I don't know, maybe it is a well known fact and I am the last one to know this... but anyway:

I wanted a watch for my handlebar because, I dont know how you guys do, checking the time (especially in winter) on the wristwatch with gloves, straps etc can be acrobatic sometimes.
I wanted this watch to be of course waterproof, detachable etc.
In other times (when I didnt need them, probably...) there were watches everywhere! Thousand times I have been given promo watches in shopping malls, in bags of crisps there were free, and from other sources I cant recall now but since my childwood shitty plastic watches were a common feature... .... easter eggs as well....?
well... now, needless to say, if I want one for my handlebar I have to buy it... too bad.
Since at my local shopping mall they wanted 5-6 euro (I am back in Italy at the moment, my native country) for a decent one (decent means you can easily read it through the visor so not one with a tiny display) I decided to look for something more "gadgety" like a thermometer with watch or similar stuff (I miss £land so much here).

One day last week I went to a Deacathlon store for some other reason and passing by the cycling dept I stopped the MTB section and checking the computers I found one that, by its user manual, can go up to 200km/h for only 12euro: £8!!
The reason why I never looked at MTB comps as speedos for my motorbike is that I knew they were made to reach the max speed of 99km/h but this time I was wrong. A dealer told me once that Sigma, a brand of digital speedometers for MTB and motorbikes, does two model of the same machine: one for bicycles at £10 and one for motorbikes at £50... difference? just that the one for motorbikes has 3 figures and can go show the speed over 99km/h.

But anyway... I bought this little device and I couldn't wait to see what was going to go wrong.
It took me 5 mins to fit it to the bike, it has a sensor that has to be attached to the front forks (front brake pipe in my case) and a magnet that goes on one of the spokes (I needed to heat up a bit the plastic coating of the magnet to adapt it to the larger spokes of a motorbike then secure it with some tiny zipties), it doesnt need to be THAT magnet, it can be any magnet by the way.

Well... it works.

It is a watch, a speedometer, it can tell you the max speed (quite shameful for my XTZ...), partial mileage etc. and it seems acurate after a week of use.
The feature I found quite useful (apart from being a WATCH finally!!!) is that it can switch between km and miles, quite handy for trips and route calculation when abroad.
The only downside so far is that it hasnt got backlight.

The model is Sigma BC 906. Consider Decathlon has the same items around Europe at the same price, UK included.

Some pics below:


In standby mode:




The base:




Magnet:





Sensor:




Regards to all.

__________________

... and Nelly The Elephant packed the trunk and said goodbye to the circus...

Ciao Alex...

I went the same way when I was quoted 120 euros for repairing the speedo on my BMW airhead..

Where are you in Italy by the way?

Venezia, and you?

__________________

... and Nelly The Elephant packed the trunk and said goodbye to the circus...

another great cost saving tip from HU!

make sure you reset the speedo for the right wheel size - they tend to come set up for a 21" MTB wheel.... especially important if it is a speedo replacement!

forgot to say: with this little machine I wont need to carry a spare speedo cable for the bike (only a spare battery...)

__________________

... and Nelly The Elephant packed the trunk and said goodbye to the circus...

....Just up the road from you...! In Trieste....


Right about the wheel size though, I spent some time measuring my front AVON Distanzia, only to find that the exact measurements are available on the manufacturers website. A mm or two makes a real difference, and (at least in my case) it was a bit of a shock to find out that my BMW original speedo is out by at least 10% ! Those Sigma Speedos are really accurate.

BTW, I'm sure that someone will be along soon to point you to the wonderful website by a great guy called Joerg: I think he also wired up some LEDs so that the bicycle Speedo is visible at night too...

it's here:
Joergs R80GS Page

Only issue could be with our "motorizazzione Civile"...I hear they have some issues with solutions like these if you ever need to have the bike MOT'd by them.

Ciao....e fatti sentire...! Un giro invernale in moto me lo farei molto volentieri!


Antonio

hI

Yes these are widely used and very good they are too. You get loads of useful info, and theyre cheap.I tried the radio driven ones but it wasnt a success. So I went back to the wire fed computer.

Yes, I have been told the best way to calculate the wheel circonference is to put a chalk mark on the front wheel, do a full turn (WITH RIDER ON) and then proceed entering the exact figure.
"with rider on" means that the wheel squashes a bit under the weight of the rider/load therefore the actual circumference differs.


mmm... too complicated for me. I noticed that if I put the little comp at an angle at night the light from the dashboard reflecting on the screen is enough to read the figures...


That's one of the main reasons why I never came back from London since 1999: everything in Italy is a pain in the a$$... too long, complicated, slow, bureaucratic... I had enough, really.


Even closer! I am from San Dona (SS14).

__________________

... and Nelly The Elephant packed the trunk and said goodbye to the circus...

Hi Alex,
I have a tenere just like you and just got a sigma bc 906 to put on, what wheel size did you put into it?