Bryton Rider 40 and B'TWIN ANT+ Speed/Cadence Sensor

cookdn

I bought a Bryton Rider 40 just after Christmas on-line from Evans @ £100 delivered (including the HRM belt) and it arrived last week. Concious that I can tend to ride by stomping on the pedals at a less than ideal cadence, from the outset I wanted to add a ANT+ cadence sensor. Most sensors are combined units and having wheel speed is handy to supplement the GPS data.

Decathlon have a combined sensor for the ANT+ capable devices in their B'TWIN range of cycle computers and is significantly lower in price than the Garmin, Motorola and Bontrager sensors at £17 rather than £30+. It also looked like it wouldn't suffer the widely reported water ingress problems with the Garmin GSC-10.

However while researching sensors I read reports that the B'TWIN sensor is difficult to pair with Garmin devices as it wouldn't be picked up doing a scan and the ANT+ ID has to be entered manually. Not so easily deterred I got Mrs Cookdn to pick one up this morning when she was in Decathlon with the one of our sons for a new coat.

This is what you get:



I decided to leave the sensor strapped to the packaging in case it needed to go back. However waking the sensor up by waving a magnet at either the speed or cadence sensor was all that was required for the Bryton unit to find the sensor on a rescan.



The mounting system is a doodle. As an alternative to cable-ties you get rubber straps at bit like the Bontrager unit:



For a minute I thought I was missing the crank magnet :? then realised it was stuck to the spoke magnet . At least it is a circular magnet you can just pop onto the inside end of the pedal axle rather than something that has to be cable-tied to the crank arm.

The recommended bike setup is this:



Mounting the sensor to the CX I ended up with this, which is a bit unorthodox due to the design of the frame to accommodate the rear brake calliper:







A quick test ride confirmed that everything was working as expected. The only concern I have is that the speed sensor seems to be v.sensitive to the gap between it and the spoke magnet which means if the sensor moves while riding it could stop transmitting speed data. I guess this could be fixed with a more powerful magnet. The cadence sensor is fine.

Best regards

riggsy81

thanks for the info, I need a cadence/speed sensor for my Bryton 35 so at this price I will give it a go

Ride hard

Sorry to resurrect an old post, but you have just answered my questions perfectly.

I'm just about to hit the trigger on a Rider 40 (without cadence/speed) and was looking for some alternatives to the bryton one (which I heard is hard to mount) and the garmin one. So thanks for the heads up.

A couple of questions. How the b'jesus did you get a Rider 40 with HRM for £100, and how are you finding it after a couple months of use? Also, how are the btwin sensors holding up, especially with the lovely winter/spring we've had of late?

rolf_f

Ride hard wrote:

Sorry to resurrect an old post, but you have just answered my questions perfectly.

I'm just about to hit the trigger on a Rider 40 (without cadence/speed) and was looking for some alternatives to the bryton one (which I heard is hard to mount) and the garmin one. So thanks for the heads up.

I know the sensors have been changed but certainly my original Bryton cadence sensor was no bother to mount - just a standard double cable tie job on the chainstay.

Ride hard

Thanks Rolf.

I take it the bryton sensor can take a beating from the weather then?

samsbike

THanks for posting this I have been looking at getting one of these myself and the decanthlon unit looks good for the price.

A quick question, do both the units have to be mounted on the rear stay?

wongataa

samsbike wrote:

THanks for posting this I have been looking at getting one of these myself and the decanthlon unit looks good for the price.

A quick question, do both the units have to be mounted on the rear stay?

Yes as the short wire connecting them cannot be unplugged.

rolf_f

Ride hard wrote:

Thanks Rolf.

I take it the bryton sensor can take a beating from the weather then?

Mine certainly has - mounted on the top of the chainstay on a bike fitted with Cruds front and rear and used in all weathers. Without mudguards, it would certainly have far more to deal with.

BUR70N

riggsy81 wrote:

thanks for the info, I need a cadence/speed sensor for my Bryton 35 so at this price I will give it a go

Same here!! Great post and great find!!!

richk

I took a chance (as I have a Garmin 800) & got one of these yesterday. Proved to be no problem at all & paired pretty much instantly. Now doing my first 'post match review' and it's quite interesting as it looks like I might be changing up too soon.

I too thought I was missing a magnet, till I re-read the OP remarks (thanks)

Ride hard

BUR70N wrote:

riggsy81 wrote:

thanks for the info, I need a cadence/speed sensor for my Bryton 35 so at this price I will give it a go

Same here!! Great post and great find!!!

You can't go wrong with Decathlon!!

@Rolf F - Thanks for the advice re the Bryton cadence/speed sensor's durability. I ended up opting for one of those in the end rather than the Decathlon jobbie as Merlin Cycles were doing a bit of a deal. I'm loving the Bryton 40 too with its HRM and all the stats. It really brought a new dimension to my rides and training.

samsbike

I am being thick but I went to decanthlon intending to get one of these.

With the assistant we opened up the box, ran the magnet over the sensors and tried to scan with the bryton.

Nothing was picked up. Am I doing something incredibly stupid? Should an id number pop up where it scanned for speed/ cadence?

Also if I rely on the sensor for cadence, can I leave the speed for the gps?

thanks

cookdn

samsbike wrote:

I am being thick but I went to decanthlon intending to get one of these. With the assistant we opened up the box, ran the magnet over the sensors and tried to scan with the bryton.

Nothing was picked up. Am I doing something incredibly stupid? Should an id number pop up where it scanned for speed/ cadence?

That is odd. I waved the magnet as depicted in the photo and could hear the reed switch in the unit clicking as I moved the magnet backwards and forwards. Then it was a simple case of going through the menu on the Bryton40:

Settings -> Sensors -> Speed/CAD -> Rescan

The ANT+ ID popped up and the devices paired. Just make sure you can hear the reed switch clicking when you attempt the Rescan as the sensor seems to be quite aggressive at shutting itself down when there is no activity.

<EDIT> Evan's picture on the £21 Bontrager Ant+ Cadence Sensor is wrong and incorrectly depicts the combined sensor which is £36. </EDIT>

samsbike wrote:

Also if I rely on the sensor for cadence, can I leave the speed for the gps?

I believe so but haven't specifically tried it. What you cannot do is pair the combined sensor to the Cadence-only sensor profile. I tried that by mistake and it didn't work.

Best regards

samsbike

Thanks, I did not hear any clicking.

I pressed a button down and could see a green light, which I think meant the battery worked.

I will go back and try again.

samsbike

OK got it working, so I bought it.

I have not fitted it but do I just leave the whole thing on in terms of the bryton.

The error I was making was not moving the magnet in a wide enough arc.

cookdn

samsbike wrote:

OK got it working, so I bought it. The error I was making was not moving the magnet in a wide enough arc.

I have not fitted it but do I just leave the whole thing on in terms of the bryton[?]

On my Rider40 I just leave the sensor activated and the head unit just starts receiving data once you woken the sensor up by riding the bike.

You can then use the second bike profile for an alternate bike without the sensor. On mine Bike1 is the CX and Bike2 the MTB. My ANT+ HRM strap is registered to both profiles.

Downward

So will these decathlon cadence devices work with the garmin 305 ?

Downward

Ok Seems like they work fine

jfeat

I just bought the Btwin Cadence/speed sensor for use with a Bryton Rider 40. Would not pair with the unit, even though a magnet waved close to the unit made a clicking noise, so I fitted a new battery and it paired straight away. Will test tomorrow on the road, but am not expecting a problem.

jfeat