making the switch; miles=>km

neeb

I've always thought in miles despite the fact I'm living in a kilometers country at the moment, but I'm thinking of making the switch this year and setting my bike computer to display km instead of miles... Has anyone else done this, and how quickly did you adjust?

Are there any subtle psychological pitfalls or advantages? I'm worried it'll make me lazy because 100km is a lot less than 100miles, and it's easier to maintain a speed of 30km/h than 20m/h... On the other hand it's a LOT easier to reach and maintain 40 km/h on the flat, non-wind-assisted (at least for rather short periods... :oops:) than the seemingly impossibly fast 30 m/h...

Tootler

I sort of have. I have one computer that does mph and a HRM that does km/h and I have them both on at the same time.

So when I am going slow I read the mph (for some reason it doesnt make me feel so slow) and when I am going faster I read the km/h because the bigger number has the effect of seeming faster.

Mar ge

I have made the switch to km. This is forced by living in a KM country but sometimes it is still a mental challenge. ((but for me 30kph is a good target as I'm normally on a MTB)

The real challenge for me is the brakes on wrong sides issue.... I swapped everything to 'continental europe' sides to make my bikes consistent but if I'm forced to panic brake I still get in a right mess.

trio25

I'm thinking of changing to km as all the events I'm doing are in km, but can't quite bring myself to.

redddraggon

One of my bikes has a computer in Km/h, however I'm not too fond of it as it leads me into a false of security. I'm happily going along at 24Kph uphill thinking I'm doing amazingly and then I realise that 24kph is only about 15mph. I spend most of the ride converting it back to mph anyway so I don't know why I bother.

McBain_v1

I use kph on my turbo trainer set up bike (it has a Cateye Astrale computer on it) and have printed out a kph-to-mph chart which I've stuck to the shed door in easy view, this saves the tired mental gymnastics required to convert figures without the aid of a calculator :oops:

For all "on-road" cycling I still use mph.

neeb

I think I'll try making the switch. 30 kph and 40 kph are useful markers and it'll be nice to see some really big numbers when going downhill...

Also I won't need to make the conversion to mph before getting depressed about how I compare to the pros when they give their speeds in the TdF etc...

cee

Mar ge wrote:

The real challenge for me is the brakes on wrong sides issue.... I swapped everything to 'continental europe' sides to make my bikes consistent but if I'm forced to panic brake I still get in a right mess.

:oops: erm.......what side are the brakes supposed to be on and in which countries are they likely to be different?

I have back left, front right

geoff_ss

I have set my bike computer to km partly because I prefer a 24hr clock and that automatically defaults to km. As we'll be riding a lot in France in a few weeks time it seems a sensible move. However I do tend to convert in my head using the slightly inaccurate but easy conversion of multiplying by 6 and dividing by 10 (eg 30k/h = 18mph).

I really wish the UK would bite the bullet and convert to metric properly ... and that's from someone educated in the 40s and 50s in Imperial units. I still use Imperial units for some things from habit - my frame size is 22.5" and in my other hobby I still think of model aircraft propeller sizes in inches and wing loading in lbs/square foot (I still design using mm). The sooner we end this confusion the beter IMO

Geoff

robbarker

My computer works in Km, purely becasue Audax routesheets do.

nwallace

Other than the first one I had I have always used KMH on bike computers. I can work out how much slower I am going than the pros based on Eurosports on screen graphics!

I only keep rough conversions in my head

10mph ~= 16kmh
20mph ~= 32kmh
30mph ~= 48kmh
40mph ~= 64kmh
50mph ~= 80kmh
60mph ~= 97kmh (actually i don't bother with this one)

neeb

I really wish the UK would bite the bullet and convert to metric properly ... and that's from someone educated in the 40s and 50s in Imperial units. I still use Imperial units for some things from habit - my frame size is 22.5" and in my other hobby I still think of model aircraft propeller sizes in inches and wing loading in lbs/square foot (I still design using mm). The sooner we end this confusion the beter IMO

I'm completely with you there. I think in miles for distance, feet and inches for height and stones/pounds for weight, but I really wish I didn't. At least I'm young enough to have grown up with meters & centimeters. If we were all forced to use metric all of the time we'd be thinking metric within a year.

Of course as long as the Americans steadfastly refuse to go metric the non-metric measurements aren't going to go away. You'd think after crashing that lander into mars (because the systems were talking to each other using different units) they'd have learned their lesson...

