howdy everyone!
i’ve been trying to diversify my fitness routine, and i live in a bicycle town with lots of great trails (so they tell me). i’m wanting to get into gravel biking because i have too much to live for to get smashed by a car or modify my collar bone with a tree (jk y’all are cool i’m just a wuss).
one thing i really enjoy is the data part of my workouts, but i’m increasingly wary of putting my data into walled gardens like Apple Fitness or even Strava to a certain extent. and i have the technical know-how to store and curate my own data if needed (4 years as a professional Android developer and 15 years of programming experience). i’ve been advised to get a cycling computer, but many of my friends aren’t so technical and just grab whatever “Garmin” they can afford. and the folks at the shops will have little knowledge of underlying OS versions or chipsets or whatever.
so i wanted to reach out to the nerdiest cycling community i could think of and ask about it. i know gadgets in niche spaces can be kind of a wasteland in terms of open source or open API access or whatever, but is there such a device that’s hacker friendly? i don’t need another shitty smartphone strapped to my bike, but i also don’t want to miss any fun data collection features like power delivery (once i fully build out my kit; i’m building this out piecemeal).
any advice would be appreciated 🙏
Have a care with Garmin - they are starting to put data behind a subscription so you should assume in future it’s a subscription based hardware purchase. This means a) the hardware may now look overpriced and b) you can look at rideanalyze or strava or training peaks as alternatives to Garmin a connect plus. And they are stronger in some areas.
I live in Europe and use the minimalist-but-has-everything Sigma ROX 11.1 computer. I don’t know in which market is sold but I like it a lot. It doesn’t have a map but it shows the GPS path you should follow. Configuration is through an app but it’s then pretty open as of what you do with the gathered data.
If you don’t want to use Strava, perhaps this could be for you? I haven’t tried it myself, but it sounds interesting: https://github.com/joaovitoriasilva/endurain
As for cycling computers, I’ve only used Garmin (Edge 840) and Wahoo (ELMNT Bolt 2), neither of which I’d really consider “hackable”, but with Garmin at least it is possible to create custom apps and data fields and if you connect it to a computer via USB I think you should be able to access the .fit files, courses and other files via MTP (this may also be possible with Wahoo, not sure). I think it actually exposes the entire file system. You can definitely create custom map themes by editing XML files for example which is not a feature Garmin advertises.
Otherwise I would say the difference between Wahoo and Garmin is that Wahoo is simpler and less customisable, but it still does everything important and is cheaper. It’s much easier to set up and get going. Garmin is very customisable (and more expensive), but there are way more settings and menus to navigate and you can spend ages setting it up just right. You also get more fitness tracking features for free out of the box through Garmin Connect (though it’s worth noting they recently pissed everyone off by adding optional subscription features recently). For me Garmin Connect made Strava completely redundant, since I don’t care about the social features. The data is still hosted on Garmin servers though.
And of course there are other brands too that I haven’t tried. Perhaps check out DC Rainmaker on Youtube. He has reviewed lots of devices by all the main brands.
Huh, I bought wahoo because I specifically know that I could access the .fit files and upload routes via MTP. But I have to customize the layouts via the APP… Does Garmin also allow an MTP connection with a computer?
Yes. It used to show as a USB mass storage device, but a recent update changed it to use MTP (at least the Edge x40 devices). I don’t have my Edge here to check, but I’m like 90% sure you can also access the .fit files and load courses that way. It exposes a bunch of folders, including (I think) courses and activities. It should be possible to simply copy them to/from a computer that way.
This link is specifically about using Ride with GPS with Garmin over USB, but it should still be relevant (there is also a screenshot showing some of the folder structure): https://support.ridewithgps.com/hc/en-us/articles/12212969301147-Manually-Sync-your-Garmin
What do you want to use it for? GPS directions or just pure speed/watts display?
I got a wahoo element bolt 2 as I wanted something for directions display that wasn’t tied to my phone but it’s actually quite hard to use without your phone anyway, so while the ride directions are pretty good, I’m not sure I can recommend it based on what you posted
i don’t mind it being connected to my phone. i generally expected that it would be a sort of companion device; i definitely don’t want “another phone”. i would like some GPS navigation, but honestly i’m a n00b at this and don’t 100% know what i’d value the most. that’s probably unhelpful, but i appreciate the recommendation.
I grabbed the cheapest reasonable looking iGPSport bike computer/tracker from aliexpress years ago. Didn’t have Garmin money. It did the job. Had excellent battery life. Stored my tracks. Connected with heart rate and cadance monitor. The device registered as a storage device over USB and could just copy the gpx files off the thing. There’s also android app that syncs over Bluetooth and with chinese igpsport web site (and can link to strava). Any how it was a bit hacky, but a cool relatively cheap device. Sadly I havent used it in years. Not sure about current igpsport devices. Maybe they will still do simple USB file transfers (if you want to stay offline), maybe not. Something to check out maybe. Not a huge investment.
ooo i like this. if nothing else it could be fun to tinker with. thanks for the lead 🙏
I know the Hammerhead Karoo 2 runs Android and would bet something like the one I use, the Wahoo Elmnt Roam 2, does too. Maybe Garmins too.
That being said, with the recent scandal about the Garmin watches I’d think twice before getting a Garmin and for the stuff I’ve seen the new Wahoo Elmnt Ace isn’t worth that much money. The main drawback about the Karoos seem to be their battery life but don’t take my word on that.
There are some other brands as well like Bryton or the new Coros, but I think you should take a peek at those to see if you like them.
All in all I guess almost any “big brand” can offer something you’d like. I ended spending my bucks on a Wahoo because (1) non-touch screen, and well thought hardware (buttons) interaction, which is great for rainy days that here are quite a lot; (2) its simple UI, specifically I love the numbers typeface (yes I know this is ridiculous, but still I find it beautiful and simple to read); (3) gets regular updates and (4) doesn’t involve microtransactions of any kind.
Though I wish in all of that sea of data you can get of them someone offered a field like “you’re in this street, intersection with this other street” to be available in their data screens so no needing to go to a map screen to see where you are at.
I use komoot for navigation but they recently got bought by greedy corporation, so that’s kinda out.
