cheapest way to get cadence and heartrate?

keef66

I'm finally getting round to putting into practice one of the training plans in Chris Carmichael's The Time Crunched Cyclist. I'm not a racer, I just want to be able to cycle a bit further and a bit faster. Since I'm currently not that fit / fast, I hope to be able to record a significant improvement.

I can't justify a power meter, so I need to be able to work with cadence and heartrate. I can't afford a Garmin 705 either, so what's the cheapest / simplest way to do this?

Cateye V3 or similar?

SBezza

Polar do a Cs200cad which has what you want, these are around the £100 mark. Do you want something that is also downloadable, as I don't think the Cateyes are downloadable.

rolf_f

I got a computer with a HRM from Lidl last year for £20 though not sure what is cheapest at the moment. As for cadence, the cheapest way to get that costs nothing - just count!

You could also get a really cheap computer from Aldi (who have them at the moment - less than a fiver I think) and set it up so that the speed recorder is actually recording cadence (put the magnet on a crank, sensor on the chainstay and calculate what wheelsize to put in in order that the speedo actually reads cadence (you'd need to tell the computer you had a very large wheel so that you get a high number from a relatively low number of revolutions of the crank).

keef66

Must admit, I like the sound of being able to download stuff from a gadget once I have recovered consciousness and the vomiting has subsided.

I'm off to Google the Polar.

If I can't get approval for that kind of expenditure I might pursue Rolf's DIY suggestion.

Many thanks

amaferanga

Garmin Edge 305 or (the newer) Edge 500 or Forerunner 310XT. If you think you might invest in power meter in the future then the 500 or 310XT would be the better investment. You only need the Edge 705 if you want mapping for navigation.

Downloadable data is a VERY nice thing to have as it gives you a much better training history than you get from writing down a couple of numbers at the end of your sessions.

Wamas

If you decide to buy the Mavic Wintech HR, I have a hardly used Cadence sensor for sale on here which is compatible.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12697319