# One cadence sensor for multiple bikes, feasible?



## RoyFokker (Apr 21, 2010)

I have a Garmin 510 cycling computer and like almost everyone, I just use one computer for multiple bikes. My question is it is possible since I want to have a cadence sensor on 2-3 bikes to just have one sensor and remount it easily on each bike before a ride? By possible I don't want a facetious answer, obviously it is possible with every cadence sensor depending on how much time you take; I want to know if there is a sensor out there where switching between bikes is as quick as mounting my bike computer once I already have the rubber bands and plastic clip installed on a bike.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

That is straightforward to do. 

One option is to get a Wahoo RPM Ant+ cadence sensor. This uses an accelerometer so you don't need a cadence magnet.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/05/wahoo-rpm-antble-version.html

This can be attached to the crank with a rubber band and easily swapped between bikes. You can even have it attached to your shoe instead of a bike.

Garmin offer a similar cadence sensor too. This uses an accelerometer and attaches to the crank with a rubber band:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/05/garmins-spd-cad-magnetless-sensors.html

Either of these cadence sensors can be moved between multiple bikes as needed.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

Yeah, I'd stay away from anything that attaches with zip ties. Too much of a pain to move from bike to bike. But the aforementioned accelerometer-based sensors should be simple enough to move. My only concern then would be with the rubber bands wearing out, which they will do, eventually.


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## RoyFokker (Apr 21, 2010)

@WR304:
What is your reply based on? Do you actually do what I would like to do, use one cadence sensor and swap between multiple bikes, and own one of those sensors you linked to? 

When I bought I my Garmin 510 it came it was missing the soft rubber piece that rests on the stem and attaches to the hard plastic mounting bracket(btw if anyone has a spare one of those rubber pieces, PM me). So I actually had to manually remove the rubber bands and remount the entire mounting hardware from bike stem to bike stem. Let me tell you, even doing that on a stem that doesn't move around as easy as a crank pedal, was cumbersome and annoying. 

From my real life experience of only having one full bike computer mount for a period of at least a month, I don't think attaching those same type of rubber bands to a crank would be feasible long-term, unless like a bike computer, you have multiple rubber bands and plastic mounts and can just slide the cadence sensor in and out, just like a bike computer.


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## WR304 (Jul 9, 2004)

On my mountain bike I have a Power2Max crank power meter. That has an accelerometer built into the power meter to provide cadence. That's what I use.

If you look at the pictures of the Wahoo RPM Ant+ cadence sensor in the dcrainmaker link above the cadence sensor itself is a small pod that clips into a bracket. There are a variety of fixing methods for this. You could have a bracket on each crank and move just the pod between bikes.

The reason I linked the Wahoo RPM Ant+ cadence sensor in particular was actually because of the shoe clip that is pictured. That seems like an even easier approach. If you have the cadence sensor fixed to your shoe you don't even have to attach a sensor to your different bikes. Choose a bike from your fleet, start pedalling and go.










In terms of the rubber band on the Garmin cadence sensor that looks a lot like the ones that come on Lezyne LED lights. I take those lights on and off the bike all the time and they're easy to do. As you don't need to align the sensor with a cadence magnet positioning isn't critical.


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## Nubster (May 15, 2009)

RoyFokker said:


> @WR304:
> What is your reply based on? Do you actually do what I would like to do, use one cadence sensor and swap between multiple bikes, and own one of those sensors you linked to?


I own and use the Garmin sensor that was linked above. But only on my road bike. I don't see a need to use it on my mountain bike. But the sensor works well and should work for your application except for the issue mentioned about the rubber bands wearing out. Not sure if it would work by applying something like 3M Dual Lock or Velcro, but might be worth looking into.


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

Why are you being obtuse?

If a product you bought was missing a piece, why aren't you complaining to the seller? Or to Garmin? Did you buy it used? Refurb? Gray market? Garmin DOES sell those small parts (maybe not just the rubber bit, but definitely the whole mount) separately if you got it used, refurb, or gray market.

I have Garmin's accelerometer-based speed sensor that rubber bands around the hub shell. It works well. I will probably have to replace the rubber band/sheath eventually.

One issue you might need to work around is going to be the bike profile question. When you set up sensors on these Garmins, you have to set up a profile for a specific bike. It's been like this for awhile. Speed sensors absolutely cannot be swapped between bikes because they are used in conjunction with a wheel size calibration setting. You don't want to have to calibrate the sensor every time you change bikes/profiles. The cadence sensor does not rely on a calibration value of any kind, so you should be able to move it to a new bike and make sure that your bike profile for that particular bike also includes that same sensor.

I don't have one to test, but it shouldn't be hard. Set everything up with one bike profile. Doing sensor pairing and all of that. Then create a second bike profile, and then go through the sensor pairing process. If it won't work, then you probably can't do it that way.

Alternatively, you can have a single bike profile set up on the Garmin and then move the cadence sensor when you switch bikes. The Garmin won't know the difference. If, however, you have speed sensors on each bike, this probably won't work, due to the unique calibration of the speed sensors for each bike. I suppose it's possible that it could, if you used the "auto" calibration setting for the speed sensor.

It seems rather needlessly complicated, though. Most people who have multiple bikes either only care about cadence on one of them, or they mount a separate cadence sensor on each bike, and use the bike profile settings so that the device knows WHICH sensors to look for when it's mounted to a given bike.


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## Stupendous Man (Jan 12, 2004)

"Give him another month in the hole!" (Or am I being obtuse?)


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