting these RideWithGPS settings:

Fingers crossed.