The world will never be truly civilized until the U.S. adopts A4 paper.

neeb

10mph ~= 16kmh
20mph ~= 32kmh
30mph ~= 48kmh
40mph ~= 64kmh
50mph ~= 80kmh
60mph ~= 97kmh (actually i don't bother with this one)

Interesting, I was going to do the same thing but have the metric numbers as round figures instead of the miles.

oldwelshman

I don't bother, I work in hours Speed is relative. You can go out on a ride into hard wind and go slower than another ride of same distance so speed is less but you probably worked a lot harder so does it mean your fast ride was the best? Not really.
I do not even record the miles I just do 2 hour ride, 3 or 4 hour rides.

whyamihere

Geoff_SS wrote:

I really wish the UK would bite the bullet and convert to metric properly ... and that's from someone educated in the 40s and 50s in Imperial units. I still use Imperial units for some things from habit - my frame size is 22.5" and in my other hobby I still think of model aircraft propeller sizes in inches and wing loading in lbs/square foot (I still design using mm). The sooner we end this confusion the beter IMO

Agreed. I only use Imperial for speed, as I know I'll get in problems on the roads if I have to try to convert speeds on the fly (not that it's difficult, 20mph = 32kmph, 30=48, 40=64, 50=80, 60=96, 70=112, all approximate), but I know I'll mess up the calculations if I'm trying to do them quickly in my head as the speed limit changes...

blorg

I converted a good few years ago, I think it was in 1999 after doing the Camino de Santiago, I just left the computer on km. Bigger numbers.

It's easier if you fully convert over, probably easier still with the cycling as you get a pretty good physical idea of distances, 10km, 20km, 50km, etc. I don't think of distances in miles at all any more and would have to convert back the other way to understand a distance. I am not sure if I ever really used ft for elevation- not since I started to be concerned about it, anyway!

It was similar with the Euro conversion, thinking in terms of the old currency stopped surprisingly quickly. Again, I now need to convert the other way to compare pre-2001 money.

For success, you need full immersion, and you won't be doing the calculations in your head any more.

SteveR_100Milers

oldwelshman wrote:

I don't bother, I work in hours Speed is relative. You can go out on a ride into hard wind and go slower than another ride of same distance so speed is less but you probably worked a lot harder so does it mean your fast ride was the best? Not really.
I do not even record the miles I just do 2 hour ride, 3 or 4 hour rides.

I do this mostly too, excpet that i order to boost my weekly training and feel good about it i ride slower...d'oh

nwallace

neeb wrote:

10mph ~= 16kmh
20mph ~= 32kmh
30mph ~= 48kmh
40mph ~= 64kmh
50mph ~= 80kmh
60mph ~= 97kmh (actually i don't bother with this one)

Interesting, I was going to do the same thing but have the metric numbers as round figures instead of the miles.

There are 2 reasons for holding the imperial speeds at multiples of 10.
1) When you say "I was doing around 80ks down Glen Ogle" you get asked, what's that in miles?
2) Speed limits are multiples of 10, they may not apply directly to me but should I find myself stopped it's going to be easier to justify doing 30 in a 30 than 40 in a 30 using stopping distance and visibility.

nicklouse

cee wrote:

:oops: erm.......what side are the brakes supposed to be on and in which countries are they likely to be different?

I have back left, front right

Bikes used on the UK roads should have the front right and rear left. It maybe that shops are required to sell bikes with this set up due to the perceived safer braking option when turning across traffic when on the road.

Countries that drive on the right side of the road have the brakes reversed.

I am sure there are exceptions which will be mentioned.

geoff_ss

nicklouse wrote:

cee wrote:

:oops: erm.......what side are the brakes supposed to be on and in which countries are they likely to be different?

I have back left, front right

Bikes used on the UK roads should have the front right and rear left. It maybe that shops are required to sell bikes with this set up due to the perceived safer braking option when turning across traffic when on the road.

Countries that drive on the right side of the road have the brakes reversed.

I am sure there are exceptions which will be mentioned.

I prefer right hand front brake because that's how my motorcycles were but my friend always uses the opposite - ie front brake left. He says it's because when he rode single fixed with just a front brake he put it on the left so that he could signal right and still be able to brake. I suppose it makes sense.

Geoff

MegaCycle

I have never thought about miles at all when cycling. My gear has always been in km and I think of routes in km,. I guess it's because I think of cycling as being a "European" sport and somehow it seems wrong to use miles.

Odd, I suppose when I have lived in England all my life, but I have never done any different,

nwallace

nicklouse wrote:

It maybe that shops are required to sell bikes with this set up due to the perceived safer braking option when turning across traffic when on the road.

Shops are legally required to sell Bikes that meet the requirements of the DFTs chosen standard. That being BS6102, so what is actually required can be changed by the BSI when ever they feel like it. Once you have bought it it no longer needs to comply with BS6102 just be safe for use on the road and carry lighting and retro-reflectors as and when required.

webbhost

I understand KM better than miles, but I only use miles when biking. Simple reason being that cars use MPH, and the speed limits are in MPH too.

It also gives me a satisfying feeling when I go down a hill at 36 mph in a 30 limit because I know what the cars behind me are thinking