The problem is, very bad luck tends to come with the territory when you’re on long rides, since you can be stuck riding for long periods of time in very bad weather. I had a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra that was rated IP68 for water resistance, so you’d think it could handle being out in a hard rain that popped up on a long gravel event. My phone was in my back pocket, but I figured it was supposed to be more or less waterproof (right?) and it’s not like I was actually submerging it or anything.
Turns out, 90 minutes in a major downpour was enough for some water seep in through the USB-C port to the point that it could no longer charge through it because the water ingress flag got flipped internally. Which meant no trade-in. Not a big deal since I charge wirelessly most of the time, but annoying in that it did cost me a nice chunk of cash for the trade-in value.
If you’re using a phone and are riding in bad weather, I’d definitely recommend picking up a cheap silicon USB plug to prevent water and grit from getting inside the port. I bought some for my new phone, and they were something like $4 for 20 on Amazon.
I used a phone mounted on my bars with a QuadLock when I first started cycling. Then moved on to the Wahoo RFLKT, Garmin 500/510 and 810, and have used all of the ELEMNT computers between me and my wife.
The one and only reason I like my v2 Roam is I think it looks significantly better than a phone out front. Everyone else can give you 17 different (better) reasons to use a dedicated bike computer over a phone. My reason for not using a phone…it looks dumb.
When I go bowling, I wear the stupid shoes. I assume the people who’ve bowled millions of hours in stupid shoes know what they’re doing. When I started cycling I wore regular pants, then saw what other people were wearing (and since I chose to be a road cyclist) when they were road cycling so I changed to bibs and lycra shirts with pockets in the back. Figured, again, with millions of hours on the bike in stupid clothes meant other people knew what they were doing. Same with a bike computer.
But, some things you just gotta do for yourself and be fine with it. Use the iPhone contrary opinions be damned. Don’t ask for permission.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had older experienced cyclists tell me I wrap my handlebars wrong and that will it will soon unravel (never happened). I like the looks of wrapped handlebars from the tops to the drops (and no ugly black tape on the tops) WAY better so I do that. I grew up playing hockey and skateboarding. I can wrap a stick and grip a board with the best of them, I know how to wrap bars so I’ve never had an issue. After all, it is my bike. If I like an inferior way of wrapping bars (and it works for me) then I do it. I also wear ankle socks…sometimes you can hear audible gasps from other cyclists when you’re doing something as egregious as that, but be yourself even in small ways. I do. And I look dumb doing it…but I do it with confidence and gusto so it’s even funnier to see in real life.
And…it’s YOUR bike. Ride with the iPhone as inferior and dumb looking as that is. Be you.
the iphone SE will survive a dry sauna (wrapped in a hand towel) for 20 min at 180 deg F without any heat warning popping up. but agree with others - I wouldn’t use it for a primary bike computer
Yep, happens to me a lot…I get passed by all manner of cyclists, MTB’er, TT’er, ebike’er, guy with a broken leg shuffling by pushing a scooter supporting his casted leg, Groadie, little kids doing burn outs on a Big Wheel, roadies, and commuters all whiz on by with impunity. I lose…a lot. And still think the phone on the bars looks stupid
Great imagery! I tried out that pointed finger thing, but I wasn’t doing it to point at you. Maybe that one is best left on the shelf. Agree totally on the look. But what do I know with giant fenders and ankle socks.
My iPhone 13 Pro Max drains about 8% of battery per hour, so fully charged is enough for kinda 10h ride. For long rides I take powerbank anyway to charge radar and head light, and it’s the must if filming long ride on GoPro.
I believe dedicated cycling computers are things of the past. I use my iPhone 13 Pro Max with Quad Lock and I just love it, every time I get back to mediocre screen of my 1040 (for structural training outdoors) I cry.
I use the app called Cadence, getcadence.app and it’s very close to Edge in terms of functionality. I talked to Ryan, app developer, and he has plans to add workouts and some advanced metrics like NP and derivatives. All the rest is there.
Once workouts are there, I really see no reason to keep my 1040. And yes, price for 1050 is just the last nail in the coffin.
I also bought recently in the process of moving to phone as head unit bluetooth helmet Sena, so I now hear clearly all the navigation instructions from Cadence as well as radar warnings.
And I really don’t care if I look weird with my phone on handlebar, who gives an f-word really?
Pretty cool looking app. Maybe this run on one of those cheap android phones with massive battery lives would be good.
It’ll cost like 250 (300 if you include the cost of a quad lock). Then you get a monster screen and likely 12-15h (potentially even more) battery life, and you don’t have to worry about damaging your main 1000+ dollar phone.
The roam’s screen beats any smartphone’s in functionality outdoors both in the sun and in the rain. As someone who went from quadlock to dedicated head unit, I am never going back. Mounting your phone on your handle bar destroys your camera too btw
Quad lock states for cycling vibration dampener is not necessary, but this is always an option. How can mediocre screen of wahoo beat the gorgeous screen of iPhone Pro Max??
@ArHu74 specifically said in Sun and Rain, I would expect that he was referring to the fact that it in rain the screen would become unusable, and in sun would reflections become a issue ?
I use dark mode in the sun and it’s perfectly fine, no issues at all. In the rain there’s a special mode in cadence app that locks the screen and raindrops don’t create accidental “taps”. But man, let’s be honest, how many of us ride in the rain? Most probably, we don’t ride into the rain but merely get caught.
Next to that, you usually set up one screen that serves your best and basically never need to change it given the number of fields in the cadence app, you get like excel spreadsheet, I really cannot fill all of them, you usually are concerned with just a few metrics like lap NP and current heart rate, riding time and distance, maybe average speed. Add time of day, temperature - that’s it, probably.
There was a claim that iPhone is not protected being installed on a handlebar. I crashed few times and most of the time my iPhone was out of back pocket on the tarmac. Looking at the quad lock construction I cannot believe it will ever fall off no matter what, it’s 100% sturdy and the phone is located basically in the most safe place of the bike, it takes to be jammed to harm your phone but in this scenario it looks like a minor problem :)))
If you race or do events (like me) you don’t get that choice, I don’t like riding in the rain, but do my best as you don’t have (at least in the uk) a choice of entering events where the weather is going to be nice … to be honest
Not sure the relevance to the rest of the response to my short clarification post, but do what works for you, no rules that you have to do what others do, I have underling health conditions and what works for me isn’t going to work for everybody … ohhh no
So did I actually had forgotten my quad lock experiment 7 years ago.
Totally agree, the Roam makes quickly looking at data so easy.
Show me an iPhone that has colour leds that match to power zones, which I often quickly glance at to see if im getting it right riding on feel during say a VO2 interval. Or one that zooms in and out, or has colour coded fields, workout screens etc etc …
Personally, just for me, I think an iPhone is about as useful a cycling computer as a Wahoo is as a phone.
I had an Apple Watch years ago, now I would love a newer one as a cycling phone … leave the heavy iPhone at home altogether.
Great that some prefer an iPhone though go for it.
Most days in the winter and most weeks in the summer. Rain does not dictate when I go for a ride. Clothing can cope with it easy and skin is waterproof. Rain is no big deal.
given the number of fields in the cadence app, you get like excel spreadsheet, I really cannot fill all of them, you usually are concerned with just a few metrics like lap NP and current heart rate, riding time and distance, maybe average speed. Add time of day, temperature - that’s it, probably.