Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Hey guys,

My bike came with the ridesense sensor. Well, partially.. I received the little magnet that attaches to the wheel spoke and a speed sensor that attaches to the chain stay. I havent received the third part that I need to cable tie to the left crank (I think it's the cadence sensor).

Do I actually need ridesense because I have wahoo elemnt bolt that already tells me the speed (and maybe cadence)?

Thanks.

The bolt will tell you the speed base on the gps and if you have a separate cadence sensor (Garmin / Wahoo one) then you dont need the Ridesense. It can be taken off and the hole plugged up I believe if there isnt a need for it.

tez001 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:11 pm

The bolt will tell you the speed base on the gps and if you have a separate cadence sensor (Garmin / Wahoo one) then you dont need the Ridesense. It can be taken off and the hole plugged up I believe if there isnt a need for it.

Thanks mate. I guess I'll just use the speed data (gps based) from Wahoo computer. I dont have a separate cadence sensor though.

NewCyclist wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:20 pm

tez001 wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 07, 2020 7:11 pm

The bolt will tell you the speed base on the gps and if you have a separate cadence sensor (Garmin / Wahoo one) then you dont need the Ridesense. It can be taken off and the hole plugged up I believe if there isnt a need for it.

Thanks mate. I guess I'll just use the speed data (gps based) from Wahoo computer. I dont have a separate cadence sensor though.

If your bike came with a power meter it should also broadcast cadence. Strange that they left out the cadence magnet because my Ridesense kit had everything in it.

Actually, the speed sensor you mention, is that the magnet for the cadence sensor? The Ridesense would come with the unit itself, a speed magnet and a cadence magnet

The Ride Sense is a combined speed & cadence sensor. You need a magnet on the wheel and another on the crank to generate signals. If you have a GPS-based computer, the speed detection is a backup if the GPS signal is interrupted. If you have a power meter, that will take care of the cadence side; in combination they render the Ride Sense redundant.

My RideSense battery is draining ridiculously quickly. I swapped battery brand and this hasn't fixed the problem. In less than a week without the bike being ridden the new battery I installed is down to 75%. Any ideas on how to fix this issue? Or is the unit faulty and there is no fix?

This is just a thought but perhaps the bike has been parked with the wheel or crank magnet sitting adjacent to the sensor which might be triggering the unit to power-on and stay on. Maybe?
Then again I'm sure I'd have done this at some time over the 10 odd years of owning two bikes fitted with Ridesense. I'm actually quite astonished at how long these sensor batteries last. I haven't changed one in a number of years.
How do you check the battery level? I didn't know you could.

The RideSense is supposed to turn off after 20 minutes of no activity. It shouldn't be woken up by the magnets aligning with the sensor but not moving. In any case, I haven't left the bike with the magnets near the sensor. I use an app which can report battery level via a Bluetooth connection.

To eat batteries like that, something in the electronogicals is fried, preventing the sensor going into sleep mode. It's a sealed unit and not fixable. You can either live with frequent battery changes, or replace the sensor. It does not have to be another Ridesense, although that will keep the somewhat integrated mounting; any ANT+ or Bluetooth sensor, depending which language your computer listens to will work.

Thanks Duck. I suspected it was fried. Already have removed it and re-plugged the holes in the chainstay. Lucky I had the rubber bungs.